The divisions have to end one day, and that will require people of good faith turning their backs on the extremists and engaging in dialogue with those with whom they disagree
When does inflammatory language cross the line to become hate speech?
It seems obvious that the masked Palestinian supporter in Toronto’s Eaton Centre mall on Saturday threatening someone in front of police officers that he would “put him six feet deep” qualifies.
Why he was not arrested on the spot is an affront to every political, cultural and legal value Canadians hold dear. Quite apart from hate speech, uttering threats is a breach of the criminal code.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
But other cases are more subjective. Take that of Paul Finlayson, which I wrote about last week. Finlayson is, or was, a lecturer in marketing at the University of Guelph-Humber. He’s been suspended from his job pending an investigation for a social media post on the conflict in Gaza in which he called a Palestinian supporter a “pro-Nazi zealot.”
“You stand with Palestine means you stand with Hitler. You don’t want peace, you want dead Jews,” he wrote in one of the more heated passages.
I said that I thought his comments were intemperate — Godwin’s law essentially says if you invoke the Nazis, you lose the argument. However, I noted I thought they were within the rubric of fair comment; that his suspension was unjust; and, that the campus cancel culture — in which anything deemed to make students or faculty feel “unsafe” is rooted out and destroyed — is lamentable.
Many people disagreed. One reader, Massab Kabalan, called me a “Zionist pig” for siding with Finlayson in support of Israel.
But the same arguments can be made in defence of people with whom I disagree.
On Monday, I received an email from a “concerned community member” at Sheridan College in Brampton, Ont., who said they wrote anonymously for “fear of any repercussions.”
The writer contacted Sheridan’s administration to complain about online posts made by Dr. Wael Ramadan, a professor of project management at Sheridan’s Pilon School of Business.
Ramadan was accused of posting “hateful rhetoric about Israel” that the writer considered antisemitic, and which made him or her feel “unsafe.”
“He uses his professorship as a way to influence by promoting hate speech and disinformation about Israel. He calls Israel an ‘apartheid state committing genocide’… I strongly urge you to stop this professor before his words turn into a dreadful act that is completely in your hands to stop today.”
A review of Ramadan’s posts show that he is an ardent Palestinian supporter and a harsh critic of Israel, which he does call an “apartheid state” committing genocide.
He urges a boycott of companies doing business with Israel and helped publicize the worldwide strike in support of Gaza.
In one post made soon after Oct. 7, he says “the dehumanization of Palestinians using fake news and atrocity propaganda is weaponized by apartheid Israel and the U.S. government to incite emotion against Palestinians.”
That sounds dangerously close to downplaying — or worse, denying — the horrors of Oct. 7.
Yet nowhere does he advocate genocide, incite hatred in a way likely to lead to breach of the peace or wilfully promote hatred.
The laws of the land are vague and complicated when it comes to hate speech, but the best guide we have is chief justice Brian Dickson’s ruling in the 1990 R v Keegstra case.
He wrote: “Hatred is predicated on destruction. Hatred against identifiable groups therefore thrives on insensitivity, bigotry and destruction of both the target group and the values of our society. Hatred in this sense is the most extreme emotion that belies reason, an emotion that if exercised against members of an identifiable group, implies that those individuals are to be despised, scorned, denied respect and subject to ill-treatment on the basis of a group affiliation.”
Clearly some of Ramadan’s language is borderline vilification, but that charge has to be balanced against his Charter right to freedom of expression, subject to reasonable limits.
The reasonable limit it seems to me is the absence of any incitement to violence.
I reached out to Ramadan to ask if he has been advised of any disciplinary action by the college but received no response.
Meagan Kashty, manager of communications and public relations at Sheridan, did not comment on the specifics of the complaint against Ramadan but said it is not the institution’s role to shield people from ideas or opinions they find disagreeable or offensive. “Individuals must make these judgments for themselves and challenge ideas they find unacceptable,” she said.
It is entirely within keeping with the times that a double standard is at play: that an academic defending Israel is suspended, while an academic attacking Israel is condoned.
But I think Sheridan has struck a better balance than Guelph-Humber has.
In any case, that is not Ramadan’s issue. Unlike the masked thug in the Eaton Centre, he does not threaten to commit, or urge anyone else to commit, “dreadful acts,” beyond boycotting Starbucks.
The divisions in the Middle East, and in Canada, have to end one day, and that will require people of good faith turning their backs on the extremists and engaging in dialogue with those with whom they disagree.
In the words of influential American judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, we should be “eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe,” unless they require an immediate check to save the country.
We are not there. The bullies and the masked thugs have not shut down our marketplace of ideas quite yet.
National Post
jivison@criffel.ca
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Full proceeds from the sale of the five tote bags go toward the Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation.
Wave hello to hydration
Our favourite Secret Santa or White Elephant gifts under $25, $30, $50 and $100
These tree are available on Amazon and will arrive in time
Creating an all-vegan beauty routine has never been easier.
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Nikkei Editorial
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
visit website
