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Thank you. Good afternoon, Madame Minister. |
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Good afternoon, members of the National Assembly. |
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My name is Marc Lebuis and I am the Director of Point de Bascule. |
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Point de Bascule manages an independent and nonpartisan website |
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describing the methods and the means used by Islamist organizations |
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and their leaders to implement their program in Canada. |
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Ten persons or so are involved in what we are doing at one level or another. |
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We are all involved in Point de Bascule on a volunteer basis. |
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Point de Bascule started its activities in the fall of 2006, |
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and the website was opened in the spring of 2007. |
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Aside from maintaining the website, we have organized activities |
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with Muslims who worry about the Islamist threat in Canada. |
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According to our research, Canada is not only facing a terrorist threat, |
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but also much more insidious and non-violent efforts that aim at |
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misleading government agencies, police services, the media, etc., on |
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radical Islam’s ambitions of conquest in Canada and in the West in general. |
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There are many formulations of this plan of conquest. |
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In the early 2000s, Jamal Badawi, one of the main leaders of |
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the Muslim Brotherhood infrastructure in Canada, |
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said that, at that time, Muslims should accept becoming judges |
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and civil servants in Canada even though the country |
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was not ruled by sharia, the Islamic law. |
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He declared that these judges and these civil servants should |
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take advantage of their positions of influence to stop |
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applying current legal provisions that are not compatible with sharia. |
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In 2004, in an interview with Egypt Today, Tariq Ramadan went in |
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the same direction, when he encouraged Islamists operating in Canada |
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to use the Canadian legal framework, which he referred to as |
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“one of the most open in the world,” to subtly and gradually introduce |
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rules of sharia in Canada. At the time, Tariq Ramadan strongly |
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urged his supporters NOT to openly mention their commitment to sharia: |
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“The term sharia in itself is laden with negative connotations in the |
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Western mind,” Ramadan said. “ There is no need to stress that. […] |
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For the time being this is not how we want to be perceived,” he added. |
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This statement to the effect that Islamist lobbies supported from abroad |
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want to implement sharia law in Canada is not new. It was part of the |
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presentation of the motion against Islamic tribunals in Ontario that was |
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adopted by the Quebec National Assembly on May 26, 2005. |
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Today in 2015, those who want to implement sharia in Canada |
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have put on their agenda the adoption of measures banning |
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references to Islamic concepts when describing the threat facing Canada. |
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This is what led us to ask for a hearing by this Commission studying Bill 59. |
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If Bill 59 is adopted, it will make it very risky to talk about the ambitions of |
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Islamists to implement sharia in Canada. In 2005, if the provisions of Bill 59 |
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had been in operation, those who were publicly criticizing the |
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introduction of Islamic tribunals in Ontario would have been at risk |
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of being sued for ‘hate speech.’ On December 2, 2014, when the |
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Quebec Human Rights Commission President, Jacques Fremont, |
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explained on Radio-Canada the recommendations of his |
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organization that led to what is now Bill 59, he pointed out that he |
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intended to use the new powers he was asking for to initiate lawsuits |
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against “people who would write against […] the Islamic religion |
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[…] on a website or on a Facebook page.” |
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We can never repeat it enough: the role of the State is to protect |
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individual freedom of expression: that is the freedom of individuals |
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to criticize ideas, and NOT to protect ideas from the criticism of individuals. |
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A second point that is very troubling in regard to the QHRC’s project, |
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now part of Bill 59, is that the QHRC president justifies it by invoking |
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United Nations resolutions supporting the same goal. What Mr. Frémont |
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did not tell Radio-Canada when he alluded to these UN resolutions |
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on December 2, 2014 is that they originated with the |
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Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the OIC, that claims |
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equivalence between blasphemy, criticism of Islam, defamation |
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of religions and hate speech. |
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Saudi Arabia, one of the OIC’s most important members, invoked |
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the same kind of provisions to sentence Raif Badawi to 1,000 lashes |
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for having criticized certain aspects of Islam on his blog. Quebecers |
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strongly expressed their support for Raif Badawi in recent weeks. |
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The OIC is an association of 56 Muslim countries |
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(with the Palestinian Authority). |
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It constitutes the most important bloc of countries taking part in UN votes. |
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In 1990, displeased with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
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that Saudi Arabia did not approve in 1948, the OIC |
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adopted its own Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam that affirms |
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the primacy of sharia and that is incompatible with freedom of expression. |
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OIC members regularly present resolutions at the UN and in other |
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international forums to criminalize the criticism of Islam. In 1999, |
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Pakistan presented the first resolution to this effect. The first version of this |
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resolution specifically asked for the condemnation of ‘defamation of Islam.’ |
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Subsequent versions referred more generally to ‘defamation of religions.’ |
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At the United Nations, under both the Liberal and Conservative governments, |
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Canada has consistently voted against the censorship proposals |
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proposals brought forward by the OIC since 1999. These proposals |
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are behind the UN resolutions referred to by Mr. Frémont to support |
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the recommendations that have been included in Bill 59. |
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A third reason for opposing Bill 59 is that the Quebec Human Rights |
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Commission that would apply the provisions regarding ‘hate speech’ |
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has a double mandate whose two facets are incompatible in a society |
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based on the rule of law. In a speech he gave at the |
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Université de Montréal on March 25, 2015, the QHRC President, |
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Mr. Frémont, described the QHRC’s activist role as follows: he stated |
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that the QHRC’s mandate is “seeking changes in people’s attitude” |
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“provoking a social change”, and “making the law” by choosing to |
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prosecute difficult cases. When Mr. Frémont explained what he meant |
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by “making the law,” he indicated that the QHRC should initiate lawsuits |
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without the absolute certainty of winning in court, and that the QHRC should |
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take risks” to see how far judges are willing to go to accommodate |
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the changes that the QHRC wants to bring in society. |
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In a society based on the rule of law, the mandate of government |
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bodies is not to attempt to accomplish indirectly |
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what they do not have the mandate to accomplish directly. |
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Salman Rushdie, in an interview to the French magazine L’Express, |
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and several groups of Canadian anti-sharia Muslims, in a full page |
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they published in the National Post on July 30, 2015, pointed out that |
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we must “stop referring to this taboo of so-called Islamophobia.” |
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Rushdie asked: “Why can’t we debate about Islam? It is possible to |
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respect individuals to protect them from intolerance while demonstrating |
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skepticism towards their ideas and even by criticizing them vigorously.” |
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My last criticism of ‘hate speech’ legal suits is that, |
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contrary to libel suits, they are much vaguer, much more arbitrary |
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and the defenses almost nonexistent. The notion of ‘hate speech’ is not |
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defined in Bill 59, but, even if it were, it would be problematic, |
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because this notion of ‘hate speech’ is based solely on what the persons |
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targeted by litigious statements have been made to feel or even |
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what they COULD feel, given that Article 6 of Bill 59 would enable |
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the QHRC to initiate lawsuits without any complaints from the public. |
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Contrary to libel suits, the public interest of raising an issue that could |
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be perceived as offensive is not taken into account with ‘hate speech.’ |
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In a recent Point de Bascule article, we have highlighted that the leader |
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of an organization that has been invited at Bill 59 public hearings had |
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in 2003 in La Presse justified the killing of Salman Rushdie |
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‘for having offended the Prophet.’ |
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If we were being sued for defamation for bringing up this fact, we could |
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stress that it is of public interest to raise this issue since this organization |
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represents 70 Islamic institutions in Montreal. In a ‘hate speech’ lawsuit, |
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this defense would be worthless since the focus is exclusively on the |
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feeling of the person that was targeted by the litigious statements. |
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In closing, I would like to highlight that it would be a tremendous step |
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backwards if Quebec, which probably was the first North American |
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jurisdiction to adopt an anti-sharia resolution in 2005, and which |
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supported Raif Badawi against censorship and persecution by |
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Saudi Arabia, were to give in to pressure and restrict Quebecers’ |
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freedom of expression, notably when they want to describe |
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and resist the Islamist threat. |
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For all these reasons, I urge you not to adopt Bill 59. |
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I thank you for your attention. |