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A Canadian town has requested and gained the support of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) in its proposal to include hateful symbols in the country's hate speech code.

Collingwood, Ontario, which has a population of just over 21,000 and is known for its pristine location near downhill and cross country ski resorts, is asking the Canadian government to “clarify and strengthen the definition of hate speech” to add the impact and psychological trauma of hateful symbols.

The proposal has been approved by the board of director of the FCM and will now be put to a full vote at the organization’s June 2021 general meeting.

The town’s lobbying efforts are in response to a complaint from residents that at least one house in the area has a Confederate flag on display.

Collingwood councillor Kathy Jeffery, who is a national director of the FCM, brought the motion forward. She told the OrilliaMatters news site that she believes the town’s hate speech resolution will pass at the vote.

“I’m assuming it’s going to be very successful, and it will come with the full weight of over 2,000 municipalities representing more than 90 percent of Canadians,” she told Collingwood council at a March 15 meeting.

In response to the proposal, Avid Benlolo, Canadian human rights advocate said in a tweet, “I support all evidence based policies against hate. They must be thought through carefully and structured to limit abuse of power. A systematic checks and balances process must be integrated and defined.”

Benlolo also noted that, white supremacist incidents in 2020 reached the highest level in at least a decade, citing a total of 5,125 cases, or “an average of more than 14 incidents per day.”

A vote for the resolution would not alter Canada’s hate speech laws but would allow the FCM to being lobbying the federal government to amend the national hate speech code.