Juno News - February 06, 2021


Canadians’ rights are at risk


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

163.66525

Word Count

515

Sentence Count

33


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 There's been a steady erosion of our rights since the pandemic began.
00:00:09.240 It has evolved from restricting our freedoms to mandating masks.
00:00:13.680 The Toronto Police took it a step further in the past few weeks as they arrested some people
00:00:17.740 just exercising their right to free speech while participating in anti-lockdown protests in downtown Toronto.
00:00:23.860 The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees us all the freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom of movement.
00:00:31.220 Somehow governments across the country have managed to ignore the Charter and impose restrictions on all those freedoms.
00:00:37.900 But governments aren't done yet.
00:00:40.180 Federal Heritage Minister Stephen Gilbo introduced B-C10 in November,
00:00:45.600 and it's working its way through readings in Parliament, such as it is.
00:00:49.780 This week, Gilbo appeared before the Standing Committee on Heritage to explain the legislation and what's coming,
00:00:56.740 which is two more aspects of the law expected to be introduced in the spring.
00:01:00.980 But Gilbo also let slip a couple of tidbits of information which should chill everyone.
00:01:06.340 One of the stated aims is to ferret out hate speech.
00:01:09.820 Who will determine what constitutes hate speech is yet to be seen, and who is the arbiter.
00:01:15.360 It totally ignores the fact there are already hate speech provisions in the criminal code.
00:01:20.760 But it's not just hate speech, although that's nebulous enough.
00:01:24.880 Gilbo also said his monitors will be looking for speech that causes harm, which in itself is not defined.
00:01:32.100 But it seems to include any speech on social media that causes offense.
00:01:37.560 And as with anything else, offense is in the eye of the beholder.
00:01:40.980 Gilbo also said his speech enforcers will be able to levy fines to companies and individuals who breach the rules.
00:01:49.700 The potential for government overreach in all of this is huge.
00:01:53.840 As the government continues to flub their COVID response,
00:01:57.440 and God knows whatever they are doing to provide vaccines to Canada,
00:02:02.220 it's hard to know why something like this is a priority.
00:02:05.760 The rights of Canadians will seemingly continue to be eroded.
00:02:09.100 There is no provision in the Charter to suspend any provision of the law.
00:02:14.800 It is the paramount law of the land and supersedes all others.
00:02:18.580 Yet governments continue to push the boundaries,
00:02:21.040 even though any breach of the Charter is clearly against the law.
00:02:25.200 What Gilbo is pushing is clearly just another breach of our rights.
00:02:29.500 We should not be letting this happen.
00:02:31.840 Thus far, though, no one seems to be making much of any noise.
00:02:36.180 Gilbo has been an MP for a little over a year.
00:02:39.100 He had barely been in Ottawa a month when he found himself with his feet underneath the cabinet table.
00:02:45.580 He hasn't done anything of note in his life other than being an environmental activist.
00:02:50.600 His most notable achievement was staging a protest where he was part of a team that scaled the CN Tower.
00:02:57.480 On a personal level, though,
00:02:59.140 I really enjoyed that photograph of him in an orange jumpsuit after being handcuffed by Toronto police.
00:03:05.940 For True North, I'm Leo Knight.
00:03:08.780 For True North, I'm Leo Knight.