Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson announced here today that his Government will introduce a bill for the outlawry of dissemination of racial and religious hate materials. He said he was not certain whether the measure could be “squeezed” into the agenda of the national Legislature’s session during the fall, but that it “would certainly be ready for the session beginning in January, 1967.”
A campaign for the introduction of such legislation was started by the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1953 and intensified in 1964. Last April, a special parliamentary committee, headed by Dean Maxwell Cohen, of McGill University, recommended legislation for the outlawry of hate propaganda. But, until now, no official comment on the subject has been made by the Government.
Michael Garber, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, expressed gratification today over Premier Pearson’s statement, noting that his pledge “appears to bring to fruition our campaign of many years.” With the passage of a law outlawing hate propaganda, he said, “public opinion will be more readily mobilized to reject the racist and the hate monger, and to ensure that the freedom we enjoy shall continue to prevail.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
