SLOG should be investigated for its ethno-discriminatory lumping of people into various racial and religious groupings that shows no respect for individuality.

Dan...I read this story to mean that due process is happening, and I remain hopeful that the charges will be filed correctly when all is done. If not, then let's rally.

Thanks for bringing this disturbing story to our attention.

Mark Scott, 43, of Oshawa should maybe have his address put up here.

You know how there is a registered list of sex offenders? Maybe there should be one for hate crimes.

I'm just sayin.

I know the court system up here is a bit different - but like the article says, it's the crown (the govt/prosecution) that makes the decision on that, not the police. So, @2's right, it means due process is happening and the police are right not to comment on it. If the crown decides not to press hate crime charges, then that's when I'd get upset. I think it's pretty unlikely, though - given the language and the witnesses.

But when you punch a cab driver, it's like immediately a hate crime. I see how this works. Makes sense. M-hm.

I keep thinking about getting that concealed weapons license...

I really wish the hate crimes aspect of this wasn't necessary and we could live in the expectation that an unprovoked assault would lead to significant jail time under any circumstances.

I see hate crimes being more useful in terms of things that might otherwise be considered "vandalism" or some such.

Dan, please read up on criminal law.

@4 is right. The crown here in Canada decides the charges for trial, the police do the initial booking. It's a different system than in the US - in Canada the police and crown don't work together to decide charges. It's all up to the crown.

@7:

A hate crime is more than assault on one specific person (or two in this case). It is intended to instill fear in the entire group that person represents, therefore it is an attack on the community at large. It is, quite literally, terrorism in that the aggressor is sending a message that they (lesbians, sikhs, people of color, whomever) are not safe to walk on the same streets or send their children to the same schools as every other tax-paying citizen.

A swastika painted on a synagogue or "fag" keyed into a car sends the exact same message to a community as beating up two moms in front of their child. They are all hate crimes and she be charged as such.

First the crazy greyhound bus guy and now this. Why are Canada's psychos suddenly coming out of the woodwork?

If it wasn't for half cocked I wouldn't have no slog at all

The ironic (and stupid) about it is that he probably wants to "save the children from the homos."

Hate crimes = prosecuting thought.

@14: Are you going to be our new troll? If so, pleased to make your acquaintance.

"A swastika painted on a synagogue or "fag" keyed into a car sends the exact same message to a community as beating up two moms in front of their child."

Last I checked, hate speech was still legal in this country.

And, as I said last time hate crimes came up, if this guy had beaten up these women just so that he could take their purses, that's still a threat to all homosexuals everywhere, assuming they have purses.

@16/17 - Not in Canada it isn't. If you say things that are meant to incite violence against a particular group - i.e. saying that the holocaust didn't happen - that is prosecutable in Canada. This case seems to fit it, but it's a decision for the Crown to make after the police investigate. Like I said before, the police and Crown (prosecutors in the US) don't work quite so closely to define the charges in Canada. The decision to prosecute, and what to prosecute is up to the Crown. They're being prudent.

Hate crimes = prosecuting thought.

Hate crimes mostly exist because anti-gay/anti-black/anti-woman/anti-Jewish/anti-Muslim crimes just won't get prosecuted by some local agencies.

@11 - Did you ever think that the reason they made the news is because we have so few of them? Last time I checked there were plenty of random psycho stabbings and gay bashings taking place on your side of the border. I beleive a couple of them hit the SLOG just yesterday.

My partner and I have a newborn son and it makes my cry to think that he would ever have to go through something like this. That asshole should be locked up for life! Please post information for their legal fund if such a thing exists.

"Not in Canada it isn't. If you say things that are meant to incite violence against a particular group - i.e. saying that the holocaust didn't happen - that is prosecutable in Canada. "

Really? That's awful. Shame on you, Canada.

Thank God I'm free to say all sorts of ignorant things in this wonderful country, and thank God you all are too, because I don't know what I'd do without Slog.