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VANCOUVER, BC, Coast Salish Territories. The Centre for Free Expression joined with 44 other organizations in welcoming the BC Attorney General’s commitment to enact legislation to protect British Columbians from strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits. A SLAPP suit refers to a lawsuit filed against individuals or organizations participating in public debate as a means of silencing them.

The Centre for Free Expression has urged the Ontario Security Commission to clarify its policy guidance as to when in-house counsel would be eligible for the whistleblowing award.  We endorsed the submission of Bersenas Jacobsen Chouest Thomson Blackburn LLP shown below.   March 5, 2018 Dear Ms. Knakowski: Re: Request for comments regarding changes to OSC Policy 15-601 – In-house counsel eligibility for whistleblowing awards

Toronto Star / January 26 – Writing in the Toronto Star, Sheldon Levy, past-president of Ryerson University, describes the university president’s challenge in defending freedom of expression on campus and why it is essential for universities and beyond. “On many occasions, I gave my administrator’s green light to events featuring speakers whose ideas I personally loathed,” Levy writes. “And I did so because freedom of speech is a core defining value for any free society. Democracy cannot function without it.”

TORONTO / Nov. 29 / CNW — The Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure is the 2017 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the category of provincial government ministries and agencies.

OTTAWA / Nov. 22 / CNW — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the 2017 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the category of law enforcement agencies.

The Centre for Free Expression is pleased to announce that Peter Jacobsen has been named a Senior Fellow of the Centre. Peter is one of Canada’s top media and defamation lawyers, with a long history of championing freedom of expression.