Censorship

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.”

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

In Quebec, the provincial human rights commission is investigating approximately 100 cases that allege the use of “discriminatory speech” this year. Most of these investigations will be dropped, said Philippe-André Tessier, the president of the commission, because of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on Ward v. Quebec. The case pitted comedian Mike Ward’s right to free expression over singer Jérémy Gabriel’s right to dignity as defined by Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

If you want to truly understand free expression and why it’s so vital for a democratic society, you need to immerse yourself in the margins of public discourse. An important subculture that often finds itself at these margins is stand-up comedy, where a variety of controversies are pushing the boundaries of free expression and attracting no shortage of public attention. 

Engaged as I am in the endless fight to protect the rights of creative professionals, I spend way too much of my time reading ridiculous claims by folks who just want free stuff. Ask any writer, musician, artist of any kind; approximately four out of every five interactions around our work involves us explaining that we can’t work for free or give away the product of our work without compensation. The pressure for free cultural product is relentless and exhausting to those who are trying to make a living in culture.