BC court: Canadians allowed to criticise government
A clear victory for free speech in Canada.
The BC Supreme Court has ruled that the City of Powell River was wrong to threaten charges of defamation against three residents who dared to criticise the mayor and council over their handling of a controversial harbour development.
As reported by The Vancouver Sun’s Daphne Bramham, the decision forcefully and unequivocally states that constitutional guarantees trump any claim that citizens have defamed governments.
The Charter of Rights’ guarantee of free speech overrides any claims by governments that they can be defamed by citizens critical of their actions, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nicole Garson ruled last week.
“The Charter-enshrined value of freedom of expression is paramount and local governments have to resort to other means to protect their reputations from citizens who publish critical commentary about the government itself,” she wrote in a case involving the city of Powell River’s threat to sue three residents who criticized the mayor and council in an online newspaper.
“It is antithetical to the notion of freedom of speech and a citizen’s right to criticize his or her government concerning its governing functions that such criticism should be chilled by the threat of a suit in defamation.”
Justice Garson noted that, if governments could launch defamation lawsuits against anyone who criticises their actions, only those with the resources to defend themselves could afford to speak publicly against the state.
“Canadians allowed to criticize government!”
Terrific news. Who said that Canadians are from another planet?
I know what you mean, Emil. Some of us are working very hard to get Canadians back to Earth.
Pretty moronic politicians. Don’t they know that if you really want to shut someone up you use a Human Rights Commission?
[...] From Nova Scotia Scott: [...]
“The BC Supreme Court has ruled that the City of Powell River was wrong to threaten charges of defamation against three residents who dared to criticise the mayor and council over their handling of a controversial harbour development.”
What was done by this petty administrative clique was to attempt to resurrect the specter of the ancient British Crown’s “seditious libel” which was a legal oppression against government/political dissent and criticism in aristocratic classist, pre-liberal reformed Britain…a holdover from the era of right of kings…obviously these pseudo-vice regal statists thought they could preclude the freedoms to political dissent afforded in modern liberal constitutional democracy….they, and the other statist bullies who think they can censor free speech on political/ideological grounds have just been sharply corrected by the judiciary.
I think the courts ruling is a fine repudiation to the statist mantra that “free speech is an American concept”…..obviously it is a Canadian Charter concept as well.
Get used to and grow a thicker skin.
[...] NSCOTT– BC court: Canadians allowed to criticise government …. [...]
The Powell River mayor and council should be required to pay all legal fees related to this case out of their OWN pockets. I am sure they used a lot of tax payer money in bringing this censorship action against these people – again, they should be required to pay ALL out of their OWN pockets, including those of the three citizens.
[...] BC court: Canadians allowed to criticise government [...]