Canadian Anti-hate Law Upheld, in Surprise Move by Ontario Court

In a surprise move, the Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction of Donald Andrew and Robert Smith for violating Canada’s anti-hate law, thereby maintaining the constitutionality of the statute.

Tuesday’s decision was in direct contradiction to one reached in the Alberta Court of Appeal two months ago that overturned the hate crimes conviction of schoolteacher and anti-Semitic propagandist Jim Keegstra. The Alberta court ruled June 6 that the statute was contrary to Canada’s Charter of Rights, portions of which protect free speech.

Andrews, born in Yugoslavia, is leader of a neo-Nazi group formerly known as Western Guard and later renamed the Canadian Nationalist Party. His bimonthly bulletin, edited by Smith, carried propaganda targeting Jews, blacks and immigrants from Third World countries.

While upholding the conviction, the three-judge panel reduced Andrews’, 12-month sentence to three months and Smith’s seven-month sentence to one month.

The judges gave differing reasons for upholding the constitutionality of the hate crime law. Judge Peter Cory found that while the anti-hate law does infringe on the charter’s guarantee of free speech, nevertheless it can be considered a reasonable limit on this freedom, as permitted by the charter’s first section.

The other two judges, Samuel Grange and Horace Krever, went further, stating that the guarantee of freedom of expression was not intended to give constitutional protection to willful dissemination of hatred.

Both cases are being appealed and will likely go before the Supreme Court of Canada, where the anti-hate law will face its ultimate test.