Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Richard Warman on The New Section 13

 Pretty similar to the old Section 13, with a few twists, is the gist of it.  I am just summarizing, so go look at the stuff through the link.  Richard doesn't do much in the way of archiving:

1. It’s basically the same thing as the old s. 13 but explicitly doesn’t apply to social media companies...

2. The Bill provides the Commission with the ability to protect anonymity of a complainant – s. 40(8)...

3. Provides explicit power to dismiss a complaint as vexatious if there is no indication of hate speech in the material complained of...

4. Most of the remedies the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal can grant if a complaint relating to online hate is upheld remain the same (a permanent injunction and possible damages if someone is specifically targeted by the online hate). The only change is the potential penalty clause has been increased from $10,000 to $50,000...

5. The Tribunal can now order costs against a party for an abuse of process in relation to the Tribunal inquiry – see s. 53(2)...

I am looking forward this next go round.  Pretty much all of the specific claims against the old Section 13 were proven false and often defamatory of one party or another.  It will be difficult for the CPC or their surrogates to mount any attack against the new version that moves beyond broad, vague claims.