Defunding Difference and Dissent on Campus: Why Should Canadians Care?

The Guardian’s decision earlier this week to stop posting on X finally prompted me to take the same step, one I have been contemplating for some time. Whereas the decision of the Guardian, which has 27-million followers, is consequential, my decision (with my 1,018 followers) is not. Still, for me, it is important to dissociate myself from what Musk has made of X.

One of the questions I always enjoyed asking school kids is, “To whom does the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply?” While there are many possible answers, one that I like to hear is that the Charter is about the relationship between governments and the people who live in Canada. In other words, it applies to all of us.

Courtesy of the Rouleau Commission I developed a late-onset interest in freedom of peaceful assembly (FPA) and s.2(c) of the Charter. Since then it has been an ongoing concern to me that in more than forty years s.2(c) has not received an authoritative interpretation, much less been considered or discussed in any depth by the Supreme Court of Canada.