Skip to main content

CFE Blog

Blog March 11, 2025

Jangling the Bells: The Report of the Third-Party Investigation of the Clearing of the Palestinian Solidarity Encampment at the University of Alberta

On 11 May 2024, in the predawn hours, members of the Edmonton Police Service walked onto the campus at the University of Alberta dressed in riot gear to execute the direction of the University of Alberta’s president, Bill Flanagan, that they clear away a Palestinian solidarity encampment that had been set up just two days before. Flanagan’s choice to exercise coercive force against the protestors, whose encampment was peaceful, so outraged the University of Alberta community that there were numerous calls for Flanagan’s resignation.
Blog January 7, 2025

Our Libraries in the News: Insights and Implications for 2025

Canadian libraries don’t exist to coerce anyone’s beliefs or commitments. However, varying opinions about what should or should not be available in Canada’s publicly funded libraries surfaced as a constant topic in the Canadian media in 2024. I’ll point to a small sample of this coverage to make the point, as well as identify a few expressive freedom features on the 2025 landscape we can see through this library-focused lens.