Re: Bill C-19: Legislation to Make Holocaust Denial a Criminal Offence
Canadian Association for Free Expression
Box 332,
Rexdale, Ontario,
M9W 5L3
Ph: 416-428-5308
Website http://cafe.nfshost.com
Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director
June 3, 2022
Submission to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Re: Bill C-19: Legislation to Make Holocaust Denial a Criminal Offence
CAFE’S GOALS
The Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE) was incorporated under Letters Patent in the Province of Ontario in 1983. Our object has been to maximize the Charter guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of belief. Our aims might best be captured by the stirring words of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s Canadian Bill of Rights: “ “I am Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, free to choose those who govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.”
CAFE has participated in numerous court cases and cases before human rights tribunals in support of free speech.
LEGISLATION TO CRIMINALIZE “HOLOCAUST DENIAL”
Through the lens of the Canadian Bill of Rights — ““I am Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, … free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong” — this legislation is a sorry step backwards. On the issue of what happened to Jews in Europe in WW II, anyone with a question or view that veers from current conventional wisdom would NOT be free to speak without fear or stand for what he thought was right.
There is something odd about this proposed legislation. It is a matter of Criminal Code legislation; yet, it is being shoe-horned into a complicated financial bill — the budget. If ever legislation deserved “sober second thought” this does.
CAFE’s submission is that it violates basic human rights and is bad law to impose belief, especially on an historical issue. Make no mistake: This law is imposing a particular historical belief or, to be absolutely precise, forbidding any dissent from the imposed belief.
The choice of the holocaust as the issue for imposing an historical belief is odd. The events in question didn’t happen in Canada, didn’t happen to Canadians, and weren’t perpetrated by Canadians. Why should a certain historical interpretation of these events be set in law?
One is free, for instance, as a tiny minority does to question the legitimacy of the present monarchy. [There is a fringe view that the Stuarts are the legitimate monarchy.] Many progressive politicians and commentators regularly vilify the key Father of Confederation Sir John A. Macdonald, even urging the toppling of statues honouring him or the renaming of buildings named after him.
Frankly, it is bad policy to waste the Court’s time trying to sort out issues of historical interpretation. For instance, this law would criminalize “downplaying” the holocaust. Popular history holds that the holocaust killed about six million. However, Stalin’s genocidal programme, 1932-33, of induced famine, the holodomor, designed to starve the Ukrainian peasants into submission claimed between 8 and 10 million victims. Would pointing that out be seen as “downplaying” the holocaust and, therefore, criminal? We need more discussion and debate not less.
This is a bad law. It is coercive belief [or be silent if you question or don’t believe.] It is a repressive solution in search of a problem. The justification for such an assault on freedom of speech and belief is alleged “rising anti-Semitism” in Canada. This is the submission of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith which has lobbied for such legislation for many years. B’nai Brith has for more than 30 years published its Annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents in Canada. Every year, according to the Audit the situation gets worse: There is more anti-Semitism. Your research staff will confirm this yearly assertion. Most of the incidents are mere reports of crude graffiti or Internet postings critical of Jews. These are hyped into a rising crisis. Yet, a realistic view of Canada today sees a very tolerant society. Jews are well represented in the media, business, academe and here in Parliament. Canada has a Holocaust Remembrance Day.
We urge you not to pass this attack on free speech and free debate.
Paul Fromm
Director
