The Canadian Charter and Restrictions on Academic Speech

Dwight G. Newman, University of Saskachewan College of Law, is publishing Application of the Charter to Universities’ Limitation of Expression in the Revue de droit de l’Universite de Sherbrooke/Sherbrooke Law Review (Summer 2015). Here is the abstract.

This paper, which originated in a constitutional symposium series in honour of Justice Marie Deschamps, analyzes the move toward the possibility of applying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to universities’ restrictions on expression. The paper traces the pertinent case law on Charter application and argues that this case law now properly leads to Charter application in the context of university restrictions on expression. It considers the possibility of universities warranting a special exception based on academic freedom and argues that the contemporary tendency of universities to restrict expression actually means that Charter application can help to protect university values of expresion and academic freedom from universities themselves.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.