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TORONTO – Today, the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s Litigation Director, Josh Dehaas, wrote to officials of the Region of Durham with concerns about the recently announced Community-Based Hate Reporting Program, which will unconstitutionally limit the free expression of Durham residents.

According to Durham Region, the program allows residents to confidentially and anonymously report “incidents of hate” that “do not meet the threshold of criminality,” including offensive jokes, the destroying of religious texts, and text messages perceived to be discriminatory. 

“The Supreme Court has been clear that there is no right not to be offended in Canada,” Dehaas said. “Police have no business collecting anonymous reports of speech perceived to be offensive but not criminal.”

Read the full letter outlining the CCF’s concerns with the program here.