Freedom of Expression & Its Limits

The  Supreme Court of Canada and the Ontario Court of Appeal have just granted the Centre for Free Expression the right to intervene in three major cases before them. “We’re honoured that Canada’s top courts have allowed the Centre to serve as a friend of the court to bring potentially useful perspectives to the courts’ deliberations on important cases,” said James L. Turk, Director of the Centre.

An easy mistake to make in any discussion of freedom of expression is to believe there is absolute certainty anywhere in the definition of that term. If you are jumping into a debate on free speech certain you know exactly what you believe (plus all the implications of that belief), chances are you’ve grossly over-estimated your own position. If you’re doing that on Twitter, either get your thumbs familiar with the block/mute functions, or free up a lot of time for an epic Twitter fight unlikely to solve anything for anyone.

On September 10, 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada released its highly anticipated decisions in two cases addressing the interpretation and application of Ontario’s “anti-SLAPP” laws.  The two appeals — 1704604 Ontario Ltd. v. Pointes Protection Association and Bent v.

The Centre for Free Expression, along with co-intervenors Canadian Association of Journalists and CWA-Canada, welcome today's Supreme Court's unanimous judgment  in 1704604 Ontario Ltd. v. Pointes Protection Association which upholds Ontario's anti-SLAPP legislation and makes some important clarifications about how specific legislative provisions  should be interpreted and applied.

I don’t want to read one more piece that begins, “In these difficult (unprecedented, challenging, etc.)  times,” and neither do you. However, since the world changed, I have serious and long-term concerns about teaching and free expression. Now that the greater part of the K-12 experience has moved online or to other internet based instruction, and at the same time society has become less tolerant of unpopular opinions, I fear that we may be developing a generation of students who do not know how to disagree without becoming disagreeable.