CLIPPING: American academics want to avoid Canada over threats to free

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Academics fear speaking freely in Canada

Political scientists worried about 'legal jeopardy'

Kevin Libin, National Post

Published: Saturday, August 23, 2008

A group of U. S. professors launched a campaign this week protesting
plans by a prominent political science organization to hold its annual
conference in Toronto next year, claiming that Canada's restrictions
on certain forms of speech puts controversial academics at risk of
being prosecuted.

Bradley Watson, professor of American and Western political thought
at Pennsylvania's St. Vincent College, said he will present a petition
calling for the American Political Science Association (APSA) to
re-evaluate its selection of Toronto for its 2009 conference at this
year's annual meeting, taking place over the Labour Day weekend in
Boston.

His protest has garnered support from dozens of professors across the
United States, including prominent scholars such as Princeton
University legal philosopher Robert P. George and Harvard University's
Harvey Mansfield.

"Our belief is that the APSA should choose its sites carefully, with
particular regard for questions of freedom of speech and conscience,"
Mr. Watson told the National Post by e-mail. "We therefore believe
Canada to be a problematic destination."

Mr. Watson said that professors signing the petition are concerned
that recent human rights commission investigations into Maclean's and
Western Standard magazines over articles concerning Islam, and the
conviction of pastor Stephen Boisson, who was ordered by Alberta's
human rights tribunal in May to cease publicizing criticisms of
homosexuality, suggest that professors risk being chilled from
discussing important academic subjects, or ending up in legal trouble.
Mr. Watson said he plans to distribute hundreds of buttons to
attendees at the Boston conference reading "Toronto 2009, Non!"

Several professors in the working group behind the protest "have
written in areas that seem particularly disfavoured by the Canadian
legal establishment," Mr. Watson said. "We are uncertain of the extent
of the legal jeopardy that APSA members might place themselves in
should they make public arguments in Canada, or post those arguments
online, concerning hot-button issues like homosexuality, same-sex
marriage, or the nature of the Islamist threat to Western
civilization."

The American Political Science Association, whose members include
both American and Canadian academics, is the oldest and largest
organization of political science professors. Next month's annual
meeting, expected to draw roughly 7,000 political scientists, will be
its 104th. The program includes such discussions as Terrorism and
Human Rights; Varying Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage; and Missing
Alliances and (Un)expected Transformations in the Politics of Islam.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the working group behind the
protest said: "The nature of radical Islamism and the relationship of
public morality and homosexual conduct are issues of vital public
importance" and that "all political scientists have a professional
interest in a full and open scholarly debate" on these topics. The
group called it "unseemly" for APSA to "turn a blind eye to
attacks on freedom of speech" and "unacceptable … to risk exposing its
own members to them."

APSA standards for selecting meeting sites include "protection of
academic freedom, equitable access to opportunity, and a commitment to
non-discrimination," but Mr. Watson said Canada does not satisfy that
test. "Our belief is that most Americans--even APSA members--have no
idea how precarious the rights of freedom of speech and conscience are
in Canada," Mr. Watson said. Earlier this year, APSA reevaluated a
decision to hold its 2012 meeting in New Orleans in light of
complaints by some members that same-sex marriage is not legally
recognized in Louisiana. The organization's council voted in June not
to overturn the decision.

The Toronto petition states that: "Whereas members of the Association
ought to be able at the 2009 annual meeting to present research and
argument on controversial topics, such as public policy concerning
homosexuality or the character of and proper response to terrorist
elements acting in the name of Islam, without fear of legal
repercussions of any kind … we petition the Council and staff of the
APSA to take all steps necessary to ensure that academic freedom and
free speech, even on controversial topics such as these, are not
threatened at the 2009 annual meeting, including soliciting legal
advice and seeking the assurance of the Government of Canada and local
authorities that the civil rights and liberties of members to free
speech and academic freedom will be secure."

klibin@nationalpost.com

Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest
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