Expression of honestly-held beliefs during an election campaign censored

The Justice Centre intervened in the hearing of Oger v Whatcott (No. 16408) in the BC Human Rights Tribunal. During the 2017 British Columbia provincial election campaign, activist Bill Whatcott handed out over 1,000 flyers in the electoral district of Vancouver False Creek. The flyer expressed Whatcott’s opinions and “concern about the promotion and growth of homosexuality and transvestitism in British Columbia.” In his flyers, Whatcott asserted that NDP candidate Morgane Oger was a male, and argued that “[t]hose who promote falsehoods like the NDP and BC’s major media . . . do so to their eternal peril.” Oger narrowly lost the campaign to a former Vancouver mayor. Oger filed a human rights complaint against Whatcott, alleging that Whatcott’s flyers had exposed Oger to discrimination, hatred and contempt under section 7 of the BC Human Rights Code. In December of 2017, the Tribunal granted the Justice Centre permission to intervene in this case, to make submissions in defence of freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  The Tribunal noted that the Justice Centre “may provide useful input … with regard to the law”.