Comedian Mike Ward plans to appeal the verdict.
Acclaimed Canadian comedian Mike Ward was fined $42,000 by Quebec’s Human Rights Tribunal for making jokes about Jérémy Gabriel, a boy who suffers from Treacher Collins Syndrome.
The tribunal has ruled that Ward must pay the former child singer with disabilities $25,000 in moral damages and $10,000 in punitive damages. He has to pay Jérémy’s mother Sylvie Gabriel $5,000 for moral damages and $2,000 for punitive damages.
Jérémy Gabriel is having a celebrity status in the country after he sang for the Pope in Rome in 2006 when he was only 10 years old.
In an interview, Ward mentioned the joke about how the child was supposed to die. Jérémy Gabriel’s parents found it abusive and approached the tribunal.
Ward’s lawyer, Julius Grey argued during the case that he was exercising freedom of expression and did not say anything abusive outside the norms of comedy.
Gabriel’s lawyer Marie Dominique countered that making fun of a public figure was entirely different from making fun of a child with a disability. Dominique argued that Ward’s words hurt Gabriel’s confidence and led to bullying in school.
Taking into account the laws regarding freedom of expression and right to equality, Judge Scott Hughes arrived at the conclusion that Ward’s joke did not qualify for freedom of expression and he discriminated against Gabriel.
Responding to the judgment, Ward said that he is planning to appeal the decision and is ready to bring the issue to the Supreme Court if the appeal fails.
“If I lose that I’ll just move to Syria or Saudi Arabia, or some other country that respects free speech as much as Canada does,” he told Spiked Online.
“I’m in total disagreement with the decision and I’ve already received the mandate to appeal it,” Ward’s lawyer, Julius Grey told CBC News.
“I’m in such disagreement with the judgment that I couldn’t even take it apart in bits and pieces. The whole judgment needs to be taken to appeal,” he added.
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“A child”? He’s 19. Way to go, Canadackistan.