Brian Giesbrecht: Time to Un-Cancel Diversity of Viewpoint
Commentary
The quest for “diversity” has become the universal rallying cry for every institution, including universities, government departments, corporations, and even law societies. “Diversity” has been defined as including skin colour, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation.
However, the one kind of diversity not included on this list—and the one kind that is desperately needed today—is diversity of viewpoint. In fact, that most important kind of diversity is not welcomed at all. It is too often actively shunned or outright cancelled.
We saw this play out during the truckers’ “Freedom Convoy” last winter. The protesters in Ottawa represented a significant portion of the Canadian population who were fed up with vaccine mandates and other measures they saw as government overreach undertaken in the name of “keeping Canadians safe” from a respiratory virus that clearly listens to no government. They also asked to be heard by a government that is expected to belong to all Canadians….