What about the hateful protests at the Vancouver Art Gallery?

Have you seen the videos of Palestinian people at Vancouver Art Gallery yelling "Death to Canada” and burning the Canadian flag?

You are referring to a protest that took place in October 2024, on the anniversary of the Hamas October 7 atrocities that was reported to include chants of “Death to Canada,” Death to the United States and Death to Israel and burning the Canadian flag. They were not necessarily “Palestinian people” but purportedly supportive of the Palestinian movement. (We do not describe them as pro-Palestinian rallies because in our view, they do not truly support the peace and security of Palestinians through non-violent advocacy or through recognition of Hamas’ infliction of suffering and death on Palestinians).

The rally was advertised as a commemoration of Al-Aqsa Flood, Hamas’s name for the Hamas-led October 7 atrocities. However, the activities allegedly extended well beyond what you described to include a masked speaker who told the crowd, to applause, that “We are Hezbollah and we are Hamas.” The protest was organized by Samidoun, subsequently designated as a terrorist entity.

In our view, leaders of this hatefest should have faced potential charges of wilful promotion of hatred and public incitement of hatred, amongst other offences. Indeed, in some instances, such activities can escalate to counselling terrorism under the Criminal Code. A new wilful promotion of terror offence, if passed, would figure prominently in the assessment of charges.