Incidents of Antisemitism and Islamophobia are drastically rising in Canada in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war and the employment-related legal implications are quickly emerging as many workers openly express their personal views and attend protests or rallies.
What happens when their employers, or others, take offence? I was recently shown a series of antisemitic social media posts made by another practicing lawyer in Ontario that I found were particularly alarming as the Criminal Code prohibits “willfully promoting hatred by making statements against an identifiable group.” These posts really struck a nerve because lawyers are supposed to be held to a higher standard. In addition to the Criminal Code, every lawyer in Canada is bound by provincially regulated codes of conduct that address how they are supposed to behave, including various provisions seeking to protect the public from all forms of discriminatio