Alberta will require post-secondary universities in the province to annually report to government their efforts to “protect free speech” on campus.
Alberta Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a statement Friday the province will also continue to explore possible additional steps.
“It is abundantly clear that more needs to be done to ensure our institutions are adequately protecting free speech,” Nicolaides wrote.
“Alberta’s post-secondary institutions should be bastions of free speech and academic freedom that promote critical thinking.”
The new steps were promised by the minister earlier this week. He was responding to reaction to a planned lecture on the University of Lethbridge campus by controversial academic Frances Widdowson.
Widdowson, who made headlines in 2020 for comments she made suggesting there had been an educational benefit to residential schools, had been asked to the campus by a faculty member. But that plan had been met by significant resistance by faculty and staff, with two petitionsreceiving more than 2,500 signatures.
Initially, the university said it would allow her appearance in line with its policy on free expression, but noted that Widdowson’s views were in conflict with the views held by the university, including its stated commitment to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
The U of L later changed course and said it would not allow public space for the lecture. Widdowson still showed up on Wednesday but was met with significant resistance and eventually had to leave.
Concerns over university autonomy
Earlier this week, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) issued a statement criticizing the U of L decision, writing that it raised “serious concerns about the University of Lethbridge’s commitment to freedom of expression and academic freedom.”
However, on Friday, CAUT issued a second statement, writing that though it champions academic freedom and free expression on campus, it also defends the principle of university autonomy.
“The government cannot and should not dictate how universities run their internal academic affairs,” wrote executive director David Robinson in a statement.
When asked about potential concerns of overreach, Nicolaides said the government didn’t write the free speech policies in place at various Alberta universities.
“Now we’re simply developing a public accountability and reporting mechanism,” he said.
In a statement, the U of L said its mandate affirmed its commitment to protect free inquiry and scholarship while facilitating access to scholarly resources and supporting artistic expression and the free and open scholarly discussion of issues.
“The university will work with the Government of Alberta to learn more about annual reporting requirements and develop plans for implementation,” it wrote.
Controversial academic Frances Widdowson visits University of Lethbridge
Controversial academic Frances Widdowson attended the University of Lethbridge on Wednesday and was promptly met by noisy resistance.
Details forthcoming
In an interview, Nicolaides said the report cards will be made public annually. The government does not have a final timeline at this point, though it hopes to wrap up the process by the end of the year.
Nicolaides said he plans to sit down with universities and colleges to determine what the reports should look like, adding he did not want to create a mechanism that adds more red tape to an institution. He said it would be likely that the report cards would fall under the free speech policies already in place at various institutions.
“The University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge have similar language where they say that the university should not shield individuals from speech and speech events or activities,” Nicolaides said. “That’s something that we can pull out and look at in the context of the report card.”
Each individual institution will be assigned a score of some kind based on that assessment.
The Opposition NDP previously said that the minister’s position on free speech was problematic given the lecture that appeared to prompt it. Speaking Wednesday, NDP Leader Rachel Notley said she believed Widdowson’s speech would be an exception to free speech principles.
“As far as I’m concerned, the idea of having someone come and speak at the university, particularly in Lethbridge, to a student body that consists of many Indigenous students about how they somehow benefited from residential schools, is deeply troubling to me,” Notley said at the time.
Speaking during a media availability on Tuesday, Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said she was troubled by a position taken by Alberta Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides given previous comments by former Mount Royal University professor Frances Widdowson. (CBC)
The ‘Chicago principles’
When it comes to determining the boundaries for speech, Nicolaides said that would be dictated by federal policy.
“I think we take our guidance from those important pieces of legislation and government documents and the interpretation of the courts, and stay within those boundaries,” he said.
All 26 publicly funded post-secondary institutions were instructed to either endorse the Chicago principles in 2019 under former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, or develop a separate policy consistent with them. An exception was made for Burman University given its religious values.
The principles are also in place in dozens of universities in the United States and in Ontario. Some critics have said that the principles are overly legalistic and don’t actually address what are an ongoing set of problems.
University of Calgary Students’ Union president Nicole Schmidt says the students’ union feels the province’s latest move is unnecessary and adds needless red tape. She says free speech on campus is not an issue the union hears about from students. (Colin Hall/CBC)
On Friday, the University of Calgary Students’ Union responded to a comment from Nicolaides made earlier this week, in which he said “it should be for students to make the final decision about whether to listen to a speech or not.”
“U of L students stood up, held firm, and made it clear that they had no interest in hearing a lecture that denies the genocidal nature of residential schools and the lasting harm these institutions have done to Indigenous peoples. That decision should be respected,” the union wrote.
Nicole Schmidt, president of the students’ union, said the group felt the government should be focusing on other issues, such as affordability and student unemployment.
“We feel that free speech on campus is not under threat. This is not an issue that we hear from students about,” she said in an interview.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
