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Freedom of Expression and the Public's Right to Know

Genuine democracy, advancement of knowledge, individual self-development, and social justice depend on a society in which freedom of expression and the right to know are a reality for everyone. The Centre for Free Expression works to advance these rights though public education, advocacy, law reform, research, advisory services, policy analysis, assistance to courts, and organizational collaborations.

The Latest

Blog June 13, 2024

Student Protest Encampments and Section s.2(c) of the Charter

In spring 2024 student encampments at Canadian and US universities provoked strong reactions for and against pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus property. While some Canadian universities called in police to disperse demonstrators, others looked to the courts for injunctions compelling students to disperse and abandon their encampments.
Court Submission June 11, 2024

Governing Council of the University of Toronto v. John Doe et al., ONSC, Court File No.: CV-24-00720977-0000

CFE/CAUT/CFS(O) Intervener Factum – Ontario Superior Court. The issue is whether the University of Toronto’s request for an injunction should be granted against the encampment on campus. The factum argues the University’s common law rights as “fee simple owner” of its property are not unlimited or absolute and do not pre-empt or extinguish the Charter freedoms of those using its property for expressive purposes, as are members of the encampment. It further argues that the Province of Ontario’s decision in 2018 to regulate campus expression transformed an area of autonomous university governance into one of Ministerial regulation and control, making the University’s actions in relation to freedom or expression and freedom assembly subject to the Charter. It also argues against the claim that immunity from the Charter is necessary to protect academic freedom. To the contrary, they are complimentary values.
News June 10, 2024

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services' chill on access to information recognized with Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy

The Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) has been selected as this year's recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the municipal category for its efforts to charge exorbitantly high fees for access to a fire investigation report already paid for by taxpayers. 
News June 6, 2024

CFE joins 13 other organizations in deploring government plans to rush the Countering Foreign Interference Act through Parliament without allowing meaningful study

In an open letter today to the members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, the Centre for Free Expression and 13 other civil society organizations expressed their deep concerns with the speed with which Bill C-70, the Countering Foreign Interference Act, is currently being rushed through the legislative process.
News May 23, 2024

Nova Scotia premier's office recognized with award for punting promises to empower province's information and privacy commissioner

The Premier of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston, has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the provincial Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy for his bait-and-switch on the 2021 election promise by his own government-to-be to strengthen his province's notoriously toothless freedom of information law by giving order-making power to its information. commissioner.