A judge of the Court of Quebec affirms that Canadians have the inherent and fundamental right, guaranteed by the Constitution, to give the middle finger to an inconvenient neighbour.
Judge Dennis Galiatsatos made the comments in February acquitting a Montreal-area man charged with criminal harassment. The judge even described as appalling injustice the very fact that this man had been arrested and charged.
Neall Epstein was arrested by police in May 2021 after presenting his two erect middle fingers to a neighbor, Michael Naccache, who threatened him by holding a power tool.
Mr Naccache, 34, said his neighbor had been harassing him and his family for months. The judge instead found that the Naccache family had attempted to use the legal system to seek revenge against Mr. Epstein, for alleged slights.
The judge writes that Mr. Naccache is very lucky not to be himself accused of having uttered threats. He believes that Mr. Naccache’s father, mother and brother are also lucky not to have been charged in this case.
In his decision, written in English, Judge Galiatsatos writes that he wished he could literally, and not just figuratively, dismiss the complaint — “ throw the case out as the jurists say in English.
“Alas, the courtrooms of the Montreal courthouse have no windows. A simple verdict of acquittal will have to suffice,” concludes the judge.
“To be very clear, it’s not a crime to give someone the middle finger. […] It is a fundamental right enshrined in the Charter, which belongs to all Canadians.
“It may not be civil, it may not be polite, it may not be courteous. But it does not engage criminal liability. Offending someone is not a crime. This is an integral part of freedom of expression,” also wrote Judge Galiatsatos.