It was easy for the political class to denounce the hateful comments from Adil Charkaoui during a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
The wave of anti-Semitism that has swept Montreal since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas illustrates the danger to which a society is exposed when it tolerates such excesses.
However, the Charkaoui affair taught us all that freedom of religion can be invoked to avoid accusations of hate propaganda.
And if Justin Trudeau is quick to plead for tolerance, his government shows no urgency to reopen the Criminal Code on this subject.
Fortunately, the Bloc Québécois decided to take care of it!
- Listen to the Latraverse-Abdelfadel political meeting with Emmanuelle Latraverse via QUB radio :
Two weights, two measures
By tabling a bill in the House of Commons, Yves-François Blanchet will above all force the entire political class to speak out, starting with the Prime Minister.
In doing so, he will confront Justin Trudeau with his own contradictions.
Remember the aftermath of the murder of French teacher Samuel Paty by an Islamist who was enraged that he had dared to show caricatures of Mohammed to his students.
Justin Trudeau did not hesitate to suggest that freedom of expression was not without limits, because it should not offend certain minorities, read here not offend a certain segment of the Muslim community.
Archive photo, AFP
We would therefore dare to believe that the Charkaoui affair would provide a perfect moment to review the provisions governing hate speech in the country.
But no. Radio silence.
The Trudeau government instead cultivates the myth that the Muslim community is just as stigmatized and victim of violence in the wake of the conflict between Israel and Hamas as the Jewish community.
But that is false. Police statistics demonstrate this.
In a country that has been so cautious for decades in cracking down on the glorification of terrorism and hate speech, we can’t wait to finally have this debate.
