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Mukhbir Singh, the president of the World Sikh Organization of Canada, said there is real concern in the Sikh community, especially in the wake of an arrest in British Columbia after comments were made about a “pressure-cooker bomb” at Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade last week.

I don’t think a lot of people who are expressing this online are aware that what they’re doing could be criminal behaviour

“Unfortunately, instances of violence and hatred are not new for the Sikh community,” Singh said.

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, a vice-chair on the privacy and ethics committee, which has also studied the issue, said in an interview that anti-defamation and hate-speech laws are difficult to police online, which encourages some people to behave as if there are no laws.

“In a perfect world, people would be accountable for their own actions and words,” said Erskine-Smith, but social media platforms that allow this kind of behaviour, and profit from it in the process, need to be held accountable too.

“The real conversation, what we’re really looking at, is just enforcing existing laws,” said Erskine-Smith.

All of the panellists at the justice committee hearing said that reports would go up if people were better informed about how to make them.

Emmanuel Duodu, the president of the Ghanaian Canadian Association of Ontario, said the only way hate crime legislation can be effective is if people are empowered and informed.

“Sometimes there is legislation there, but people don’t understand it. They don’t know their rights,” Duodo said.

“Laws around online hate need to be communicated to the community in language that is acceptable and inclusive,” said Queenie Choo, the head of SUCCESS, a post-arrival service for immigrants in British Columbia. “If they don’t understand the process they will be reluctant to intervene or make a report.”