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Last week, the Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) urged the government of Canada to “save Monika Schaefer.” Schaefer, a Canadian citizen of German heritage, is facing incitement charges in Germany for her YouTube videos denying the Holocaust.

In Canada, Holocaust denial is not explicitly banned in the Criminal Code. Germany, however, has a distinct responsibility to preserve the memory of the state’s dark past. To prevent a resurgence of Nazism, German law bans the downplaying or denial of Nazi atrocities as incitement to hatred.

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The OCLA claims this contradicts international law. It cites the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that says laws penalizing expression of opinion about historical facts are incompatible with the Covenant.

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This is worse than cherry-picking. This is picking a single cherry and burning the rest of the tree.

The OCLA omits the fact that European courts and human rights bodies have ruled that Holocaust denial laws are legitimate and compatible with the Covenant and similar rights codes. This includes the European Court of Human Rights, European Commission of Human Rights, and the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC).