Student acquitted over gender-reassignment video charges
An Ontario court has acquitted an Ontario high school student who faced criminal charges for posting flyers around his school which linked to a video warning about gender reassignment surgery health..
An Ontario court has acquitted an Ontario high school student who faced criminal charges for posting flyers around his school which linked to a video warning about gender reassignment surgery health risks.
The 18-year-old was charged with inciting hatred and mischief after school staff took offence to the video, which was graphic, and linked to the poster via a QR code.
The student was represented by defence lawyer Alan Honner, with financial support from the Democracy Fund.
Honner argued that while the video was controversial and contained difficult subject matter, it did not breach the legal threshold for hate speech.
Following a two-day trial in the Ontario Court of Justice, the student was acquitted of all charges, with the judge determining that the video linked by the flyer didn’t incite hatred against transgendered persons, nor did it constitute hate speech.
"The courts have consistently held that hate speech must be extreme, promoting the vilification and detestation of a particular group," said Honner. "The trial judge recognized that this case did not meet that standard and accordingly entered an acquittal."
The student was first approached by school authorities while he was putting up the posters. After scanning the QR code, they proceeded to watch the first 15 seconds of the 14-minute video.
They then called the police on the assumption that the student was engaging in hate speech, which led to a criminal investigation and his subsequent prosecution.
"No reasonably informed person could determine whether the video constituted hate speech based on the first 15-seconds," said Honner.
"Rather than engaging with the student or guiding him towards a better understanding of the social issues, the administration unfortunately chose to pursue a legal remedy."
According to Canadian law, the crime of publicly inciting hatred only occurs when a person “communicates statements in a public setting that promote hatred against an identifiable group in a manner likely to lead to a breach of the peace,” said The Democracy Fund in a press release Monday.
Historically, cases of this kind have rarely been pursued, however, they have become more frequent in recent years due to several polarizing social issues being regularly discussed in public.
"Criminalizing speech is perilous, not least because laws expand to their interpretive limit,” said TDF litigation director Mark Joseph. “Here we see, also, the move to transform a moral or ideological dispute into a legal one. This needs to be resisted so that Canadians can debate issues without fear of legal persecution."
No such thing as hate speech, or shouldn't be. It's just speech. You may not like it, but that's your problem. Incitement to violence is another thing. If I say I despise Islam, that's fine, because I do and there are good reasons for that. If I bring it to another level that becomes a problem. I'm sure plenty of people are fine with saying they hate Christians, Jews, bankers, Big Oil, capitalists, conservatives, Leaf fans. But take on the woke narrative and suddenly you're the enemy.
Thank you TDF and students everywhere who can think for themselves. DEI or some other form of stupidity may rise again if teachers, inherently leftist, start indoctrinating kids at kindergarten.