You can't always get what you want.

• Author: Dickson, Gary
• Position: Human Rights law

Music can be powerful vehicle to bring people together. The Toronto SARS concert was a good example of its unifying potential. Through a program that offered everything from Jan Arden to the Guess Who to the Rolling Stones, concert organizers were assured of a large and diverse audience. Music, or at least song lyrics, can also divide people. A recent example is provided by a case that was considered under the authority of the Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act ("the Act"). A complaint was made to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission about a song entitled "Kill the Christian" and another song entitled "Kill all the White People". The complainant asserted that as a Christian and a Caucasian person, he was being discriminated against by the distributor and the music store that sold the CDs in question.

The complaint alleged discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, gender and religious beliefs contrary to what is now section 3 of the Act. That section provides in part:

3(1) No person shall publish, issue or display or cause to be published, issued or displayed before the public any statement, publication, notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation that: (a) indicates discrimination or an intention to discriminate against a person or class of persons, or (b) is likely to expose a person or class of persons to hatred or contempt because of the race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical disability, mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income or family status of that person or class of persons ..." The Director investigated and then dismissed the complaint on the basis of an exception for material based on artistic merit. This dismissal was appealed and the case went to a three-person panel for hearing.

The complainant testified that the distribution of these CDs exposed Christians to hatred.

The record distributor claimed that artists who are on the leading edge of social change should be supported and have the right to make their art available to those who wish to purchase it. The distributor also argued that the recordings were sold in sealed packaging with labels that warned some people may find the material offensive.

The panel first considered whether the retailers could avoid responsibility on the basis that they did not actually produce or publish the material in question. The panel was influenced by a Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta...