The price of free speech in Canada

(HILARY ROBERTS, The Charlatan photo)

Did you know that there is now a landmark cost for free speech in Canada? On October 4th, five pro-life students at Carleton University were arrested by Ottawa city police on the university campus and fined $130 each for what may be considered “non-academic misconduct.” Why? They had set up a Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) in the Tory Quad which graphically co-related the barbarism of modern day abortion to the atrocities of the past.

Yes, in 2007, GAP was officially approved and recognized by Carleton University, this despite a policy that banned using student services for anti-abortion activity. Yes, they were fulfilling their clearly defined aims in terms of campaigning and educating, even though they knew that anyone could file a complaint if they felt discriminated against as to “limiting or removing a woman’s right to choose her options in the case of pregnancy.”

Yes, the goal of GAP was to “promote the support and protection of life from conception to natural death,” and they knew that some people may feel harassed even by that wholesome idea. Yes, the pictures were harsh and comprised an in your face challenge, but the intent was to break down the hardness that has entered into the Canadian heart.

The Universities of Canada, funded by Canadian tax dollars, are called upon to uphold the principles of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas. It is clear that a paradigm shift has occurred in Canadian culture, and we have exchanged the clear glasses of democratic rights for the tainted glasses of public opinion and political correctness.