Repeal section 7 of British Columbia’s Human Rights Code

To AG.Minister@gov.bc.ca,

The Honourable Niki Sharma, K.C.

Attorney General of British Columbia
Parliament Buildings, Room 232
Victoria, British Columbia, V8V 1X4

Dear Attorney General Sharma,

RE: Repeal section 7 of British Columbia’s Human Rights Code

I am writing to urge your government to immediately repeal section 7 of British Columbia’s Human Rights Code, RSBC 1996, c 210, which gives BC’s human rights system broad powers to punish the public expression of opinion by British Columbians.

Sections 8 through 14 of the British Columbia Human Rights Code prohibit discrimination in the areas of employment, wages, services, housing and tenancy, and other areas of civic life. These sections effectively prohibit discriminatory signage such as “Women need not apply” or “Jews not welcome here.”

Section 7 is fundamentally different because it is used to prosecute and punish British Columbians simply for expressing their opinions on moral, social, and political issues.

Section 7 restricts freedom of speech, rather than only discriminatory conduct. It empowers BC’s human rights system to punish citizens for expressing opinions on matters of public interest, i.e., for exercising their freedom of expression protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

As you know, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ordered former Chilliwack School Board Trustee Barry Neufeld to pay $750,000 to various LGBTQ teachers because he criticized imposing gender ideology on children. His comments do not come remotely close to the wilful promotion of hatred as prohibited by section 319 of the Criminal Code, and nobody suggested that Mr. Neufeld was guilty of hate speech. Yet provincial human rights legislation was used by activists to prosecute and punish a man because they disagreed with his speech. Section 7 allows British Columbians to be prosecuted and punished for non-criminal speech, which is unacceptable in a free country.

I therefore urge you and all Members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia to support the immediate repeal of section 7 of British Columbia’s Human Rights Code, so that speech in British Columbia will be free once more.

Sincerely,