## Facts

- Sabina Citron (a Holocaust survivor) and the Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Community and Race Relations filed complaints alleging Ernst Zündel communicated discriminatory messages targeting Jews.
- The complaints focused on Holocaust-denial and anti-Jewish materials posted on the “Zundelsite,” including content disputing the Holocaust and alleging Jews fabricated or exaggerated it for personal gain.
- The website was hosted on a U.S.-based server, but the material was maintained and updated at Zündel’s direction from Canada and was accessible in Canada through internet and telephone-line infrastructure.
- The complaints proceeded under s. 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA), which prohibited repeated telecommunication of matter likely to expose an identifiable group to hatred or contempt on a prohibited ground.
- The Canadian Human Rights Commission investigated and referred the complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for adjudication.

## Issues

1. Whether internet website postings, accessed in Canada but hosted on a foreign server, constituted communications “telephonically” or “by means of the facilities of a telecommunication undertaking” within s. 13(1) CHRA.
2. Whether the impugned materials were “likely to expose” Jews, as an identifiable group on prohibited grounds (race, religion, national or ethnic origin), to hatred or contempt under s. 13(1).
3. Whether applying s. 13(1) to the impugned communications could be sustained in light of freedom of expression concerns in a civil human-rights enforcement setting.

## Decision

- The Tribunal found Zündel contravened s. 13(1) CHRA by communicating or causing to be communicated repeated messages via the internet that were likely to expose Jews to hatred or contempt.
- The Tribunal concluded s. 13(1) applied to internet communications, treating internet dissemination as communication through telecommunications facilities within federal legislative authority.
- The Tribunal determined the Holocaust-denial and anti-Jewish materials met the statutory “likely to expose” threshold.
- The Tribunal ordered Zündel to cease communicating the discriminatory messages on the internet.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory references to telephonic/telecommunications communication in s. 13(1) can extend to internet transmissions when the communications are carried using telecommunications facilities within federal jurisdiction.
- Jurisdiction and responsibility may be grounded in causing the communication and its access in Canada, even if the content is hosted on a foreign server.
- The s. 13(1) test is objective: the question is whether the matter is likely to expose an identifiable group to hatred or contempt, not whether actual harm is proven.
- Human-rights remedies under s. 13(1) are directed at stopping ongoing discriminatory communications (cease-and-desist) rather than imposing criminal punishment.

## Conclusion

The Tribunal held that Holocaust-denial and anti-Jewish content disseminated on a website and accessible in Canada fell within s. 13(1) CHRA and was likely to expose Jews to hatred or contempt, warranting an order requiring the respondent to stop communicating such material online.


Citron v. Zündel, [2002] 41 C.H.R.R. D/274 (Can. Hum. Rts. Trib. 2002)