Repeal section 19(1) of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Human Rights Act, 2010

To justiceminister@gov.nl.ca,

The Honourable Bernard Davis
Minister of Justice and Public Safety
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Confederation Building
P.O. Box 8700
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, A1B 4J6

RE: Repeal section 19(1) of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Human Rights Act, 2010

Dear Minister Davis,

I am writing to urge your government to repeal section 19(1) of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Human Rights Act, 2010, S.N.L. 2010, c H-13.1, which grants Newfoundland and Labrador’s human rights system authority to regulate certain forms of lawful speech and political expression.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s Human Rights Act, 2010 plays an important role in prohibiting genuine discrimination in employment, housing, public services, and other areas of civic life. These protections are already addressed throughout the Act’s provisions governing discriminatory conduct in employment, tenancy, services, accommodation, and related matters.

Section 19(1) is fundamentally different. It prohibits publishing or displaying, or permitting to be published or displayed, any notice, sign, symbol, emblem, or other representation indicating discrimination or an intention to discriminate against a person or class of persons based on a prohibited ground.

Unlike the rest of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Human Rights Act, 2010, section 19(1) regulates expressive activity rather than discriminatory conduct itself. While this provision is narrower than similar provisions found in some other provinces, it nonetheless permits complaints based on public expression and speech. In recent years, similar provisions elsewhere in Canada have increasingly been used to investigate and penalize citizens for expressing lawful opinions on controversial social and political issues. In one recent case in British Columbia, the BC Human Rights Tribunal ordered former Chilliwack School Board Trustee Barry Neufeld to pay $750,000 over comments criticizing gender ideology policies in schools.

Repealing section 19(1) would not legalize discrimination. Newfoundland and Labrador’s Human Rights Act, 2010 would continue to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, services, and public accommodations. Nor would repeal affect the Criminal Code prohibition on the wilful promotion of hatred under section 319.

I therefore urge you and all Members of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador to support legislation repealing section 19(1) of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Human Rights Act, 2010.

Newfoundland and Labrador should lead the way in protecting both genuine human rights and freedom of expression.

Sincerely,