A bill proposing that the provincial legislature of Ontario petition the Federal Government at Ottawa for enactment of a law making incitement to racial hatred a criminal offense will be introduced by Vernon Singer, a Liberal member of the provincial house, at the next session of the Ontario Legislature, it was announced here today. Under Canadian law, a criminal law can be enacted only by the Federal Parliament.
In Mr. Singer’s draft, Ontario’s Minister of Justice Lucien Gardin would be instructed to prepare amendments to the Federal Criminal Code, making it an offense for any one to promote genocide or to make public statements which would incite hatred against any identifiable group where such statements are likely to lead to a breadch of the peace. Attorney General Arthur Wishart, of Ontario, said the Provincial authorities would be willing to prosecute disseminators of hate literature if a Federal ban on such activities is enacted at Ottawa.
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