The new leader of the Christian Heritage Party has issued a call for the University of Calgary to protect the free speech rights of its students.

“A university should be a place where peaceful free exchange of ideas is encouraged, not stifled,” said Jim Hnatiuk, while travelling from his home in Halifax to Winnipeg. He cited a commitment published in the U of C calendar: “The University of Calgary community has undertaken to- respect, appreciate, and encourage diversity.”

A student group, Campus Pro-Life, has been ordered by the university’s lawyers not to display posters which equate abortion to the Holocaust and to racism. They will only be allowed to have the posters on campus if they are “turned inward” so they cannot be seen, according to the lawyers’ letter.

“That instruction stifles free speech,” said Hnatiuk. “To say the posters are only allowed if they cannot be seen is the same as saying the posters are not allowed.”

The university administration says the restriction is intended to prevent the posters from “triggering violence”, but Hnatiuk points out that the posters have been displayed on campus for five years without violence, and that the CPL has always acted peacefully.

“For the university to silence the CPL students–because a few others might react violently–is to support the bullies,” Mr. Hnatiuk added. “The university, according to its own statement, is committed to protect and encourage the peaceful expression of controversial ideas. That’s what a university is all about.”

Mr. Hnatiuk has appealled for the members of his party and the whole pro-life community across Canada to support Campus Pro-Life at the U of C.

“The letter threatens the students with suspension, expulsion–even arrest,” he said. “That threatens their academic and future careers. That’s pretty heavy-handed censorship, and it has no place on the campus of a tax-supported university.

“These students are courageously taking a stand that defends the free speech rights of all Canadians.” Mr. Hnatiuk condemned a statement by the lawyers, in their letter, that “the Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply on a university campus.”

“No law firm, no administration, and certainly no tax-funded school can arbitrarily deny the constitutional rights of any Canadian,” he exclaimed. “It’s an outrage–a preposterous attack on the free speech rights of all Canadians!”

The full CHP statement, which includes addresses of the CPL and of the university administration, can be read here.

Source: http://www.chp.ca/en/news/news_2008-11-26.html

Category: National CHP News
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