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Hateful Facts

Bit of a dispute in the Great White Up. There was a debate between free thinking Wafa Sultan and Danial Pipes that had the temerity to touch on the Aisha situation. In a synagogue.

The whole thing sent “hardened, secular Muslim” Tarek Fatah into something of a lather.

So tell me, any Canadian jurists out there: Is truth, in Canada, a defense to slander?

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8 comments to Hateful Facts

  • CdninQ8

    Thankfully, both sides of this debate get equal space in one of Canada’s largest newspapers. No one is likely to get shot, bombed, run over, beheaded, or tortured over it. Words will fly, we “ordinary” Canadians will make up our minds (or not) regarding the “vitriol,” “hate mongering” and “slander” and both Mr Fatah and Dr Sultan will be welcome to go at it again in person or in print without fear of any to life and limb. Gotta love the Great White Up.

    And yes – truth is the only defense to allegations of slander since slander by definition is a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report.

  • mojo

    No. I think if you commit a thoughtcrime, they take you to the Ministry of Love and strap rabid rats to your face.

    Or maybe that was just a movie.

  • Quartermaster

    The Human Rights Commissions have disallowed the use of the truth as a defense. Ask Mark Steyn sometime. He just barely dodged a bullet up there.

    When rule of law obtains, the truth is an absolute defense against slander. Canada has only a losse association with the rule of law, just like the US, although ours is a bit more firm than their’s. However, not by too much.

    • And Canada’s Constitution contains no equivalent of our First Amendment.

      QM’s right — Canada’s HRC make the Thought Police look like the Keystone Cops.

  • We ‘ordinary’ Canadians think of the HRC as the Gestapo of Political Correctness. I concede the painful truths proffered by my fellow Lex fans. :-(

  • Ah, sadly us Canucks only have this, as one of our many, constitutionally guaranteed rights.

    2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

    (a) freedom of conscience and religion;
    (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
    (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
    (d) freedom of association.

    So that would be different from your First Amendment how, BillT?

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