Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Rather than posting a poorly-worded, short-on-facts news story about the guy in Hamilton saying some hate speech, you could cite the actual Canadian Criminal Code which is far more specific and worthy of discussion: https://www.criminal-code.ca/criminal-code-of-canada-section...

This is what the guy was charged with violating (as per https://hamiltonpolice.on.ca/news/hamilton-police-charge-mal... )

Framing it as "Canada jails people for criticizing those of Islamic persuasion" is disingenuous, as if Canada specifically has laws about some specific religion or faith.



Without knowing what was actually said that the courts deemed to be promoting hatred, "Canada jails people for criticizing those of Islamic persuasion" is a valid interpretation. Citing vague laws doesn't make this any more reasonable.


IMO the worthwhile fact to share on an HN thread is "in Canada there are specific laws against inciting hatred through speech etc." and linking that criminal code entry, rather than mentioning and linking a specific news case that we have no real details on. At least the criminal code is a clearly-defined thing we can learn from and internalize, rather than a specific case where the public was not given enough information to make an informed judgement about (as per most news stories, IMO).


Both are important really - the law and how it is interpreted by the courts. That we don't know the details of the case doesn't make it less concerning - on the contrary, media not reporting the relevant facts (in this case, what exactly was said/done) only makes this more concerning. Especially if the lack of reporting is due to fear of running foul of the same censorship laws.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: