Gun rights, speech rights, etc, all are weighed against the common good at every juncture. Hate speech has never been considered a personal right in Canada.
Not to insult anyone and much less Canadians, but I can see Ghaddafi or Khmer Rouge using this expression to justify whatever they decided to do.
There's one where maybe a little greater weight on personal freedom was indicated.
You're right that we do have a different balance of the common good vs individual liberties as compared to the USA, but of course there are many countries that one could compare to.
Canada certainly doesn't abide by free-speech absolutism, and "hate speech" is a good example. That term used to be applied to very specific, extreme examples. Unfortunately that has been watered down in recent years, and we've seen encroachment in others ways on various freedoms. Not Australia levels, but not great.
Freedom of speech would serve Canada better in the long run than censorship and government control of speech