THESE days it feels to me as though the very things that define our once-great country are constantly under attack.
Our proud history. Our national identity. Our unique culture. Our shared values. Our distinctive way of life.
And now, as shocking events this week reveal, our belief in free speech, free expression and individual freedom.
The federal government has confirmed an uptick in arson attacks on churches and other religious institutions following claims of mass graves being discovered at a former residential school site located in Kamloops, B.C., in 2021.
According to data provided by cabinet in an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons on Sept. 16, there were an average of 43 police-reported arson attacks on places of worship from 2015 to 2020. The numbers went up significantly in 2021 when there were 90 arson attacks, followed by 74 attacks in 2022, the last year cited in the document.
A Chilliwack, B.C., woman has been arrested over what police are describing as racially offensive content she shared via social media.
Police say the woman was arrested on Aug. 7, but has since been released to appear in court at a later date while prosecutors consider “several” possible recommended charges. Police declined to share the suspect’s name or the account she allegedly used.
She says the woman was allegedly targeting members of the South Asian community, adding investigators learned of several examples but believe one person is responsible for all the content.
h/t Mauser
Access To Information records show that a taxpayer-funded guidebook suggested the Conservative Party might have bigots and young white nationalists trying to join its ranks, reports Blacklock’s Reporter.
“They sometimes attempt to infiltrate mainstream Conservative political parties,” states the guidebook called Confronting And Preventing Hate In Canadian Schools that was approved by former diversity minister Ahmed Hussen’s office.
Laith Marouf, Birju Dattani, CAHN – the LPC is covered in slime.
The 62-year-old victim of a machete attack by a drug and alcohol crazed teen last Boxing Day said she’s been “short changed” by the justice system that didn’t address the fact that it was a “hate crime.”
“I don’t know how else to put it. The justice system sucks,” she told the Western Standard in an exclusive interview after her then-17-year-old attacker’s sentence was handed down by Calgary youth court Justice Nick D’Souza Monday.
Toronto Police are called to investigate reports of hate crimes five times a day in Toronto (once) the good.
It’s not so good anymore when it comes to people getting along. More than half of those calls are for alleged anti-Semitic crimes.
“We are attending an average of 145 hate crime calls for service a month,” Deputy Chief Rob Johnson told the Toronto Police Services Board on Monday. “Since Oct. 7, we have attended 1,378 hate crime calls for service.”
On Monday, June 10, Toronto police announced they had charged 32-year-old Lou-i Bou-Chahine with public incitement of hatred, under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code. He allegedly stomped on an Israeli flag at Sunday’s reportedly 50,000-strong Walk for Israel march.
It should be an interesting case to watch. With respect to alleged expressions of hate, Canadian politics has developed a rich lexicon of wishful thinking masquerading as fact since the October 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, and the ensuing and often antisemitic anti-Israel protests.
Stomping a flag? Sounds condescending frankly.
Since Oct. 7, and frankly long before, we repeated in countless interviews and wrote in these very pages about the alarm we felt regarding the antisemitism we see in our city. Since then, the hate and intimidation on our streets, in our workplaces and on our campuses have continued to threaten not only the Jewish community, but also our very society and the values that underpin it.
We have hate speech laws.
“From the river to the sea” is hateful but to ban this and statements like it crosses a line and becomes political censorship.
Police have raided more than 70 homes in Germany concerning incidents of so-called “online hate posting”, the country’s justice ministry said.
According to a press release published late on June 6, residences in every German state were raided in the latest attempt to crack down on “hate speech”.
Numerous justifications were given for the action: some residents were suspected of issuing “threats” against politicians, while others were suspected of merely targeting them with “insults”, which is also a crime in Germany.
The text from a Toronto police spokesperson came at 8:30 on a Friday morning. A synagogue in the city’s north end had been vandalized overnight. Our crew could meet detectives from the force’s Hate Crimes Unit on site.
We arrived at the Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue to find congregant Norman Mosselson quietly sweeping up broken glass. When we asked him how he felt, his voice broke and he stifled a sob.
“Well, shock. Total shock… This is my home,” he said. This was the second time the synagogue had been attacked in a month.
The Countering Antisemitism Act overthrows one form of tyranny by replacing it with another. Congress can’t legislate away hate.
The ADL already accused me of being a Holocaust denier.
See the problem?
Anyone who supports this is my enemy. https://t.co/8cGEVMd4vN
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 3, 2024
Police say a 44-year-old woman has been arrested in a hate-crime investigation over a speech in Vancouver that praised the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
A statement from the Vancouver Police Department says the woman “referred to a number of terrorist organizations as heroes.”
It says a criminal investigation is underway to determine if her comments violated hate-crime laws.
Police Scotland has been overwhelmed by a “deluge” of ‘hate crime’ reports in the week since the country’s new public order act came into effect.
The force’s commitment to investigate every report—currently totalling an average of 60 an hour—means that it is failing to solve an increasing number of shoplifting cases, sexual assaults, and car thefts, according to analysis by The Daily Telegraph.
Scottish football fans face hate crime complaints from members of the public who hear chants on TV at home, a senior lawyer has warned.
Police Scotland, which has already received 8,000 reports since the new laws came into force last week, is facing warnings that as many as 2,000 further complaints will be made on Sunday due to the Rangers vs Celtic clash at Ibrox.
Sectarian songs are often heard at Old Firm matches, raising fears that partisan supporters watching the game live on TV could swamp the force with new hate crime reports.
Police Scotland will target young men with “with ideas about white-male entitlement” under the new Hate Crime Act.
Scotland recently took a giant step towards becoming one of the most restrictive countries in Europe. The adjective ‘Orwellian’ trips too easily off of the lips these days, but with severe and significant restrictions to free speech being introduced in the contents of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which came into force on 1 April 2024, it is hard to imagine a more apt description.
