Burning the Qur'an - is it legal?

The idea of a Christian ministry called "Dove" burning religious texts, albeit of another faith, seems rather sinister, not to mention somewhat absurd.

Burning a book, in today's world, merely draws attention to it and increases its readership. Still, the point of the burning of a Qur'an is to show offence to Muslims; I must say it offends me, a non-Muslim.

In a sense the offence offered is nothing remarkable or new -- Piss Christ by Andres Serrano in 1987 was as offensive as any book burning.

This note, however, deals with the legality of burning a Qur'an in Canada.

Broadly speaking destroying property is permitted. I can buy a car, for example, and crush it without breaking any law. A copy of the Qur'an is personal property and its owner is free privately to burn, shred or otherwise dispose of it. I have a Qur'an (and several other Holy Books) in my office; should I throw the Qur'an in the recycling bin I've breached no law.

Now, burning anything in a public place is properly restricted by various provincial and local regulations. Burning rubbish on public streets is, for example, generally not allowed. Burning a book as an expressive act -- and that is what we have here -- would be entitled to some Constitutional protection and probably would be allowed even in breach of otherwise applicable regulations.

A more difficult question would be whether the burning of a Qur'an could be in breach of human rights codes. Such codes have authority and have trumped rights otherwise available -- so religious based statements deploring homosexuality have come under scrutiny. It seems likely that burning a Qur'an would be seen as promoting hatred of an identifiable group and subject to restriction. Of course, many argue the human rights codes are excessive and a Qur'an burning would likely be a test case of how far such codes apply.