Unlike America, hate speech is illegal in Canada but if you are a native Indian some sort of flimsy excuse will always be found for even the grossest hate speech:
"A Saskatchewan court will hear arguments on Thursday in an appeal of a former First Nations leader's hate speech conviction.
David Ahenakew, who at one time held a senate seat in the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, was convicted in provincial court of willfully promoting hatred after he made derogatory comments about Jews to a reporter in December 2002. Ahenakew was also previously head of the Assembly of First Nations.
Court of Queen's Bench Judge Robert Laing overturned Ahenakew's conviction after finding that the trial judge had not properly analyzed the issue of his intent.
On Thursday, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal will hear the Crown's appeal of the Court of Queen's Bench decision. The Court of Appeal is the highest court in the province.
Source
The court hearing is now over but the court has "reserved" its decision -- to be announced when it will get minimal attention, no doubt.
Ahenakew said that Jews were a disease and that Hitler was trying to "clean up the world" when he "fried six million of those guys." But apparently he was angry when he said that to a reporter so that's OK.
If he gets let off, the neo-Nazis who have recently been convicted in Canada would seem to have an easy ride to getting their convictions overturned too. They would just have to say they were feeling angry at the time (which they probably were). It would make Canadian hate speech laws meaningless -- but that could be a good thing.
