Forwarded by the JPLO List



MMN Note: In principle we agree with combatting hate-speech in Canada, but
keep an eye on this initiative as it may also be used as a pre-text to
silence and criminalize all criticism of Israel, especially considering the
pro-zionist politics of Erwin Cotler.

BTW, on January 21, 2004 we received a forwarded e-mail from a local Jewish
leader which stated the following words: "We monitor the Montreal Muslim New
Network, as do the American and Israeli consulates, for its constant
disinformation and frequent incitement."

------------------------------------

Ottawa targets online hate
Justice Minister Cotler outlines 'national action plan against racism'

ELIZABETH THOMPSON
The Montreal Gazette- Tuesday, October 12, 2004

http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=635197de-0
b6e-409e-aea2-50cbd8da3d91

The federal government is preparing to introduce legislation in a bid to
combat the "explosion" of hate sites on the Internet, Justice Minister Irwin
Cotler says.

Cotler says he also wants to encourage more police departments across Canada
to set up their own special hate-crimes squads and for those squads to work
together more closely and better co-ordinate their efforts.

In an interview with The Gazette to discuss last week's Speech from the
Throne and his plans over the coming months, Cotler said combatting racism,
hate speech and hate crimes will be one of his top priorities.

"We have to send out the message unequivocally - as a government and as part
of our shared citizenship and shared values - that our Canada is one in
which there will be no sanctuary for hate and no refuge for bigotry," he
said. "We will use all the panoply of remedies to bring that about: legal
remedies, intercultural dialogue, promotion of multiculturalism,
anti-discrimination law and policy."

Cotler called the various efforts "a national action plan against racism."

This year has seen an increase in "both the incidence and intensity of hate
crimes," said Cotler, a longtime champion of human rights. Among those
crimes, he said, were the firebombing of a Talmud Torahs Jewish day school
in Montreal and the torching of a mosque near Toronto.

While Cotler notes that Canada has "the most comprehensive legal regime to
combat hate of any comparable democracy," he says we can do more -
particularly when it comes to the Internet. "Where in 1995 you had one hate
site, today in 2004, 10 years later, we have 5,000 hate sites. You have had
an explosion of hate on the Internet."

Those sites can be dangerous, Cotler said. "We know that hate on the
Internet is very often borderless, anonymous. It targets young people in
particular and is particularly prejudicial and pernicious because it not
only can cause harm to the target group but it also is even used as a
recruitment mechanism ... and even as a fundraising mechanism."

Traditionally, Canadian legislators have been reluctant to tackle the thorny
issue of Internet content because the international nature of the Internet
makes it difficult for any given country to enforce its laws.

The solution, Cotler says, is for us to work in conjunction with other
nations. "No country alone can combat hate on the Internet. You need the
concerted effort of ... the international community."

In addition to adopting domestic legislation to fight "cyberhate," Cotler
said, Canada has to ratify the Council of Europe convention on cybercrime as
well as its optional protocol with respect to combatting hate.

The Organization of American States has made combatting hate a priority, as
have justice ministers from G8 countries, Cotler said.

However, combatting hate on the Internet is just one of the steps Canada has
to take, according to Cotler. "We need to ensure that we've got anti-hate
units for investigative and enforcement purposes in federal policing and
security forces across this country.

"There are some, but they are only beginning. There are some places that
don't have them at all. There are some places like Montreal where it is only
beginning. There are some places in Ontario that have already begun. So we
need to encourage both their establishment ... and then their co-ordination
once established."

ethompson@ thegazette.canwest.com
________________________________________________________
Montreal Muslim News Network - http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net

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R E C O N C I L I A T I O N C O N F ER E N C E L I S T

since 1994 by

Jewish People’s Liberation Organization

Against Zionism and anti-Jewish racism
Abraham Weizfeld moderator-founder SaaLaHa@...
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see political declaration JPLO
http://www.cam.org/~saalaha <http://www.cam.org/~saalaha>
and the books
Sabra-Shatila, 1984
The End of Zionism
and the liberation of the Jewish People, 1989

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