News

Senior Justice Canada lawyer and former whistleblower, Edgar Schmidt, is joining the Centre for Free Expression Whistleblowing Initiatives Steering Committee, the body that guides all aspects of the Centre’s work on whistleblowing issues. “Edgar will bring invaluable experience and knowledge to the Centre for Free Expression’s advocacy, assistance, research, and public education with respect to whistleblowing,” said James L. Turk, director of the Centre. 

Quebec's Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks has been named as the recipient of the 2020 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the provincial category.  The provincial ministry is being recognized for its unwillingness to share lab data with scientists at Environment Canada related to four mysterious fish kills that took place during the summer of 2019. At the time, dead fish showed up in the Ottawa River, with the source believed to be the Lièvre River, east of Ottawa and Gatineau. 

The Federal Cabinet is the 2020 recipient of the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy in the federal category. The Cabinet is recognized for suppressing public access to details about very large loans—at times amounting to billions of dollars—given to corporations out of the public purse.

The Centre for Free Expression is pleased to announce that author, actor, and academic Vershawn Ashanti Young is joining the Centre’s Advisory Board. Young is Professor in the Departments of English Language and Literature and of Communications Arts at the University of Waterloo where he teaches communication, race, gender, literature, writing, and performance. He is also a solo performance artist and writer.

Milton Public Library Chief Librarian and CEO Mark Williams is joining the Centre for Free Expression’s Working Group on Intellectual Freedom. “We are delighted to welcome such a dedicated champion of intellectual freedom to the CFE Working Group,” said James L. Turk, the Centre’s Director.

Susan Caron is joining the Centre for Free Expression as a Senior Fellow. As the former Director of Collections and Membership Services for the Toronto Public Library, she was an advocate for better access for North American libraries to digital content and responsible for supporting the Library’s commitment to intellectual freedom. “We are delighted to have a person of Susan’s ability and experience join the Centre for Free Expression to help with our work on intellectual freedom,” said James L. Turk, Director of the Centre.