Posts tagged with pro-life.

Carleton student arrests show the limits of limiting free speech

Joey Coleman, October 13, 2010 at 2:38 PM

  

True free speech does not exist on the campuses of Canada's publicly-funded universities - that is not in doubt. Universities are legally private institutions and immune from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (The Supreme Court of Canada famously confirmed this in 1990 in the famous McKinney v. University of Guelph decision)

With no legal requirement to allow for the free exchange and expression of ideas, it is not surprising that Canadian universities limit the expression of controversial or unpopular ideas.

The eternal question facing universities is not if it is reasonable to impose limits on free expression - even governments institutions, which fall under the Charter, are allowed to impose restrictions - but what those limits should be and if limiting speech is even effective.

The latest flash-point is Carleton University, where five pro-life/anti-abortion activists were arrested last week when they attempted to display large posters that show aborted fetuses beside images of some of humanity's worst acts of genocide.

The "Genocide Awareness Project" (GAP) is the source of great controversy - which is exactly the goal of the organization behind it. The "Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform" is a media-savvy organization and is fully aware of the national attention these arrests bring to their cause. (One only needs to do a Google search of their name attached to the University of Calgary.)

If they display their posters, they are often confronted by angry individuals who are pro-choice. If they are prevented from displaying their posters, they complain of censorship. More recently, universities have requested the arrest of individuals involved in GAP displays for trespassing on the private property of the institution.

Despite the unreasonable actions of the GAP group at Carleton, who were offered space on campus to display their posters in a room that people could choose to enter (as opposed to on the main quadrangle), the university is wrong to request the arrest of its students.

Universities should allow for the exercise of free speech, even when unreasonable, as long as it does not incite hate or violence.

The fact that some would counter-protest in a manner that could lead to violence should not grant the university the right to stop a protest from occurring.

Controversy provides an opportunity for learning - the university can provide a forum for different viewpoints to be expressed and provide students with the opportunity to hear from the greatest minds on the matter of abortion.

By arresting these students, the university instead co-operated with the goals of the GAP group.

A more temperate response that focused on raising the debate from the chanting of slogans and simplified comparisons would have the effect of both removing the incentive for GAP to engage in unreasonable activities and advance Carleton's mission of "the intellectual, social, moral and physical development of its members, and the betterment of its community."

Arresting students to suppress their speech is ineffective. Carleton has achieved national media attention for these students and their case. At the same time, it has damaged the reputation of the university by responding with the use of the instruments of the state, instead of with better ideas.

Tagged with speech, free, pro-life, arrest, carleton | Comments (18) |