Even in a democratic society, there are limits to freedom of speech.
We have laws that prohibit libel and slander for good reason. Libel is when you write an untruth — something demonstrably false — about someone else. If you say Danni is dishonest, when they’re not, that’s libellous. Slander is the same thing, but it’s spoken, not written.
We’ve got lots of other different examples of how free speech is restricted in our democratic society. You can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theatre when there’s no fire. And you are not allowed to engage in hate speech.
Recently I was flabbergasted to learn that, once again, the NPA’s board member and head fundraiser Christopher Wilson — the former BC director of the alt-right Rebel Media, and known sexist and anti-environmentalist I blogged about earlier — is in the spotlight for more disturbing behaviour.
This time, it’s for Wilson’s despicable comments urging Vancouverites to “start harassing” Vancouver’s homeless people struggling with addiction — “low-lifes” he calls them — and run them out of the neighbourhood.
In a private Facebook group which was reported as filming and shaming homeless people, Wilson commented on a photo supposedly showing homeless drug users in Vancouver. His outrageous comments were first exposed by Sean Orr in Scout Vancouver. Then they were amplified in PressProgress, the most shared progressive media in Canada. (PressProgress is a non-profit news organization started by the Broadbent Institute to focus on original reporting and critical analysis.)
Wilson had posted his remarks in a private Facebook group, and they’ve since been taken down. But PressProgress and Sean have documented them nicely. In part, Wilson stated, “Let’s start harassing these low-lifes.”
If ever there was an example of hate speech, this is it.
I’ve always been a strong believer in freedom of speech. When I sat on city council for six years, I strongly disagreed with most of the views of NPA councillors, including George Puil and Jennifer Clarke. But I would always defend their right — and the rights of anyone — to hold their particular perspectives.
But Christopher Wilson’s hate speech is in an entirely different category.
To their credit, the entire NPA elected caucus released a statement denouncing Wilson’s remarks the day after PressProgress first made them public. It’s a start, but you have to ask yourself, how on earth did he get on the NPA board in the first place?
I remind everybody: The NPA membership can and, hopefully, will remove him at the next NPA annual general meeting. It will take away at least one of his power bases.
But we know attention-seekers like him only surface in some other shady scenario, so let’s all keep our eyes peeled and expose him for the hate-monger he is wherever he shows up.
In terms of the people Wilson ignorantly called “low-lifes”, it’s well-documented that individuals who are homeless are rarely homeless due to their own fault. It’s our fault as a society. In a democracy, we elect our government, so government is us, and we’re simply not building the amount of social housing we once did.
It is also time that we decriminalised non-prescription drugs and provided a safe drug supply. This would eliminate the unacceptable number of deaths resulting from a poisoned drug supply.
As COPE city councillor Jean Swanson recently observed from her own experience living on the DTES in the 1970s, there was a lot of poverty but there was little, if any, homelessness because governments were building an adequate amount of social housing. We must demand that our governments get back to what they used to do — building the right amount of housing. (See Jean’s practical plan to end homelessness here in The Georgia Straight.)
Homeless people do not deserve to be run out of our city. Christopher Wilson does!
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (Sept. 10, 2020): 410.99 ppm
One year ago (Sept. 10, 2019): 408.77 ppm
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Thanks for sharing
There was little homeless in seventies because there wasn’t drug epidemic. My family came to Canada in the fifties with thousands of other Europeans. We ended up in Kitimat with low paying jobs, crowded shelter, parents who didn’t speak English, and a lot of discrimination. And yes we were very poor. In our last 40 year reunion, everone had gotten a good education or skill and had a successful life. The situation in DTES isn’t “The Gapes of Wrath”, a billion dollars is spent annually on .3 percent of pop. Much of it that should go towards basic needs ends up in the drug trade that gives a bit of short term feel good but a lifetime of despair. We’ve had decades of bad policies that has seen the area resemble a worse slum than the ones found in developing countries. Addicts with no hope should be given clean drugs but those who still have a chance need treatment on demand and 24/7 support that could take years. Countries that have successful programs do NOT have an attitude of “addicts can do no wrong “. They are expected to keep their units and surrounding areas clean and dysfunctional behaviour is strongly discouraged. You certainly dont see our drug ghetto that” Advocates for Drug” Use call warm and vibrant in Switzerland and other places because they have rules and control. Vancouver’s success has only been in continued failure or throwing the “baby out with the water”. Drugs are bad and harmful, they destroy brain function, families, communities, and economy. I do not think Addicts should be stigmatized because they are not in their lucid state for the most part. However, there are too many groups lobbying for a lifestyle of addiction that they deem is OK/a human right and should be supported by taxpayers to limit the associated crime. This is what the public in general disagrees with but can’t seem to articulate without sounding offensive.