{"id":1758,"date":"2017-04-25T18:32:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T22:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2017-11-09T19:29:31","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T00:29:31","slug":"cafe-backs-freedom-of-the-press-free-speech-as-your-ward-news-hearing-opens-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=1758","title":{"rendered":"CAFE Backs Freedom of the Press &#038; Free Speech As YOUR WARD NEWS Hearing Opens in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"gmail-headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; font-family: aktiv-grotesk-std, 'helvetica neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><i>CAFE Backs Freedom of the Press &amp; Free Speech As YOUR WARD NEWS Hearing Opens in Toronto<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n<h1 class=\"gmail-headline\">Temporary ban on delivery of controversial newspaper under review<\/h1>\n<div id=\"gmail-article-meta\">\n<p class=\"gmail-author\">BY\u00a0NEWS STAFF<\/p>\n<p class=\"gmail-posted\">POSTED APR 25, 2017 4:48 PM EDT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gmail-last-updated\">LAST UPDATED APR 25, 2017 AT 5:04 PM EDT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"gmail-meta-divider\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"gmail-row gmail-no-gutter gmail-categories\">\n<div class=\"gmail-col-lg-16 gmail-col-md-10 gmail-col-sm-16\">\n<ul class=\"gmail-post-categories\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.citynews.ca\/category\/local\/\" rel=\"category tag\">LOCAL<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gmail-article-image\" src=\"http:\/\/www.citynews.ca\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/sites\/10\/2017\/01\/31\/Your-Ward-News-Winter-Edition.jpg\" \/><\/div>\n<div id=\"gmail-main-article\" class=\"gmail-row\">\n<div class=\"gmail-col-lg-16 gmail-col-md-16 gmail-col-sm-16\">\n<div id=\"gmail-big-box-mobile-0\" class=\"gmail-big-box-ad gmail-text-center\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"gmail-sharing-anchor\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"gmail-sharing-options\" class=\"gmail-sharing-open gmail-top gmail-city-share\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"gmail-article-body-content\">\n<p>Procedures have begun for Board of Review hearings over a controversial newspaper that began appearing in mailboxes across Toronto last year.<\/p>\n<p>In June 2016, Canada Post was ordered by the federal government to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.citynews.ca\/2016\/06\/06\/canada-post-ordered-to-stop-delivering-your-ward-news-tabloid\/\" target=\"_blank\">prohibit delivery of Your Ward News<\/a>, a publication that sparked allegations of racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism and hate. Judy Foote, the minister responsible for Canada Post, issued the interim prohibitory order under the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.laws.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/acts\/C-10\/page-6.html#h-28\" target=\"_blank\">Canada Post Corporation Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>James Sears, the publication\u2019s editor-in-chief appealed that order and, as procedure under the Act dictates, Foote appointed a Board of Review consisting of three members to consider whether Canada Post should legally distribute the paper.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last few months, members of the public had the opportunity to make submissions in the hopes of participating in the review.<\/p>\n<p>It has been a divided issue encompassing a debate between proponents of freedom of speech and opponents of alleged hate speech. Here\u2019s what some players on both sides had to say as the proceedings began Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>IN SUPPORT OF DISTRIBUTION:<\/h4>\n<p>Paul Fromm, director of the Canadian Association for Free Expression:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"gmail-alignnone gmail-wp-image-1571125 gmail-size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.citynews.ca\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/25\/CTCN_CONTROVERSIAL_PAPER_PAUL_FROMM_PIC_2017APR25-.jpg\" alt=\"Paul Fromm, director of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, on April 25, 2017. CITYNEWS\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an incredibly arbitrary and ruthless power all because some politically-correct people didn\u2019t like what\u2019s in Your Ward News. Tough. People should have the right to publish what they want. If people don\u2019t want to read, there\u2019s a garbage can. There\u2019s a blue box. There\u2019s the bottom of the birdcage. What we are seeing is an effort by people who don\u2019t like the content for whatever reason to say, \u2018I don\u2019t like it and you can\u2019t read it and you can\u2019t send it out.\u2019 And that\u2019s what this battle is all about\u2026..We used to be a country where we said, \u2018Look, I don\u2019t agree with you. But you\u2019ve got a right to your opinion. You\u2019ve got a right to say it. That\u2019s what Your Ward News is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>AGAINST DISTRIBUTION:<\/h4>\n<h5>Sara Lefton, vice president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs<\/h5>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"gmail-alignnone gmail-wp-image-1571129 gmail-size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.citynews.ca\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/25\/CTCN_CONTROVERSIAL_PAPER_SARA_LEFTON_PIC_2017APR25-.jpg\" alt=\"Sara Lefton, vice president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in Toronto on April 25, 2017. CITYNEWS\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is pure and simple hate. When people are getting Your Ward News in the mail and they\u2019re getting it at their doorstep, they feel unsafe, they feel targeted in their homes. There\u2019s no place for hate like this in Canada, and we need the decision to stand so hate like this will not continue \u2026 When there are pieces of clear discrimination and hate speech that are being disseminated en masse to people\u2019s doorsteps there should be no place for that, and that shouldn\u2019t be allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>IN SUPPORT OF DISTRIBUTION:<\/h4>\n<p>Raychyl Whyte, Board of Review applicant<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone should still have the right to freedom of speech. I myself know what it is like to have public humiliation, public shame due to libelous comments and presumptions made about me. I know all too well what that is like. However, I still support people\u2019s rights to have their own independent free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>AGAINST DISTRIBUTION:<\/h4>\n<p>Warren Kinsella, founding member, Standing Together Against Mailing Prejudice<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gmail-alignnone gmail-size-full gmail-wp-image-1571131\" src=\"http:\/\/www.citynews.ca\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/25\/CTCN_CONTROVERSIAL_PAPER_WARREN_KINSELLA_PIC_2017APR24-.jpg\" alt=\"Warren Kinsella talks to CityNews in Toronto on April 25, 2017. CITYNEWS\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the people that have been victimized by this so-called newspaper, that\u2019s a problem. There\u2019s Holocaust denial, there\u2019s propagation of rape, there\u2019s use of the N-word. There\u2019s racism on every single page. It is the most disgusting thing. I\u2019ve been doing this stuff for 30 years. I\u2019ve never seen a publication like this distributed in Canada as widely as this one is and certainly not one distributed by Canada Post \u2026 We need to say Canada Post should not be distributing hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>IN SUPPORT OF DISTRIBUTION:<\/h4>\n<p>Emilie Taman, co-counsel for James Sears<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gmail-alignnone gmail-size-full gmail-wp-image-1571123\" src=\"http:\/\/www.citynews.ca\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/25\/CTCN_CONTROVERSIAL_PAPER_EMILIE_TAMAN_PIC_2017APR24-.jpg\" alt=\"Emilie Taman, co-counsel for James Sears, is seen during an interview in Toronto on April 25, 2017. CITYNEWS\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not something that I\u2019m necessarily per se excited to be reading about, but I do believe in the constitutional right to free speech, and it\u2019s one that I think is very important to be defended at every opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>AGAINST DISTRIBUTION:<\/h4>\n<p>Derek Richmond, Canadian Union of Postal Workers<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gmail-alignnone gmail-size-full gmail-wp-image-1571139\" src=\"http:\/\/www.citynews.ca\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/sites\/10\/2017\/04\/25\/CTCN_CONTROVERSIAL_PAPER_DEREK_RICHMOND_2017APR24-.jpg\" alt=\"Derek Richmond, of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, is seen during an interview in Toronto on April 25, 2017. CITYNEWS\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe, personally, I didn\u2019t deliver [Your Ward News] but many of our letter carriers did. A lot of them are very diverse and had to go through the whole day viewing swastikas, viewing hate, viewing sexist material, rape culture. It really affected a lot of our letter carriers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CAFE Backs Freedom of the Press &amp; Free Speech As YOUR WARD NEWS Hearing Opens in Toronto Temporary ban on delivery of controversial newspaper under review BY\u00a0NEWS STAFF POSTED APR 25, 2017 4:48 PM EDT LAST UPDATED APR 25, 2017 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=1758\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[535,456,955,954,589,38,914,531,355],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2079,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions\/2079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}