It is too vague. I think they’re implying calls for genocide, calls for violence, or things of that nature. Either way, that’s a problem with hate speech laws in general, not C-16.
My understanding for why it’s vague is that if it’s well defined, it becomes easier to loophole either as prosecution or defendant. The law is worded such the way it is so that a judge and Jury can determine whether or not a particular incident falls under hate speech without having to set precedent.
Vague laws that affect what people can and can’t say are exactly my concern. I don’t want anyone to be harassed and I think you have to be a special kind of jackass to deliberately misgender a trans person, but the law should be absolutely clear about what is and is not okay so it can enforced properly and without too much interpretation.
Ok, I just went back and checked, as I realized that I don’t think any of us went to double check the Canadian Criminal Code.
We’re literally all at this point making assumptions of how vague the Criminal Code is based on Pleasehello’s confusion over a statement made by the Canadian Bar Association, which is not the criminal Code.
Give me a minute to actually review the sections of the criminal code affected by C-16 before we get too definitive over how vague it is.
JEDIT: Alright, so, the affected sections of the law are Sections 318, Section 319 (as 319 refers to 318 for its definition) and subparagraph 718.2a(i) As well as including it in the definition of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Section 318, and Section 319 is directly below it: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-72.html#h-93
section 718: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-181.html#h-264
Canadian Human Rights Act: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/h-6/
It should be noted, however, that the CHR only applies to federal matters. The provinces each have their own anti-discrimination acts. For example, In my province of British Columbia, discrimination is handled under The Human Rights Code: http://www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/ID/freeside/00_96210_01
Sections 318 and 319 are actually pretty clear as to what counts as prosecutable (promoting hate might be a little vague, my understanding is that it’s advocacy of discrimination or saying that a group deserves to be oppressed).