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Legislators can't be the sole arbiters of what can be said and what cannot. So, some of this is on us.

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Well no, not here. Not in my city. And no one helped him out? How can this be? I suspect my reaction to the news of a recent attack on a man of Asian descent, while he was walking in the Plateau, was similar to that of many other Montrealers. We like to think were better than elsewhere, but all too often, what plagues other metropolises is also pestilent here. As in other corners of North America, racism targeting Asians is alive and well in the city.

Donald Trump might have never been our president, but he had and continues to have fans here. At recent anti-vaxx and anti-restrictions protests in the streets of Montreal, Trump-branded material from flags to tuques to shirts could be seen on demonstrators. That the former presidents hateful rhetoric reverberates here is no surprise, considering how loudly he shouted it. That his nicknaming the current pandemic after China would fuel a continuously increasing number of attacks against members of Asian communities was as predictable as the attack on the Capitol last January, even if many refuse to recognize it.

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Words matter and have influence. The Karens-of-the north, the racists who roam our streets and the trolls on our triple-Ws mostly get their cues from those with the largest of pulpits like the Trumps of this world, yes. But also from some of our own media hosts, pundits and columnists. When will they be held accountable for their racist and derogatory innuendos?

According to Section 319 (1) of Canadas criminal code, everyone who, by communicating statements in a public place, incites hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace is guilty of an indictable offence punishable by up to two years imprisonment, or an offence punishable on summary conviction. But beyond what is legally considered to be hate speech, there is much that we as a collectivity can consider objectionable and harmful. And legislators cant be the sole arbiters of what can be said and what cannot. So, some of this is on us, as the risk that comes with government-appointed committees to study what is offensive and consequential is that they could, above all, be guided by politics.

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We can set the tone of what well tolerate and what is intolerable while remembering that the rights of one minority cant matter more than those of another, both inside and outside of university walls. And as that collective, were not incapable of nuance, though, at times, it feels like weve forgotten what that is.

Today, when those on public platforms are called out for inappropriate comments relating to race or gender many who have been getting away with it for years will be quick to cry cancel culture, a now ubiquitous term that has been misused mostly by those who have been anything but cancelled. CNNs Brian Stelter refers to it as consequence culture instead, and I adhere to that way of thinking.

Eleven years ago this week, American right-wing pundit and religious supremacist Ann Coulter, who attacks not only ideas with which she disagrees, but the people who hold them in the vilest of ways, was to speak at a university in Ottawa. Following some opposition and security concerns, the event was cancelled. However, Coulter never was, as evidenced by the fact that over a decade later, she still has plenty of platforms to share her abject verbiage. But at least on that day in 2010, she wouldnt profit from vitriol. At that moment, away from governmental intervention, a tone was set as many citizens decided that well, no, not there. Not in their city. Its a good reminder of both the power that we have and also, of the responsibility.

Martine St-Victor is a communications strategist and media commentator based in Montreal. Instagram and Twitter: martinemontreal

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Martine St-Victor: In the battle against hate, we've got the power - Montreal Gazette