Barbara Kay: Canada Needs an Academic Freedom Act to Protect Viewpoint Diversity in Universities
Commentary
The Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute used to run a lively series called The Great Canadian Debate. In 2014 I took the affirmative side in one such, whose resolution was “Free speech in Canadian universities is an endangered species.” My opponent was a staunchly leftist York University professor.
He opened with the question: “Does every crackpot, eccentric, provocateur, or bona fide activist have a right to speak on campus?” He claimed that, since fewer than 25 of about 2,000 invited speakers a year across Canada are deplatformed, that is an insignificant price to pay for the racial and gender diversity the modern university can boast of. As for students disappointed at being deprived of exposure to these “provocateurs,” they “can find them on the Internet.”…