Lawyers debate whether Nazism led to Holocaust, as Montreal hate speech trial resumes
The lawyer for a Montreal man accused of wilfully promoting hatred against Jews argued in court on Friday that the prosecution failed to properly define Nazism or present evidence about what happened during the Holocaust.
Hélène Poussard told Quebec court Judge Manlio Del Negro that he could not take "judicial notice" of the fact that six million Jewish people were killed by the Nazis.
Facts presented in court can be "judicially noticed" when they are generally accepted or so notorious that a debate is not needed about them.
Poussard's client, Gabriel Sohier Chaput, 36, faces one charge of wilfully promoting hatred in connection with an article he wrote for neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer that said 2017 would be the year of "non-stop Nazism, everywhere."
Toward the end of Sohier Chaput's trial in July, Del Negro rebuked the prosecution for not calling an expert witness to establish that the murder of Jews by the regime of Adolf Hitler was a consequence of Nazi ideology. The judge called for a debate — which occurred Friday — about whether it is indeed common knowledge that the Daily Stormer is a far-right website and whether Nazism lead to a genocide against Europe's Jews.
On Friday, Poussard attempted to argue that the number of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust was not known, but Del Negro stopped her. He asked whether she was arguing that he should not take judicial notice of any part of the Holocaust.
"You are disputing the number?" he asked, about the genocide of six million Jews.
"I'm not disputing anything," she responded. "What I’m saying is that you don’t have judicial knowledge."
Poussard also argued that people who were not members of the Nazi party participated in the killing of Jews during the Second World War and that the meaning of "Nazism" in 2017 may be different than it was in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s.
The defence lawyer said the prosecution should also have called an expert witness to testify about how the Nazis saw the Jews as inferior, given that they also saw many other ethnic groups as inferior to Germans.
Prosecutor Patrick Lafrenière addressed the court briefly after Poussard. He said the judge could take judicial notice by using a reliable source for information about how the Nazis considered Jewish people to be inferior.
"One way for you to take judicial notice is by consulting a reliable, easily verifiable source,” he said, suggesting that the judge could look in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Outside the courtroom, Emmanuelle Amar, Quebec policy and research director at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said the trial shows the need for mandatory education in Quebec schools about the Holocaust and antisemitism.
"The Holocaust is a fact, it’s been recognized as a historical fact by Canadian jurisprudence, but also, since this summer, Holocaust denial is now a criminal offence in Canada," she said in an interview Friday.
"The Holocaust is the most carefully documented genocide in the world, it was documented by its perpetrators, by their victims, by bystanders; there is physical evidence, there is all kinds of evidence of the Holocaust," she said. "It’s an undisputed fact."
Del Negro said he will deliver his verdict on Sohier Chaput on Jan. 23.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.