CFE Blog

Co-authored by Maggie FitzGerald. Unpopular opinion: We love to be catcalled. It can be friendly or flirtatious. Affirming or exciting. For some, afleeting moment of eroticism. 

The broad-shouldered man sitting in a front-row chair leaned over and looked fiercely at me.  “I’m a mean guy.” He looked as though he could snap logs in half with his bare hands. When I unexpectedly laughed, his features softened. He said he was also a “helper,” attending what was advertised recently as a “compelled speech” panel, in case security needed support dealing with protesters.  He pointed to the security men, who were wearing suits but standing alertly, at each corner of the large auditorium packed with more than 700 people.

Being a whistleblower in Canada is tough. The Canadian legal framework with respect to whistleblowing is a hodgepodge of different laws and regulations, none of which historically have been very effective. The frameworks differ with respect to whether the whistleblower is in the federal or provincial jurisdiction, in the public or private sector or depending on the type of information being disclosed.

According to the US Supreme Court in the recent case of Janus v. American Federation of State Employees, an individual’s free speech is restricted when she is required to pay dues (or ‘agency fees’) to a union, even when the union is using those dues to support collective bargaining. Alito J.

Claims that the state has improperly or unjustifiably compelled individuals to speak, contrary to s. 2(b) of the Charter (freedom of expression), have recently been made in two cases.

The last time I actually marched in a protest was a Toronto Day of Action organized in resistance to Ontario’s “Common Sense Revolution” back in the 90s. I still have Super 8 film footage of that day, showing happy, angry, determined, crowds at the march’s gathering point near the lake. I recall huge puppet masks depicting government figures of the day. I remember a sign saying “Mike Harris Eats British Beef” – it was the days of the Mad Cow scare, you know.