Dear Editor,
Re:”Steveston Cafe racial slur suspect charged with mischief,” News, May 6.
With regards to the recent story about the couple who used racial slurs in the Rocanini Coffee Shop in Steveston, I was surprised to learn that legal advisor Vincent Yang suggested the incident could be defined as “hate propaganda” because “the Steveston cafe is a public place and there were people witnessing the whole situation on video footage.”
If Vincent Yang’s suggestion that “hate propaganda” is the only hate crime defined in the Criminal Code then this sounds to me like it would make for an interesting legal catch-22.
Assuming the victims of the alleged hate crime took the initiative to upload the incident to social media for thousands of people to view then it begs the question: Would the act of uploading this video content be unintentionally aiding and abetting “hate propaganda”?
If the victims had decided to not upload the video to social media and submit it directly to the police, would the act still constitute as “hate propaganda” if the incriminating footage was never made available to the public?
Given the modern trend of using videos on social media as a measure against alleged crimes, perhaps a good criminal lawyer could educate us on whether this method is the best action to take.
Ken Moffat
RICHMOND
