Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Much of the Late Jennifer Lynch's Work Was in Vain, Thankfully

The "human rights" commissar who once compared hate speech to microwaved popcorn ("For the first while on the Internet, there was this little pop, pop, pop. And now, the popcorn is in full popping formation. It’s just omnipresent, 24/7, popping up here, popping up there, and so it seems to make it difficult for measured voices to respond,” she told the National Post in 2009) didn't make much headway in her battle to retain draconian state censorship:
Much of her response to the scandal, including a 2009 report to Parliament that recommended scrapping the hate law’s penalty provisions, was in vain. The law, known as Section 13, was doomed to be repealed. Though it was technically saved as constitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada, the days of Ms. Lynch’s investigators inviting white supremacists to mediation with complainants are over. The legal test of whether a message is “likely to expose” a protected group to “hatred or contempt” is now all but defunct at the federal level.
Defunct: it has a lovely sound, don't you think?

Update: A writer who had the distinction of making it on to la Lynch's enemies list recounts his experience with her redaction action (via SteynOnline).

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