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Censorship Industrial Complex

Canada caves when free speech is under fire

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This article supplied by Troy Media.

Troy Media By Collin May

When I came under fire, no one in Canada had my back. It was U.S. groups that stepped up. That says a lot about the state of our institutions

It’s been a busy few weeks in Anglosphere politics. Canada and Australia both held federal elections, while in England, voters went to the polls for local
races and a high-stakes parliamentary byelection.

The campaigns—and their results—couldn’t have been more different. In Canada and Australia, incumbent left-leaning governments shaped their
campaigns around external threats, particularly U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. They portrayed these as “existential threats” to national
sovereignty, crowding out debate on urgent domestic issues like housing, affordability and migration.

But English voters weren’t interested in fear campaigns. Instead, they used the opportunity to send a clear message of frustration with their own political class, punishing both the stumbling Labour government and the disoriented Conservatives.

Across local councils and mayoral races, the upstart Reform Party, a populist, centre-right movement, swept aside the traditional parties. Reform captured more than 30 per cent of the vote, winning 677 council seats and control of 10 of the 23 contested councils. The Conservatives collapsed, losing 674 seats, Labour dropped 187, and the Lib Dems gained 163. In the first parliamentary byelection since the 2024 national vote, a supposedly safe Labour seat—Runcorn and Helsby—flipped to Reform by just six votes.

These results reveal more than political turbulence. They expose important differences in political culture. British voters, with their long democratic tradition and broader economy, proved more resistant to fear-driven narratives centred on U.S. politics. Canada and Australia, more economically dependent and less institutionally resilient, were more vulnerable to manipulation by politicians exploiting insecurity and simplistic caricatures of American threats.

The cost of this vulnerability is domestic neglect. In Canada, conversations about civil liberties, housing, immigration and cost-of-living pressures, especially on younger Canadians, were largely sidelined.

This failure isn’t abstract. I experienced it firsthand.

In 2022, I was appointed chief of the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Soon after, a small but vocal activist group targeted me with allegations of Islamophobia and racism, based on a misrepresentation of a 2009 academic article I wrote on political theology. Canadian institutions that should have stood for due process and free expression remained silent.

Support only arrived once the story caught the attention of American organizations. Groups like the Middle East Forum, the Clarity Coalition, the
National Association of Scholars and Law & Liberty offered platforms for me to speak, publish and respond. Only then did some Canadian outlets take notice.

At the heart of this silence was a deeper issue: Canada lacked the civic infrastructure to defend free speech, academic freedom and open debate,
especially when they challenge prevailing orthodoxies.

That, thankfully, may be starting to change.

Since my dismissal, several new organizations have emerged. The Clarity Coalition, an alliance of Muslims, ex-Muslims and allies committed to liberal
democracy, launched a Canadian chapter, which I now co-chair with Yasmine Mohammed. In 2024, it joined others to form the Alliance of Canadians
Combating Antisemitism. And earlier this year, lawyer Lisa Bildy, who represented the late Richard Bilkszto, a Toronto principal targeted in a
cancellation campaign, founded a Canadian chapter of the Free Speech Union.

These developments mark a long-overdue pushback. For the first time in years, Canadian groups are coalescing around foundational values and offering critical support to individuals willing to challenge entrenched activist networks. Still, the fight is uphill. These organizations are new, their resources are limited and the pressure is intense.

In my own case, my legal counsel has led a defamation suit against several of the groups that destroyed my reputation and cost me my position. Legal action is costly, and so far, the only significant financial support I’ve received has come from the Lawfare Project, a New York-based legal defence group founded by a Canadian.

That in itself says a great deal.

There are signs of momentum. Muslims Facing Tomorrow, a Canadian group led by the courageous Raheel Raza, recently issued a public statement supporting my legal action and called on Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery to reinstate me as chief of the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

If that happens, my first act would be to establish an advisory council on free speech and academic freedom, because no society can remain democratic if it doesn’t defend its core values.

Whether Alberta’s government will act remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: if Canada wants to protect its democratic soul, it must stop relying on
others for courage and start standing up for its principles at home.

Collin May is a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a lawyer, and Adjunct Lecturer in Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary, with degrees in law (Dalhousie University), a Masters in Theological Studies (Harvard) and a Diplome d’etudes approfondies (Ecole des hautes etudes, Paris).

Troy Media empowers Canadian community news outlets by providing independent, insightful analysis and commentary. Our mission is to support local media in helping Canadians stay informed and engaged by delivering reliable content that strengthens community connections and deepens understanding across the country.

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Censorship Industrial Complex

Alberta senator wants to revive lapsed Trudeau internet censorship bill

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Senator Kristopher Wells and other senators are ‘interested’ in reviving the controversial Online Harms Act legislation that was abandoned after the election call.

A recent Trudeau-appointed Canadian senator said that he and other “interested senators” want the current Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney to revive a controversial Trudeau-era internet censorship bill that lapsed.

Kristopher Wells, appointed by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year as a senator from Alberta, made the comments about reviving an internet censorship bill recently in the Senate.

“In the last Parliament, the government proposed important changes to the Criminal Code of Canada designed to strengthen penalties for hate crime offences,” he said of Bill C-63 that lapsed earlier this year after the federal election was called.

Bill C-63, or the Online Harms Act, was put forth under the guise of protecting children from exploitation online.

While protecting children is indeed a duty of the state, the bill included several measures that targeted vaguely defined “hate speech” infractions involving race, gender, and religion, among other categories. The proposal was thus blasted by many legal experts.

The Online Harms Act would have in essence censored legal internet content that the government thought “likely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group.” It would be up to the Canadian Human Rights Commission to investigate complaints.

Wells said that “Bill C-63 did not come to a vote in the other place and in the dying days of the last Parliament the government signaled it would be prioritizing other aspects of the bill.”

“I believe Canada must get tougher on hate and send a clear and unequivocal message that hate and extremism will never be tolerated in this country no matter who it targets,” he said.

Carney, as reported by LifeSiteNews, vowed to continue in Trudeau’s footsteps, promising even more legislation to crack down on lawful internet content.

Wells asked if the current Carney government remains “committed to tabling legislation that will amend the Criminal Code as proposed in the previous Bill C-63 and will it commit to working with interested senators and community stakeholders to make the changes needed to ensure this important legislation is passed?”

Seasoned Senator Marc Gold replied that he is not in “a position to speculate” on whether a new bill would be brought forward.

Before Bill C-63, a similar law, Bill C-36, lapsed in 2021 due to that year’s general election.

As noted by LifeSiteNews, Wells has in the past advocated for closing Christian schools that refuse to violate their religious principles by accepting so-called Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs and spearheaded so-called “conversion therapy bans.”

Other internet censorship bills that have become law have yet to be fully implemented.

Last month, LifeSiteNews reported that former Minister of Environment Steven Guilbeault, known for his radical climate views, will be the person in charge of implementing Bill C-11, a controversial bill passed in 2023 that aims to censor legal internet content in Canada.

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Censorship Industrial Complex

Conservatives slam Liberal bill to allow police to search through Canadians’ mail

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Conservatives are warning that the Liberals’ new border bill will allow police to search Canadians’ mail.

During a June 5 debate in the House of Commons, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Frank Caputo voiced concerns over Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, which will permit police and government officials to open and examine Canadians’ mail.

“This is something I know I am going to get mail about,” Caputo said. “We are now talking about language in the Charter, what is referred to as an expectation of privacy.”

Bill C-2, introduced by the Liberals under Prime Minister Mark Carney, is framed as legislation to combat drugs making their way across the border. However, many have pointed out that it severely infringes on Canadians’ Charter rights.

The Liberals have failed to address this concern in their 130-page legislation, leading Conservatives to demand accountability.

“If they can put out a 130-page bill, certainly they can put out a four or five-page Charter statement,” he said. “Certainly, somebody in the government asked if it was Charter compliant — but they won’t say.”

Under Bill C-2, Canada would amend the Canada Post Corporation Act to “remove barriers that prevent police from searching mail, where authorized to do so in accordance with an Act of Parliament, to carry out a criminal investigation.”

It also seeks to “expand Canada Post inspection authority to open mail.”

As LifeSiteNews previously reported, legal organizations have warned that the legislation could lead to a cashless economy as it would ban cash payments over $10,000.

In a June 4 X post, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) warned that “If Bill C-2 passes, it will become a Criminal Code offence for businesses, professionals, and charities to accept cash donations, deposits, or payments of $10,000 or more. Even if the $10,000 payment or donation is broken down into several smaller cash transactions, it will still be a crime for a business or charity to receive it.”

The JCCF pointed out that while cash payments of $10,000 are not common for Canadians, the government can easily reduce “the legal amount to $5,000, then $1,000, then $100, and eventually nothing.”

“Restricting the use of cash is a dangerous step towards tyranny and totalitarianism,” the organization warned. “Cash gives citizens privacy, autonomy, and freedom from surveillance by government and by banks, credit card companies, and other corporations.”

Similarly, Carney’s move to restrict Canadians is hardly surprising considering his close ties to the World Economic Forum and push for digital currency.

In a 2021 article, the National Post noted that “since the advent of the COVID pandemic, Carney has been front and centre in the promotion of a political agenda known as the ‘Great Reset,’ or the ‘Green New Deal,’ or ‘Building Back Better.’

“Carney’s Brave New World will be one of severely constrained choice, less flying, less meat, more inconvenience and more poverty,” the outlet continued.

In light of Carney’s new leadership over Canadians, many are sounding alarm over his distinctly anti-freedom ideas.

Carney, who as reported by LifeSiteNews, has admitted he is an “elitist” and a “globalist.” Just recently, he criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for targeting woke ideology and has vowed to promote “inclusiveness” in Canada.

Carney also said that he is willing to use all government powers, including “emergency powers,” to enforce his energy plan.

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