The Latest

Should we expect our public institutions to protect our freedom of expression?  The Toronto Public Library made a controversial decision in July 2017 to permit a memorial to the late Barbara Kulaszka to be held in a rental space in one of the library’s branches. Ms Kulaszka, a former librarian, was a lawyer best known for her legal defence of Holocaust deniers and white supremacists. Many people registered their objection to the event, both before and after it took place.

By James L. Turk, Director, Centre for Free Expression and Penni Stewart, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, York University

As part of its mission to foster greater public discussion of issues related to free expression, the Centre for Free Expression has launched its Occasional Paper Series. The first publication in the series is: James L. Turk and Penni Stewart, “Safe for What? Universities and the controversy over safe spaces. ”  Click here for a pdf of the paper.

On March 8th and June 6th, 2017, the Minister of Justice introduced bills to amend the Criminal Code. The purpose of Bills C-39 and C-51 is to repeal a number of criminal offences. Blasphemous libel is on the list, but seditious libel and defamatory libel are not.

Kudos to House committee for sound recommendations on whistleblower protection By DAVID HUTTON PUBLISHED : Monday, June 26, 2017 12:00 AM OTTAWA—The parliamentary committee studying Canada’s federal whistle blowing law for the past five months has unanimously called on the Trudeau government to make sweeping changes to the act.

Pornography has once again been thrust onto the public stage. This time, however, it’s been (re)framed as a “public health” issue (as opposed to a women’s equality issue or a source of criminal harm). I’ve been researching sexual speech for almost as long as I’ve been consuming it, which is to say a long time. It therefore comes as no surprise that we’re in the midst of yet another attempt to censor it and to surveille its consumers.