B.C. Human Rights Tribunal says it can hear allegations of online hate speech

An unnamed school district in British Columbia has been ordered by the province's human rights tribunal to pay $5,000 to a student for failing to accommodate her anxiety disorder. The office that houses the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is seen in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, March 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nono Shen

British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal has ruled it has the authority to hear cases about allegations of online hate speech.

The tribunal says provincial human rights laws against publications that perpetrate discrimination or hatred fall under the province's jurisdiction, not the federal government's control over telecommunications.

The decision is part of an ongoing human rights complaint between the BC Teachers' Federation and former Chilliwack school board trustee Barry Neufeld.

Neufeld made several online posts starting in 2017 objecting to the province's sexual orientation education initiative, including comparing allowing children to change genders to child abuse.

He argued that the internet falls within exclusive federal jurisdiction over telecommunications.

The tribunal's decision says the merits of the allegations about Neufeld’s online publications will be decided when the hearing resumes in the fall.

B.C.'s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender, who is an intervener in the case, said in a statement that the decision is a positive one.

“The tribunal’s decision means that discriminatory or hateful speech will not be immune from provincial human rights laws just because it was published online," she said.

"The B.C. Human Rights Code will continue to offer protection to people in this modern context.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2024