Is speech qualified as hateful if an observer perceives it as such? What if one observer feels it is hateful, but another does not? Does the speaker need to intend harm?

The State (USA, Canada, etc.) is ill-equipped to answer these questions except in the most blatant cases. Arming the government with a tool to fight these “crimes” will result in the punishment of numerous individuals who meant no harm and are not hatemongers, but victims of a law that can be used to silence unpopular views.

Do you punish the innocent to guarantee that all the guilty are dealt with?

Actually, what we find in Canada, is that we are *more* free when we are not subjected to racism and hate attacks.

The loss of the ability to inflict hurt and hatred at someone merely because of the colour of their skin is a very small loss.

The loss of the ability to live in peace, without fear, without being the subject of race-based hatred, is a great loss indeed.

Any society genuinely interested in protecting freedoms will choose to prevent the greater, not the lesser, loss. And it is sad to see the bigots and the hate-mongers and the racists convince people of the falsehood that their freedom is the greater need, their loss the greater loss.