Free speech in Canada is facing unprecedented pressure from expanding government controls and cultural shifts. Once the bedrock of democratic life, open debate is increasingly stifled by laws targeting so-called “harmful” expression and by a rising climate of censorship – especially on sensitive issues like immigration, gender, and national identity.
Canada’s conception of free speech has quietly – but profoundly – shifted. Once seen as a tool for collective truth-seeking and democratic engagement, it is now often framed as a matter of personal expression. This turn, amplified by the Charter’s post-1982 interpretation and the rise of expressive individualism, has made them more easily overridden in the name of competing values like “safety” and “inclusion.” The result? A thinner, more fragile vision of free expression – one less anchored in the rigour of open debate.
