A special government study on hate literature will be presented to Canada’s Justice Minister Cardin “well before the end of October,” Maxwell Cohen, dean of McGill’s faculty of law, declared here today. He said that a committee appointed by former Justice Minister Guy Favreau in January to look into the problem of increased verbal and written hate campaigns in public assemblies and in the mail, is “almost finished now,” and will have the report in government hands no later than November 1.
The committee, composed of seven specialists drawn from several disciplines and viewpoints, will make recommendations to the Justice Minister. The Government is expected to act on the report, as the “hate literature” field has long been a sore point with minority groups in a country composed almost exclusively of minority groups.
Jewish public opinion, which has played a large part in sparking the study, favors new legislation with teeth in it, and those who oppose legislation are becoming increasingly isolated. Many minority groups and local associations have hailed Postmaster General Nicholson’s ban on the distribution of an American anti-Semitic publication and other forms of hate literature. But the flow of such literature through the mails is difficult to control effectively. The committee is expected to have much to say on this aspect of the problem.
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