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Abstract: In this paper, I have been asked to comment on the Canadian Supreme Court’s recent decisions upholding the prohibition of hate propaganda. It is with some diffidence that I do so, for despite obvious similarities, there are substantial differences between US and Canadian culture. First, I will critique the Supreme Court of Canada’s discussion of US law. Admittedly, the Canadian Court’s view of US precedent may contain a purely Canadian contribution in the same way that a US rendition of an English folksong contains something essentially American. Next, I will suggest that there is an irreconcilable conflict between the various rationales offered by the Supreme Court of Canada for upholding the prohibition of hate propaganda, on the one hand and the over-arching vision of freedom of expression depicted in these decisions, on the other.
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