News

News September 5, 2024

Birju Dattani Joins the Centre for Free Expression as a Senior Fellow

The Centre for Free Expression (CFE) is pleased to announce that Birju Dattani is joining CFE as  a Senior Fellow.“Birju is one of Canada’s leading experts on human rights, and we are honoured that he will be helping lead our work on the relationship of expressive freedom and human rights,” said James L. Turk, Director of the CFE.
News June 19, 2024

Charter Rights Under Threat if Senate Fails to Fix Foreign Interference Bill: If they don’t act, we will, say CFE and 9 other civil society groups

In its rush to do, and to be seen to do, something about the very real problem of foreign interference, the House of Commons hurried through — in hours — a well-intentioned but deeply flawed Bill C-70: Countering Foreign Interference Act. Under enormous pressure, it appears the Senate will do likewise today.
Privacy & Surveillance, Academic Freedom, Freedom of the Press
News June 17, 2024

Professor Toni Samek named CFE Scholar-in-Residence for 2024-25

Toni Samek, Professor and former Chair at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta, will be the Centre for Free Expression’s Scholar-in-Residence for 2024-25. “Prof. Samek is one of Canada’s leading authorities on intellectual freedom, as well as one of its most effective advocates,” said James L. Turk, Director of the Centre for Free Expression (CFE). 
Intellectual Freedom
News June 10, 2024

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services' chill on access to information recognized with Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy

The Vancouver Fire Rescue Services (VFRS) has been selected as this year's recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the municipal category for its efforts to charge exorbitantly high fees for access to a fire investigation report already paid for by taxpayers. 
Access-to-Information
News June 6, 2024

CFE joins 13 other organizations in deploring government plans to rush the Countering Foreign Interference Act through Parliament without allowing meaningful study

In an open letter today to the members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, the Centre for Free Expression and 13 other civil society organizations expressed their deep concerns with the speed with which Bill C-70, the Countering Foreign Interference Act, is currently being rushed through the legislative process.
Freedom of Expression & Its Limits, Privacy & Surveillance, Access-to-Information
News May 23, 2024

Nova Scotia premier's office recognized with award for punting promises to empower province's information and privacy commissioner

The Premier of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston, has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the provincial Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy for his bait-and-switch on the 2021 election promise by his own government-to-be to strengthen his province's notoriously toothless freedom of information law by giving order-making power to its information. commissioner.
Access-to-Information