To Premier Danielle Smith and Justice Minister Mickey Amery:

Section 3(1) of the Alberta Human Rights Act bans publishing anything "likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt." Not that does — that is likely to. There are no rules of evidence, truth is not a defence, and the process is the punishment. It was used on Ezra Levant for 900 days over the Danish cartoons. It is now being used on Benita Pedersen, a DJ from Westlock, over a flyer about a crosswalk.

In twenty years this section has produced one finished case, and the courts threw it out — with the Court of Appeal warning it would "cast a chill" on free speech. Ottawa repealed its federal twin in 2013, tried twice to bring it back, and gave up. Premier, you have said yourself that hate speech belongs in the Criminal Code and that the tribunals are "very subjective." Your 2012 platform proposed repealing section 3.

I agree. Real crimes belong in a real court, before a real judge — not thought crimes in a kangaroo court. I call on your government to repeal section 3(1) of the Alberta Human Rights Act in the next session of the Legislature, and to leave hate propaganda where it belongs: in the Criminal Code.