Are Canadian places of higher learning, and our public places, still home
to free speech?? Some of us have
wondered that for some time now, as ‘some’ who consider themselves the keepers
of politically correct thought and speech, refuse to allow those with other
thoughts to present their ideas.
My questioning and wondering this today, came about because of a news
story I saw in the National Post. That
then led me to Google the topic of free speech in Canada. Here are some of my results …
… the louts and yobbos who prevented Ann Coulter from speaking at the
University of Ottawa this week must have gladdened the heart of the
university's vice-president academic and provost, François Houle, who had
pre-emptively sent her a warning not to say anything too controversial lest
delicate Canadian sensibilities be ruffled….
… issued a statement yesterday in the wake of a Friday night incident in
which Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford was prevented from speaking
at a scheduled event in the Humanities Theatre … protesters took exception to
what they called the “racist” attitude of her book Helpless … Blatchford had
been invited to campus by the university bookstore to speak about her book...
Freedom of expression is under attack on Canada’s university campuses,
according to speakers Saturday at a national civil liberties conference at the
University of Calgary. The RightsWatch
conference, now in its third year, brought together academics, activists and
legal professionals for two days of debate and discussion...
Is
freedom of speech disappearing on campus?
"Freedom of speech encompasses not only your right to express, but also my right to hear: a university campus is not a nursery, and students should not be coddled as though it were."
"Freedom of speech encompasses not only your right to express, but also my right to hear: a university campus is not a nursery, and students should not be coddled as though it were."
… are Canadian universities and students losing their tolerance for
free speech? It's a question that comes
to mind these days, after a variety of restrictions have been enforced against
student groups' activities on campuses across the country…
Canada has been the stage for disgraceful events on campus, such as
when former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was prevented by violent
rioters from speaking at Concordia University in September 2002 … Ehud Barak,
also a former Israeli prime minister, was subsequently prevented from speaking
at Concordia based on the university's assessment that threats of further
violence by anti-Israeli protesters would materialize …
As I originally mentioned, what sparked my look at some of these stories,
was a news headline on an opinion piece in the National Post.
In part “The
sorry state of free speech in our institutes of higher learning” says … we picture book-burners as
knuckle-dragging dropouts with brows so low they’re obliged to view the world
through their hairlines. The very organizers of Mr. Carpay’s breakfast say in
their brochure that “traditionally, the university was a bastion of free
speech” and “universities abhorred censorship,” adding that they did so “in the
belief that the quest for truth was assisted by the clash of ideas.” The
suggestion is that the university as censor is a recent and aberrant
development. I’m afraid not …
BUT … is free speech just under attack at places of higher learning, or
is it under attack across the board in our everyday lives … and is this
something new??
A few decades ago, in some places, written and verbal speeches by some
from the left would have been considered Communist rhetoric, and banned.
A very negative racial slur was attached to a new kind of music in the
50’s called Rock and Roll
Nowadays it is politically incorrect to called traditional Christian holidays
by their rightful name, and so we now have the “Winter Festival” in schools
rather than the Christmas Concert … and Christmas Trees are now Holiday trees in
some places. In one university, a
professor planned to dock students marks for saying “Bless you” if someone
sneezed.
First Nations leaders have protested against the proposed Prosperity
Mine art Fish Lake --- and some who have questioned their position have been
called racists.
Recently in Kamloops, and other Canadian cities, a group had billboards
placed on buses which stated, “There probably is no God, now stop worrying and
enjoy your life”. Some were quite offended
and wanted those bill boards banned.
Offended … having ones feelings hurt … how much, and in what way,
should those two things impact and affect our rights to free speech?
What is appropriate to speak or write is a slowly changing concept ---
which is something I constantly have to remind myself of. And what some may have at one time considered
Free Speech, can now in some instances be classified as Hate Speech … potentially
making it a dangerous minefield.
Some things at least in my opinion, while allowed under free speech,
are simply rude and uncouth. For example,
I would consider a group of people liberally using swear / cuss words, in a
family setting with children around, to be very inappropriate. Some however would not – so who would be
right, and how do we determine that?
I came across a website for the Media Awareness Network, which had
posted the following online, “Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Overview”. In part it said:
… while the Charter allows all
Canadians to freely express their thoughts and opinions, it also protects
everyone's right to be treated fairly, without discrimination — a point that
"freedom of speech" advocates sometimes ignore. Section
1 of the Charter guarantees citizens’ rights and freedoms only within
such reasonable limits as can be justified in a free and democratic society. Section
15 emphasizes that every individual is equal before and under the law;
and has the right to equal protection and equal benefit without discrimination
on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or
mental or physical disability … sections 1 and 15 both leave room for laws
that limit such freedom …other offenses, such as obscenity and child
pornography, could also challenge the limits of individual freedom of
expression, as prescribed by section 163 of the Criminal Code…
That fits in well with something else I found in the Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. A piece entitled
“Freedom of Speech”
begins by stating:
“The topic of free speech is one
of the most contentious issues in liberal societies. If the liberty to express
oneself is not highly valued, as has often been the case, there is no problem:
freedom of expression is simply curtailed in favor of other values. Free speech
becomes a volatile issue when it is highly valued because only then do the
limitations placed upon it become controversial. The first thing to note in any
sensible discussion of freedom of speech is that it will have to be limited. Every society places some limits on the
exercise of speech because speech always takes place within a context of
competing values.”
What is free speech --- how do we protect it --- and do we need and
require limits on it. That’s a topic
much greater than I am able to come to a conclusion on. Any thoughts you may have??
I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops … today with the ‘questions of one conservative’
on this round ball we call planet earth.
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