Thread

Montreal adopts bylaw banning insults against police, municipal employees

80 points · 84 comments · MC995

petcat · 1790176685 · focus · HN ↗
Something similar was attempted in Houston in the 1980s and the US Supreme Court struck it down as a clear 1st Amendment violation [1]
> The Constitution does not allow such speech to be made a crime. The freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.
[1] <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/482/451" rel="nofollow">https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/482/451
1. andy99 · 1790177373 · focus · HN ↗
  Canada has a charter of rights and freedoms, but there’s a section that allows governments to override it at will so it’s effectively worthless. And nobody knows that better than Quebec.
  1. busymom0 · 1790178300 · focus · HN ↗
    Doesn't Quebec have it's own slightly different constitution than the Canada wide one? If I remember right, there's been cases where things aren't allowed per Canada Charter but are allowed per Quebec's own one.
    wasabi991011 · 1790181729 · focus · HN ↗
    Sure, Quebec has a different constitution than Canada, but this isn't any different than US states having their own constitutions too.
    The difference is that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has a "notwithstanding clause" which, when invoked, allows a province to avoid having one of its laws struck down by federal courts even if it goes against some parts of the Canadian Charter (though only applies to some rights, not all).

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