“A self-styled online media personality whose websites frequently air anti-Muslim content has been ordered to pay the owner of a prominent Middle Eastern restaurant chain millions of dollars after publicly accusing him of funding terrorism. Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Ferguson ordered Kevin J. Johnston to pay a total of $2.5 million in damages for defamation to Mohamad Fakih, the owner and founder of Paramount Fine Foods.”
Canada does not have the First Amendment. In Canada, free speech….
can be limited to protect other rights or important national values. For example, freedom of expression may be limited by laws against hate propaganda or child pornography. Section 1 of the Charter says that Charter rights can be limited by law so long as those limits can be shown to be reasonable in a free and democratic society.
In August 2017, Global News published an edition the John Oakley Show: OCLA [Ontario Civil Liberties Association] wants “hate speech” removed from the criminal code.
The OCLA in fact started “a petition to defend the free speech rights of Kevin Johnston”. Denis Rancourt, who is a researcher at Ontario Civil Liberties Association, discussed “the OCLA petition to Attorney General Yasir Naqvi to retract consent to lay hate crime charge on Kevin Johnston”, and you can listen to at this link HERE.
“‘Hate speech at its worst’: Ontario restauranteur awarded $2.5M in defamation suit against online media personality”, by Michelle McQuigge, National Post, May 14, 2019:
A self-styled online media personality whose websites frequently air anti-Muslim content has been ordered to pay the owner of a prominent Middle Eastern restaurant chain millions of dollars after publicly accusing him of funding terrorism.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Ferguson ordered Kevin J. Johnston to pay a total of $2.5 million in damages for defamation to Mohamad Fakih, the owner and founder of Paramount Fine Foods.
Johnston, who operated websites including FreedomReport.ca and recently came in second place in Mississauga’s mayoral race, posted multiple videos attacking Fakih.
In the videos, shot in 2017, Johnston made a series of incendiary statements including a claim Fakih was an “economic terrorist” with backing from the Pakistani spy agency.
He also alleged restaurant policy barred staff from admitting anyone who wasn’t a “jihadist.”
Ferguson says Johnston’s words amounted to hate speech that called for particularly strong condemnation from the court.
“In this fractious 21st century — where social media and the internet now allow some of the darkest forces in our society to achieve attention — (issues raised by the case) are numerous and profound, and their impact extends well beyond the borders of this country,” she wrote in her decision released Monday.
“Motivated by ignorance and a reckless regard for acceptable norms, the Johnston defendants’ behaviour reflects a contempt for Canada’s judicial process, an abuse of the very freedoms this country affords them and a loathsome example of hate speech at its worst.”
Johnston did not respond to a request for reaction to Ferguson’s ruling, and the paralegal who represented him during the defamation suit could not be reached for comment.
According to Ferguson’s decision, Johnston and another man shot the video footage on July 20, 2017, while a fundraiser for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was taking place at Paramount’s flagship location in Mississauga…..