Opinion: Canadians should stand with Macron, even if Trudeau won’t

“We will defend the freedom you taught and raise up secularism.

Paty had shown his adolescent students, as part of a lesson on freedom of expression, were the same ones that had led to an attack on the offices of the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo in 2015.

That attack left 12 people dead and sparked the global “Je suis Charlie” movement in support of free speech.

Macron’s defence of the freedom of the press earned him nasty epithets throughout the Muslim world and exposed once again the clash in values between France’s secularist majority and its growing Muslim minority.

While other Western leaders expressed solidarity with Mr.

“I’m going to take the opportunity to talk to world leaders, community leaders, leaders of the Muslim community here in Canada, to understand their worries, their concerns, to listen and to work to reduce these tensions,” Mr.

Macron to defend freedom of expression, he automatically stands with Mr.

He promised to “defend freedom of expression with respect.”.

The right to freedom of speech is meaningless if it is subject to conditions such as “respect.” The Constitution protects freedom of speech precisely because speech that is meaningful is often controversial.

It is up to the courts to determine what constitutes hate speech under Section 319 of the Criminal Code.

Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland made banal pronouncements about fighting systemic racism rather than standing up for academic freedom.

We do not accept hate speech and [we] defend reasonable debate.

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