The Canadian government has moved to intervene in the committee work. They plan on putting sexual assault issues on the backburner in favour of C-11.
The debate surrounding Bill C-11 has taken a sickening turn. The Canadian government has already been itching to shut down debate on Bill C-11 (and Bill C-18 for that matter). This despite the widespread outcry of the damaging effects the legislation would have on digital first creators, the music industry, freedom of expression, the quality viewing experience of users, and more.
While this debate was going on, a much more important debate has been taking place in the world of sports. There were allegations of sexual assault within the Hockey Canada organization. Here’s a TSN report on it:
Hockey Canada executives may be asked within days to testify before a parliamentary subcommittee in Ottawa about the decision to settle a lawsuit in which eight Canadian Hockey League players, including some members of Canada’s 2017-18 World Junior team, were accused of sexually assaulting a woman.
The woman, who is not identified in court records, alleged the assaults occurred in June of 2018 in a London, Ont. hotel following a Hockey Canada event. Her allegations were included in a lawsuit filed April 20 that has been settled.
The plaintiff asked a judge to award $3.55 million. The amount of the settlement is unknown. The allegations against the players were never proven in court and none of the defendants filed a response.
Canada’s Minister for Sport, Pascale St-Onge, said last week she is ordering an audit of Hockey Canada’s finances to determine whether taxpayer money was used to settle the case.
A spectacular case can be made that the Canadian government should be looking at this. Unfortunately, the Canadian government is seemingly suggesting that this is actually less of a priority then they might lead people to believe. A motion was put forth to put the governments side of this investigation on the backburner. Why? Because, apparently, cracking down on free speech on social media is a much bigger priority for the Canadian government:
Government moving to intervene in Heritage committee review of Bill C-11. Motion would require committee to put study on Hockey Canada abuse on the backburner and prioritize C-11. Limit clause-by-clause review to a single day and limit more House debate. https://t.co/OfT2ZF4snZ
— Michael Geist (@mgeist) June 9, 2022
Government moving to intervene in Heritage committee review of Bill C-11. Motion would require committee to put study on Hockey Canada abuse on the backburner and prioritize C-11. Limit clause-by-clause review to a single day and limit more House debate.
The development represents a scandal double whammy for the government. For one, there is the scandal of how the government isn’t hearing what it wants to hear. Rather than fix any of the issues, they would rather shut down debate and review of the legislation in favour of rushing the fatally flawed legislation through at the behest of corporate lobbyists. For another, this is a signal that the Canadian government does not treat allegations of sexual assault seriously. What’s more, the government is signalling that it views cracking down on free speech on social media a much bigger priority than investigating and dealing with allegations of sexual assault. It’s… hard to find the words for just how sickening this all is.
At any rate, it looks like the government is going to try and crack down on the free and open Internet at all costs. If people like J.J. McCullough found the presence of special interests at the hearings disillusioning, we can only imagine how much more so people like him would be when they find out that sexual assault studies are going on the back burner in favour of attacking free speech on social media. For me personally, my response to the Canadian government is “f*** you!”
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
