On November 30 Vancouver Rape Relief is hosting a Montreal Massacre Memorial program. One of the speakers they’re hosting is Janice Raymond, and she is a controversial figure, due to her past statements about transgender people (including a 1979 book, The Transsexual Empire, which has been called a justification for anti-transsexual prejudice). This event is…
On TransLink buses (and one station) this week you might see an ad featuring four maps with progressively dwindling amounts of green on them. There are no exhortations. There isn’t a lot of context. But these are undoubtedly an intellectual freedom issue we should be aware of, because these ads are being challenged as the…
A federal law governing hate speech violates Canadians’ charter rights to freedom of expression, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled. Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits communication, including via web sites, that is “likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt” if the persons belong to one of…
A hearing into a human rights complaint alleging a Maclean’s magazine article spread hatred against Muslims started yesterday in Vancouver. From the CBC website: Mohamed Elmasry and Naiyer Habib of the Canadian Islamic Congress complained to the Canadian, Ontario and B.C. human rights authorities after the Toronto-based magazine published the article, titled The future belongs…
intellectual freedom committee - bcla 