Most Important Canadian Values:
In my opinion, the five most important Canadian values today are equality, respect for others, safety, ability to choose, and peace.
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R v Keegstra:
R v. Keegstra was a case that occurred in 1990. James Keegstra, a former school teacher in Alberta, was charged in 1984 under 281.2(2) (now section 319(2)) of the Criminal Code, which criminalises hate speech. He was accused of unlawfully promoting hatred against Jewish people by bashing them to his students and giving high marks to students who bashed them in assignments and tests. The trial commenced at the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, where Keegstra tried to proclaim that charging him would be a violation of his freedom of speech. However, they still deemed him guilty. Keegstra tried to appeal this at the Court of Appeal of Alberta which deemed that section 319(2) of the Criminal Code did violate Keegstra's freedom of free speech. The Crown then appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Supreme Court of Canada then had the job of determining whether or not "section 319(2) of the Criminal Code violates section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?" and, if yes, was the violation justified?
The Supreme Court came to a 4-3 decision that concluded that the violation was justified and section 319(2) could continue to be upheld. They determined that by restricting what one said with section 319(2) of the Criminal Code, section 2(b) of the Charter was violated. To determine whether or not the violation was justified, they looked at section 1 of the Charter, which was then done through the Irwin Troy Analysis and Oakes Test. The majority, whose opinions were communicated by Chief Justice Brian Dickson, decided that the law had a rational connection to its objective. Alongside, they believed this violation only impacted a small portion of one's right to free speech, was not vague or broad and still allows an accused to protect themselves with section 319(3) of the Criminal Code. The majority continued to reaffirm how this violation would benefit society and aid Canada in becoming a racism-free and hatred-free democratic country. Thus, the violation was justified. The dissenting opinion, written by Justice Beverley McLachlin, stated that they agreed that the law violated section 2(b), however, they did not believe that the violation could be justified under section 1 of the Charter. They believed that this violation could deter legitimate expression and was too vague and broad. Finally, they stated that they did not agree with the majority and do not believe that criminal prosecutions will decrease the amount of racism/hatred in Canada.
This case is crucial to Canadian law, our values and Canada today. Canada today is a multicultural country with many different people with different backgrounds and ideologies. This decision was the first successful conviction under section 319(2) of the Criminal Code. It not only brought attention to the discrimination minority groups face in Canada, but also showed that the law will protect these groups from hatred. It showed society as a whole that there is a difference between a citizen's ability to publicly express opinions and promote hatred.
I believe that this case truly was a breakthrough case. It protects Canada's large minority groups even today and ensures that Canada is a safe country, relatively free of discrimination and hatred. It forbids the spread of propaganda and ensures Canada's quality of life for minorities is as high as can be. Alongside, its ruling was mentioned several times in other court cases, such as Grant v. Torstar and R. v. Mentuck. Geographically, Canada is at the stage in its development where the majority of its population is immigrants. This means that we rely on immigration tremendously and need to ensure that we are a top option for immigrants. By ensuring that hate speech towards all groups of people is prohibited, we are doing just that. This case changed Canada tremendously and resulted in a major reason why immigrants choose and are happy in Canada.
