Freedom of Expression & Its Limits

My eight-year-old granddaughter told me last week that she was scared. When I asked her why, she told me that Donald Trump had been elected President of the United States, and that everyone in her class was scared too. And yes, she understood that we live in Canada and that Trump does not lead our country.  It seemed to her and other children that the bogeyman had escaped from their nightmares and had been elected to high office.

Debates about the regulation of different forms of speech – including hate speech, commercial advertising, election spending, and defamation, raise broader questions about the protection of free speech in contemporary public discourse.

It is that time of the year again. School has begun, and rules are being made, left, right and centre. Some of us are feeling the relief of sending children and grandchildren off to learn and have fun – and also to get a bit of distance from the “Why? Why? Why?”

What do you do when uninvited guests crash your party and say really offensive things? Asking them to leave is one strategy. What if they arrive masked, disguising their true purposes, and your party is an annual parade through the streets of downtown Toronto? In the case of two plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit, you sue for $104 million in damages for tortious defamation, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of mental distress. Free speech folks should be concerned about having recourse to such litigation techniques as a response to offensive speech.