Hate Speech in Canada: A Law With Two Edges

Hate Speech in Canada: A Law With Two Edges By Dale Jodoin Journalist and Columnist Hate speech in Canada has turned into one of those topics where people stop talking the second you bring it up. You can almost hear the brakes squeal. Nobody wants trouble. Nobody wants their name dragged through the mud. Some folks think you should be charged just for disagreeing with a belief. Others feel these laws are being used to scare people into silence. It leaves a lot of Canadians walking on eggshells every time they open their mouths. The government, mostly the Liberal and NDP side, keeps floating new ideas to expand hate speech rules online. They talk like they are trying to stop danger. They make it sound like they are protecting everyone. Most people know what real hate speech is. It happens when someone pushes others to the point where hurting someone becomes likely. It is when a person winds people up until violence feels close. That kind of threat is what the law should shut down fast. But the problem is staring everyone in the face. The rules do not hit everyone the same. If you insult or threaten certain groups, the whole system wakes up. Police get involved. Lawyers jump in. The media blasts your name everywhere. But if the same kind of hate is thrown at Christians, nothing happens. It gets brushed off like it is harmless. You can watch people mock their faith, threaten them, insult them day after day, and nobody steps in. So you start wondering. Why does hate count for some people and not for others? Why is hate towards Christians treated like a joke? There is a trend now where a small group of people from another faith show up at churches to pray loudly on the property. Some call it hate prayer. Some call it dominance prayer. It is not coming from all Muslims. Most Muslims are good neighbours who want peace. This is coming from a small number who use prayer like a tool. It is pressure dressed up as devotion. It sends a message. It says this is our ground now. And here is the part nobody wants to say out loud. If Christians tried this at a mosque, the whole country would break out in sirens. The media would shout hate. The government would call it a threat. People would demand charges. And honestly, they would not be wrong. Doing that would feel like intimidation. So why is it not intimidation when churches face it? Why does the government look the other way? Take a look at Europe. This stuff started there years ago. People walked into churches during services, prayed over everyone, refused to leave, and acted like they were in charge. Church leaders said it felt like a test. Anyone who has lived through conflict knows that feeling. A group pushes a little to see how far they can go. If someone walked into your house without permission and started telling you what to accept, you would not call it friendly. You would call it pressure. It feels the same in a church. When a place meant for peace is used like a stage for someone else’s message, that is intimidation. And intimidation is a form of hate. Yet the government and parts of the media pretend this is nothing. And this is where the double standard shows its teeth. Hate speech is supposed to work like a two edged sword. Both sides should be cut the same. But in Canada, only one side ever gets used. The media points one edge at people they do not like and calls them hateful even when they are just speaking plain truth. The other side stays buried when certain groups cross the line. Think back to all the churches that burned after false stories spread online. These were real places. Families prayed there. Communities depended on them. They went up in flames. Was it treated like hate? Not really. It softened. Explained away. Dropped from the news faster than it appeared. Or look at the threats shouted at Jewish Canadians. There are videos of people yelling about killing Jews in public. If a neo Nazi had done that, the country would have gone into lockdown. Headlines would be screaming. But when a different group does it, the tone changes. The media steps lightly. They call it frustration. They avoid using the word hate as if it might break their teeth. Hate should not depend on who you are. Hate is hate. If it only counts for certain groups, then we do not have fairness. We have a rigged system. Christianity being a majority faith does not make hate against Christians harmless. A bigger group can still be targeted. People are scared to talk about it because nobody wants to get labeled. One wrong word and you can get hit with names that stick to you like glue. That fear shows how messed up the meaning of hate has become. It is thrown around so much that nobody knows what it means anymore. Canada needs to reset the basics. Hate speech should mean real danger. It should mean real threats. It should mean pushing a crowd toward violence. It should not mean disagreeing with a belief or asking honest questions. A free country needs room for real talk. If people cannot speak without fear, freedom becomes a slogan printed on a poster. Silencing only one side is not protection. It is controlled. A healthy society protects Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, and anyone else the same way. No special treatment. No turning a blind eye. No excuses. This is not about attacking anyone’s faith. It is about fairness. Hate is hate. Intimidation is intimidation. And the law should work the same for everyone. If we forget that, we lose a piece of the country we say we are proud of. As I see it, both sides of the blade should matter. Both sides should be sharp. Both sides should be equal under the law. That is the truth as I see it. I am Dale Jodoin, a journalist. I look at both sides of the news and I chase the truth even when it is not pretty.