Canadian universities failing to protect free speech: report
Dec 9, 2011 – 2:02 AM ET | Last Updated: Dec 9, 2011 7:42 AM ET
Dean Bicknell / Postmedia News files
Lawyer John Carpay stands in front of some of the students he represented after they were charged with trespassing following an anti-abortion demonstration on the University of Calgary campus.
A "disconcerting" number of Canadian universities have failed in their mission to protect free speech and in the process are helping to erode open debate in the larger society, a new report contends.
"If censorship is OK on a university campus, I think there is a spin-off effect that harms the health of free speech outside the university as well," Calgary lawyer John Carpay, one of the authors of The 2011 Campus Free Speech Index, said Thursday. "Taxpayers are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to these institutions that promise to be a forum for frank debate. It's disconcerting to see this."
Mr. Carpay has been defending anti-abortion students at the University of Calgary, a school cited in the report. It grades 18 secular universities in terms of their policies on free speech, their actions and practices, as well as student union policies and practices. None of the schools came out unblemished but the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and the University of New Brunswick fared the best as protectors of free speech.
Carleton University, University of Western Ontario and University of Calgary were given the least flattering assessment.
All three schools said free speech has always been a foundational part of their campuses and rejected Mr. Carpay's conclusions.
"We believe our campus does a good job of providing an environment that is conducive to free speech. We have student groups and faculty hosting talks, debates, discussion and, yes, even the occasional protest, on a range of subjects and issues," said Christopher Cline, a spokesman for Carleton.
"The University of Calgary supports students sharing their views about subjects in a respectful manner," said Grady Semmens, a spokesman for the school.
The report was prepared by the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. This is the first year a report has been issued and the group said it plans to continue to issuing annual reports.
The main targets of censorship on campus are anti-abortion groups, the report found. It also cited issues arising between pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israeli students in which campuses thwarted free speech.
"I think every age has a viewpoint that is particularly unpopular," Mr. Carpay said. "But the most important thing I emphasize is if universities and student councils can censor the pro-life view, then they can censor anything and they will eventually censor anything."
At the University of Calgary, an anti-abortion group has been at odds with the school for several years for displaying graphic anti-abortion posters. The school requested the students turn the posters so students would not be forced to see them. The students were charged with trespassing but Mr. Carpay said the Crown dismissed the case because they could not find what school policy the students had violated. The students were also charged with non-academic conduct, but that is under appeal.
The report notes that in 2011 the University of Western Ontario's anti-abortion club, Western Lifeline, requested space for an event in which women would discuss their personal experiences with abortion. Mr. Carpay said the club was offered a secluded room away from foot traffic, while other groups were given more visible space.
Daniel Paolini, a member of Western Lifeline, said he applied to the director of student life, who works for the student council, and was told such an event would offend community standards.
However, Helen Connell, a spokeswoman for the university, said the report is misleading. She said a decision was made by the student council and that the school respects the council's judgment and the right to manage its spaces. The group was not denied the right to hold the event but did not like the space it was given, she said.
Mr. Carpay called Carleton University "the worst" school for defending free speech because of the aggressive way it treated members of a pro-life club. In 2010, Carleton Lifeline was suspended for having discriminatory views against women. The student union told club members they could regain their status by changing their anti-abortion views.
The Carleton Lifeline students were also denied a prominent place on campus. When they attempted to put up a graphic anti-abortion display on the student quadrangle, the university brought in Ottawa police who handcuffed the students and charged them with trespassing.
Albertos Polizogopoulos, lawyer for the Carleton students, said he found Thursday's report "frightening in its depiction of how freedom of expression is being curtailed."
"Universities are going down a line where they become defenders of indoctrination and ideology rather than defending inquiry," Mr. Polizogopoulos said.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers and the Association of Universities and Colleges did respond to requests for comment.
National Post
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