There were two significant developments regarding federal labour
and human rights legislation on June 26, 2013:
Human Rights Developments
Bill C-304, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act
(protecting freedom), received royal assent. Principally, the
Act repeals section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights
Act.
Section 13 was designed to combat acts of discrimination
propagated by telephonically transmitted hate speech, which
included—as the primary focus in recent years—the
internet. Under section 13, it was:
"...a discriminatory practice for a person or a group of
persons acting in concert to communicate telephonically or to cause
to be so communicated, repeatedly ... any matter that is likely to
expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the
fact that that person or those persons are identifiable on the
basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination."
