The COVID-19 crisis has led to a significant rise in racist acts and insults against people of Asian descent. These actions are illegal and discriminatory. Victims of racist acts have options.
Right to Dignity and Honour
The Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms says everyone has the right to equality and to respect for their dignity and honour. These rights can be violated by discriminatory speech. For example, racist insults. The victim can ask the person who made the insult to compensate for the harm caused, for example, by paying an amount of money. The victim has various options.
It doesn’t matter if the insult was made in private or during an argument. But it must be serious enough to make the victim feel humiliated, degraded or lose confidence, for example.
From Insult to Defamation
Insults can have legal consequences even if they’re not discriminatory. Public insults or insults that are widely circulated can harm the victim’s reputation, which the law also protects.
So, be careful about what you say on the internet or social media.
If your words hurt someone’s reputation, that person can take you to court for defamation and ask for compensation.
Criminal Consequences
In extreme cases, discriminatory insults can be a crime, for example, if they are so serious that they encourage hatred against an ethnic, religious or other group.