Guelph branch dropped banner to protest Doug Ford’s Freedom of Expression mandate
On Friday, Nov. 30 the Young Communist League, a national socialist student organization, led a cross-Ontario protest against Premier Doug Ford’s mandate for post-secondary institutions to develop a freedom of expression policy.
Similar protests also took place across Ontario including: London, Ottawa, Windsor, and Toronto.
“We oppose Doug Ford mandating free speech policies on campus,” Kayla Weiler, VP external at the CSA and YCL member, said in an interview with The Ontarion.
The protest arrives just weeks before the Board of Governor’s decision to approve the final draft of the Freedom of Expression policy on Dec. 20. The senate approved the draft on Monday, Nov. 26.
“We see this as an attack on autonomy because it’s forcing universities to write policies that they don’t truly believe in, or contradicts their own internal values as a university,” Weiler said.
In the mandate from the premier’s office that was released in August, Ford threatened funding cuts if post-secondary institutions fail to comply with the Freedom of Expression mandate. Post-secondary institutions will also have to report annually to the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) starting in September 2019.
Weiler, who says funding is already limited, believes the threats are a direct attack on the university’s autonomy as an independent and free-thinking institution.
“It also creates a frenzy claiming there is a free speech crisis on campus, which there is not,” Weiler said. “Instead the free speech policies that are outlined by Doug Ford will actually allow hate speech on campus, and people often disagree with that and say that hate speech is still illegal, but what people face on campus is that line where free speech ends and hate speech begins is often muted.”
Photos by Patrick Sutherland/ The Ontarion