Canada: Death knell for freedom of speech as House of Commons passes “anti-Islamophobia” motion

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/03/canada-death-knell-for-freedom-of-speech-as-house-of-commons-passes-anti-islamophobia-motion

March 23, 2017 6:23 pm By Robert Spencer 85 Comments

Imagine if a “right-wing extremist,” say, a white supremacist, had killed three people in London yesterday. Do you think Canada would have today passed a motion condemning a “phobia” of white supremacists?

The supporters of the Canadian bill condemning “Islamophobia” insist that it will not restrict the freedom of speech, but interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose was more realistic: she said that she was concerned that charges of “Islamophobia” would be used “to intimidate rather than to inform,” and added: “I do worry that some of my work trying to empower women and girls in Muslim communities could be branded as ‘Islamophobic’ if I criticize practices that I believe are oppressive.”

Of course she is absolutely right. That is exactly what happened to Pamela Geller and me when we held a conference about honor killing, and when we tried to run ads in Edmonton offering help to women and girls who were threatened. This “non-binding” motion will have a chilling effect on speech, and will work toward intimidating into silence anyone who dares to speak out against Canada’s suicidal refugee policies, seditious activity in mosques, Sharia oppression of women taking place in Canada, and more. If it isn’t overturned, it will lead ultimately to new and binding laws that will be the end of Canada as a free society. Establishing a particular group as beyond criticism is laying the groundwork for tyranny.


“House of Commons passes anti-Islamophobia motion,” CBC News, March 23, 2017:

The House of Commons has passed M-103, a non-binding motion condemning Islamophobia and religious discrimination.
All NDP and nearly all Liberal MPs supported the motion, which passed 201-91. The majority of Conservative MPs voted against, with leadership candidate Michael Chong and Simcoe North MP Bruce Stanton voting in favour. Mississauga Liberal MP Gagan Sikand and Barrie Conservative MP Alex Nuttall both abstained.
The vote follows months of bitter debate and a series of protests and counter-protests across the country over whether the private member’s motion would limit free speech or single out Islam for special treatment in Canadian law.
It had additional symbolic significance in the emotional aftermath of the Jan. 29 mosque shooting in Quebec City, where six Muslim men were killed.
The motion was tabled by Mississauga-Erin Mills Liberal MP Iqra Khalid on Dec. 5, 2016. She spoke to reporters after the motion passed Thursday.
“I’m really happy that the vote today has shown positive support for this motion and I’m really looking forward to the committee taking on this study,” she said.
Khalid’s motion calls on the government to do three things:
Condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination.
Quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear.
Compel the Commons heritage committee to develop a government-wide approach for reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination, including Islamophobia.
The latter would require the heritage committee to collect data on hate crime reports, conduct needs assessments for affected communities and present findings within eight months.
Liberals rejected an attempt by Saskatchewan Conservative MP David Anderson to remove the word “Islamophobia​” from the motion and change the wording to “condemn all forms of systemic racism, religious intolerance and discrimination of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus and other religious communities.
Anderson argued Islamophobia was not defined in Khalid’s motion, and that its inclusion contributed to widespread confusion and fears about the effect on freedom of speech….