Two public discussions on Canada’s human rights commissions and free speech were held in Halifax on 30 October and 1 November 2008. I attended both and wrote several posts on them. To make the series of posts more easily accessible, this page serves as a portal.

CCEPA Debate, 30 October 2008

“Human Rights and Free Speech: Have Commissions or the Media Gone Too Far?”, sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs (CCEPA) and held at St Mary’s University.

• Do Human Rights Commissions Threaten Civil Liberties?
• Debate tonight in Halifax: “Human Rights and Free Speech”
• Opening statements in CCEPA debate
• CCEPA debate photos
• CCEPA debate, Part 2
• Mark Mercer’s speaking notes

Joseph Howe Symposium, 1 November 2008

The 6th annual Joseph Howe Symposium, “The Media’s Right to Offend: Exploring Legal and Ethical Limits on Free Speech”, was sponsored by the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and University of King’s College School of Journalism, and held at University of King’s College.

• The Media’s Right to Offend
• Joseph Howe Symposium: Overview
• Free speech symposium: Live blog
• Overall impressions of free speech symposium
• Krista Daley’s opening remarks
• Noa Mendelsohn Aviv’s opening remarks
• Ezra Levant’s opening remarks: “I am a major crime scene”
• John Miller: The saga of Khurrum Awan
• Ezra Levant’s speaking notes
• Stephen Ward: “To be offended should be expected”
• Have grievances, will travel
• Binks asks a question, but gets no response
• Restricting speech on the road to utopia
• Ezra Levant surfs the internet
• Joseph Howe Symposium videos posted