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http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawa....html?id=9d5baea4-754e-4f10-b04f-b85d0a510346
Officials OK sale of shirt printed with racial slurs
Border agency rules T-shirts express opinion, not hate
Glen McGregor
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, January 09, 2005
The federal government has decided that a T-shirt bearing racial slurs directed at virtually every major ethnic group does not violate Canada's hate propaganda laws and can be legally imported.
The T-shirt is printed with the message: "I (expletive) HATE: Spics, Dotheads, Honkeys, Japs, Wops, Kikes, Wetbacks, Gooks, Chinks, Camel Jockeys, and the French ... BUT I NIGGERS!"
Canada Border Services Agency intercepted the shirt when it was shipped across the border to an unnamed Canadian customer. But the agency's prohibited imports unit decided that the printed slogan is not hate propaganda because it merely expresses an opinion and does not incite hatred.
"The way it's written, although it may be offensive, it is considered a personal opinion," says agency spokesman Michel Proulx.
If the phrase had ended, "And you should, too," it would have been considered a promotion of hate and blocked from import, he said.
But Mr. Proulx added that he couldn't imagine anyone in Canada wearing the garment. "I don't think you'd walk a block in Toronto and come out alive," he said.
The head of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation said she is disappointed by the agency's narrow interpretation of the law.
"These terms are clearly derogatory terms and are hateful," said Dr. Karen Mock. While she concedes that applying the hate law can be complex, she says the message clearly exposes identifiable minority groups to contempt. "It's sad that they took such a legalistic view."
The shirt is the product of a controversial Las Vegas-based Internet company called Tshirthell.com.
The company has been the subject of legal action over products targeting child stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and late actor Christopher Reeve. It received cease-and-desist orders against shirts with the phrase "I (expletive) the Olsen Twins before they were famous" and another that read "I bought Christopher Reeve's wheelchair on eBay."
The company insists its products are meant to be humorous.
"We're not a hate site. I always think that no reasonable person could think that these are meant to be taken seriously," says director of operations Gary Cohen.
"We are looking for people to have a strong reaction to these things that nobody wants to talk about and make them think about what their own views are."
He said the Canadian government's decision shows that it understood the intent of the message on the shirt.
Other shirts in the company's inventory make light of rape, pedophilia, abortion, school shootings and Adolph Hitler.
The company recently created shirt with the picture of a cresting waves and the slogan "I surfed the Tsunami 2004" written in Asian-styled characters.
Mr. Cohen would not say who ordered the shirt that triggered the Canada Border Services Agency review. He said the company sends "a good amount" of shirts to Canadians.
This is the topic for us to speak out.
This may be the topic for you to argue.
===================================================================
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawa....html?id=9d5baea4-754e-4f10-b04f-b85d0a510346
Officials OK sale of shirt printed with racial slurs
Border agency rules T-shirts express opinion, not hate
Glen McGregor
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, January 09, 2005
The federal government has decided that a T-shirt bearing racial slurs directed at virtually every major ethnic group does not violate Canada's hate propaganda laws and can be legally imported.
The T-shirt is printed with the message: "I (expletive) HATE: Spics, Dotheads, Honkeys, Japs, Wops, Kikes, Wetbacks, Gooks, Chinks, Camel Jockeys, and the French ... BUT I NIGGERS!"
Canada Border Services Agency intercepted the shirt when it was shipped across the border to an unnamed Canadian customer. But the agency's prohibited imports unit decided that the printed slogan is not hate propaganda because it merely expresses an opinion and does not incite hatred.
"The way it's written, although it may be offensive, it is considered a personal opinion," says agency spokesman Michel Proulx.
If the phrase had ended, "And you should, too," it would have been considered a promotion of hate and blocked from import, he said.
But Mr. Proulx added that he couldn't imagine anyone in Canada wearing the garment. "I don't think you'd walk a block in Toronto and come out alive," he said.
The head of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation said she is disappointed by the agency's narrow interpretation of the law.
"These terms are clearly derogatory terms and are hateful," said Dr. Karen Mock. While she concedes that applying the hate law can be complex, she says the message clearly exposes identifiable minority groups to contempt. "It's sad that they took such a legalistic view."
The shirt is the product of a controversial Las Vegas-based Internet company called Tshirthell.com.
The company has been the subject of legal action over products targeting child stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and late actor Christopher Reeve. It received cease-and-desist orders against shirts with the phrase "I (expletive) the Olsen Twins before they were famous" and another that read "I bought Christopher Reeve's wheelchair on eBay."
The company insists its products are meant to be humorous.
"We're not a hate site. I always think that no reasonable person could think that these are meant to be taken seriously," says director of operations Gary Cohen.
"We are looking for people to have a strong reaction to these things that nobody wants to talk about and make them think about what their own views are."
He said the Canadian government's decision shows that it understood the intent of the message on the shirt.
Other shirts in the company's inventory make light of rape, pedophilia, abortion, school shootings and Adolph Hitler.
The company recently created shirt with the picture of a cresting waves and the slogan "I surfed the Tsunami 2004" written in Asian-styled characters.
Mr. Cohen would not say who ordered the shirt that triggered the Canada Border Services Agency review. He said the company sends "a good amount" of shirts to Canadians.
