The Latest

The Online Harms Network is a group of national, international, and regional organizations brought together by CFE to work together to help develop and advocate policies that deal effectively with online harms while respecting civil liberties and human rights.

In Ottawa, the federal Liberal government is acting to curb anti-Semitic expression by amending the Criminal Code. The government wants to ban the “communication of statements, other than in private conversation, that wilfully promote anti-Semitism by condoning, denying or downplaying the Holocaust.” The government plans to amend Section 319 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the incitement of hatred “against an identifiable group.”

Day in and out, the news attests that freedom of expression is as precarious as ever, in Canada and around the world – imploring us at all times to remain vigilant and not take freedom for granted. 

In New York City, Margaret Atwood and Penguin Random House announced on May 23 that a single fireproof edition of The Handmaid’s Tale would be auctioned by Sotheby’s New York. The Canadian author and her publisher plan to donate money from the sale to PEN America, which speaks for free expression around the world. “To see her classic novel about the dangers of oppression reborn in this innovative, unburnable edition is a timely reminder of what’s at stake in the battle against censorship,” said Markus Dohle, CEO of Penguin Random House. VIDEO

Authoritarian governments outside Canada use digital devices and the internet to repress foreign-born political activists and dissidents in Canada. The targets of digital repression in Canada include people from China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. Researchers* at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab report: Psychological and Emotional War: Digital Transnational Repression in Canada - The Citizen Lab

Danielle MacKinlay, a long-time government librarian, is joining the Centre for Free Expression’s Working Group on Intellectual Freedom. Danielle has been Manager, Library Services for the Canadian Coast Guard since 2005. Currently, Danielle is on assignment in the Human Resources Corporate Services within Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as an advisor on employment equity, diversity and inclusion.