Weaponizing Words – The Dilemmas of Free Speech, explores the complexities of free speech and what the limits are, or should be, in this era where hate speech is on the rise. How do we limit speech which harms others without handing over the tools to our legislators and law enforcers who could use limitations on free speech to crack down on legitimate dissent?
Samir Gandesha - Associate Professor in the Department of the Humanities and the Director of the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University. He specializes in modern European thought and culture, with a particular emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.
Morgane Oger - Executive Director of the Morgane Oger Foundation, which works to narrow the gap between human rights laws as they are written and as they are experienced by Canadians. Morgane Oger was the BC NDP candidate in the then BC Liberal stronghold of Vancouver-False Creek during the 2017 General Election. Working across party lines, Oger has become recognized as an effective community organizer and educator, changing hearts and minds to help win significant change on issues focused around equality, LGBTQ2+ inclusion, and accessible education.
Josh Paterson - lawyer and the Executive Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). Josh got his start acting as the Director of the Freedom of Expression, Equality and Dignity Project at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in Toronto. After moving to Vancouver in the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, he joined a busy union-side labour and human rights practice, and spent much of his time working on one of BC’s largest racial discrimination cases in history.
This talk was recorded in Vancouver on June 27. Click here to for a link to the podcast on rabble.ca.