The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has released its decision in Whatcott v. Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal et al., overturning lower findings that Mr. Whatcott had violated Saskatchewan’s ‘hate speech’ legislation. Mr. Whatcott distributed flyers that made a series of statements about homosexuality and certain sexual behaviour, often using crude and confrontational language. CCLA appeared before the Court to advocate for a robust protection for freedom of expression. While strongly repudiating Mr. Whatcott’s statements, CCLA nonetheless believes that a strong democracy must have a high degree of tolerance for debates about moral issues, even when expressed in polemical terms, provided the speaker does not engage in violence, incitement to violence, or threats. The Court of Appeal found that both the Tribunal and the Court of Queen’s Bench failed to examine the statements in context, and did not take adequate account of freedom of expression.
To read the Court of Appeal’s decision click here.
To read CCLA’s factum before the Court of Appeal click here.
