Keegstra was a high school teacher in the small Alberta town of Eckville, where he also acted as mayor for a short duration. .

             Mr. Keegstra had toiled in obscurity as a social studies teacher until is dismissal in 1982 after allegations that his teachings were highly anti-semetic, referring to Jews as "subversive", "sadistic", "money loving", etc. As well, Keegstra denied the holocaust and reinforced his views by giving grades to those who agreed with his teachings. If they failed to agree, their marks suffered greatly.

             1984, Mr. Keegstra was charged under s.319(2) of the criminal code with unlawfully promoting the hatred against an identifiable group by the communication of anti-sementic statement s to his students.

             Applying to the Court of Queens Bench in Alberta , Keegstra demanded that the charges against him be quashed under the grounds that s.319 of the Criminal Code was an unjust infringement upon his s.2 Charter Right to the freedom of expression. Justice Quigley was quick to dismiss Keegstra"s s.2(b) argument, stating that " it is beyond doubt that breeding hate is detrimental to society for psychological and social reasons and that it can easily create hostility and aggression which leads to violence". .

             His decision provided an argumentative balance between freedom of expression and the much more collective social cohesion of the common good. Under this clause Quigley then justified that section 319(2) had a reasonable limit over section 2(b) under s.1 of the Charter. Keegstra was convicted and charged.

             -Keegstra then appealed his case to the Alberta Court of Appeal in 1988. On top of the infringement argument of s.2(b) by s.319(2), Keegstra also argued that s.319(3) of the Code was an infringement of s. 11(d) of the Charter pertaining to the presumption of innocence. .

             - Section 319(3)(a) places a reverse onus on the accused to provide truth of the statements communicated.