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Showing the middle finger is a ‘God-given right’ in this country, judge rules
Canada News: The middle finger gesture “may not be civil, it may not be polite, it may not be gentlemanly … Nevertheless, it does not trigger criminal liability," the ruling said.
Giving the middle finger is protected as a person's right to freedom of expression in the constitution of Canada, a judge ruled, as per a report in Guardian. In a 26-page decision, the judge dismissed a case against a man accused of harassing his neighbour.
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“To be abundantly clear, it is not a crime to give someone the finger,” the ruling said, adding, “Flipping the proverbial bird is a God-given, charter-enshrined right that belongs to every red-blooded Canadian."
The accused- a teacher- had been arrested by the police for uttering death threats and “criminal harassment” against his neighbour. The judge rebuked the neighbour and complainant whose complaint, the ruling said, were “nothing more than mundane, petty neighbourhood trivialities”.
“It is deplorable that the complainants have weaponised the criminal justice system in an attempt to exert revenge on an innocent man for some perceived slights that are, at best, trivial peeves,” the judge said.
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“The complainants are free to clutch their pearls in the face of such an insult. However, the police department and the 911 dispatching service have more important priorities to address," the ruling added.
The middle finger gesture “may not be civil, it may not be polite, it may not be gentlemanly … Nevertheless, it does not trigger criminal liability," it said, further noting that “cases aren’t actually thrown out,” but that in this matter, “the court is inclined to actually take the file and throw it out the window”.
