Further to my previous blog post about digging through some of my old term papers from law school and my master’s degree, I’ve not only revised and updated one of my papers (and submitted it to a journal!) but I’ve also published the original draft on my website. The original version of the paper is titled “Inside and Outside of the House: The Relationship Between Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Speech and Parliamentary Privilege” - and you can find a sneak peek here!

INTRODUCTION:

Freedom of expression is a necessary condition for democracy. It ensures that issues of common concern are freely and openly debated and allows for the criticism of government actions. In this sense, its purpose is to “[promote] the free flow of ideas essential to political democracy and the functioning of democratic institutions”. Despite this important function, freedom of expression is not absolute. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [hereafter the Charter] permits limits on freedom of expression if they are reasonable and justifiable in a free and democratic society.

While it is possible to debate whether any limits to such a fundamental freedom are justifiable, and indeed the courts have done so many times, it is nevertheless commonly accepted that this is the case. Interestingly, freedom of expression is limited not only within society as a whole, but also within its governing democratic institutions. At first glance, such limitations appear counterintuitive. How can elected representatives properly deliberate and create laws if they do not have the ability to speak freely while doing so?

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