Has Marc Emery Violated Canadian Hate Speech Laws?

Canadian hate speech law, primarily Section 319 of the Criminal Code, prohibits the wilful promotion of hatred and the public incitement of hatred against identifiable groups based on race, colour, religion, ethnic origin, or other protected characteristics. These provisions aim to prevent statements that vilify groups in ways likely to lead to harm or breach of the peace. While free speech is robustly protected, courts have drawn a line when language crosses into dehumanization, collective blame, or calls for violence or segregation. Here are four of the clearest examples from Marc Emery’s public statements in 2025–2026 that legal observers might argue cross that line.

1. Calls to Restore Jim Crow Segregation and Lynching for Black People

Emery has repeatedly advocated bringing back Jim Crow laws and suggested lynching as a solution to Black crime. In one post he wrote:

“Bring back Jim Crow! White girls & women didn’t get raped by savage Black young men every single hour of every day in the USA when Jim Crow laws (1877-1964) kept the violent impulses of the Black man under control.”

Similar statements include “Bring back Jim Crow. The 61-year old experiment of giving Blacks unrestricted access to white society was an enormous historical error” and praise for lynching as a deterrent: “if there was still [such a] thing called lynching, black Americans would be way better behaved.”

Under Section 319(2), portraying an entire racial group as inherently “savage” with “violent impulses” that require segregation or extrajudicial violence can constitute wilful promotion of hatred. Courts have previously found that sweeping racial stereotypes combined with calls to restore oppressive systems meet the threshold for promoting detestation.

2. Advocating Violence Against Indigenous Protesters

In response to infrastructure blockades, Emery posted:

“Any indigenous band that blocks railroads or any infrastructure should be dealt with by truncheons cracking their skulls within 24 hours. When you seize railroads you are going to war. Time to finish the job our ancestors didn’t.”

This statement directly calls for immediate physical violence against members of an identifiable Indigenous group. Section 319(1) covers public incitement of hatred likely to lead to a breach of the peace. Explicitly urging authorities or individuals to crack skulls and “finish the job” of historical conquest is among the most straightforward examples of potential incitement.

3. Dehumanizing Muslim and South Asian Men as Rapists and Invaders

Emery has repeatedly described certain immigrant groups in highly inflammatory terms. Two representative statements:

“Any country is putting all their women at risk by importing hordes of Muslims from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan... These vile men are obsessed with raping White women.”

And:

“All those rapey dark Third World degenerates watching White women porn all day wondering when it’s their turn to rape a White girl or woman.”

By framing entire ethnic and religious communities as predatory “hordes,” “degenerates,” and “rapey” threats obsessed with assaulting White women, these posts promote collective guilt and dehumanization. Canadian courts have ruled that language reducing groups to inherent sexual predators or existential threats can violate hate speech laws, especially when tied to calls for exclusion or deportation.

4. Characterizing Sikh and Indian Communities as Inherent “Scammer Cultures”

Emery has made numerous statements such as:

“Sikh/Indian Scammer culture strikes again... These people are not compatible with Canadian values. For defrauding the elderly, 25 lashes. Then DEPORT!”

He has also referred to Indian immigrants broadly as “flotsam & jetsam of the Third World” who come to “exploit and destroy” Canada. Labeling an ethnic community as a “scammer culture” inherently incompatible with Canadian society, while advocating corporal punishment and mass deportation, goes beyond policy critique into group vilification. This pattern of statements could be viewed as wilfully promoting hatred against people of South Asian origin.

Conclusion

These four examples — advocating segregation and lynching for Black people, calling for violent suppression of Indigenous protesters, depicting Muslim and South Asian men as rapists, and branding Sikh/Indian communities as scammer cultures — represent some of the strongest potential violations of Section 319. Each uses dehumanizing language, attributes negative traits to entire groups by race, ethnicity, or religion, and in some cases explicitly encourages violence or extreme discriminatory policies.

Emery and his supporters would likely argue these statements are protected opinion, rooted in crime statistics or cultural observations, and fall under defences of truth-seeking or public interest. Whether prosecutors would pursue charges (which require Attorney General consent for many hate speech cases) would depend on a full contextual analysis, including audience reach and likelihood of harm. Nevertheless, the quoted material sits in the zone that has triggered complaints and investigations in similar Canadian cases. The question remains open, but the legal risk is evident.

We are not asking to ban opinions or criticism of immigration policy. We are asking for a proper police investigation to determine whether these specific communications meet the legal threshold for hate propaganda under Canadian law — the same standard applied to others in the past.

Our request:

The Sunshine Coast RCMP (Sechelt Detachment) and the BC RCMP Hate Crimes Unit open a formal hate crime investigation into Marc Emery’s public statements from 2025–2026.The BC Prosecution Service review the evidence for potential charges under Criminal Code s. 319.Greater transparency and accountability regarding the enforcement of Canada’s hate speech laws.Protecting free speech does not require tolerating the wilful promotion of hatred against entire racial, ethnic, or religious communities. We urge authorities to apply the law consistently and fairly.

Please sign and share this petition so that Canadian law is upheld.
[A data base of Emery's racist statements with links to source is available to media and authorities.]
For a detailed account of who Emery is and a catalog of his racist comments and connections to Hate networks see - The Pariah of Pot: The Rise and Fall of Marc Emery