Monday, the front page of Duty reported on an important event in the history of freedom of expression, namely the march of 50,000 people, 20 years ago, to protest against a decision of the CRTC, in support of CHOI-FM. However, the event was intended to be a criticism of an important decision of the Federal Court of Appeal which upheld the decision of the CRTC, namely not to definitively renew the broadcasting licence.
This remarkable decision, both in constitutional law and administrative law, written by the learned Justice Létourneau, sets the limits of freedom of expression by declaring that on the airwaves, one cannot, in the name of this freedom, utter the worst insanities, violate the reputation of people or institutions, etc. The CRTC, a major administrative tribunal, had done its job remarkably well. The comments made on the airwaves had been the subject of numerous complaints from the public, alleging that the station’s hosts were making “offensive, sexist, spiteful, discriminatory and degrading” comments. The 50,000 demonstrators would have done better to read these court decisions and celebrate a victory for freedom of expression! Twenty years ago, I had the opportunity to comment on this case on Radio-Canada…
To see in video