Centre for Free Expression

Join us TONIGHT at 7PM EST for our discussion on how recent federal bills would erode our rights and freedoms.

🔗 Zoom link: tinyurl.com/CFEevent

Join us TONIGHT at 7PM EST for our event on how the attack on arts and culture in the U.S. could be impacting Canada

🔗 Zoom link: tinyurl.com/CFEevent

📣 Our upcoming Virtual Forum Series event on Nov. 25 is about how recent federal bills would erode our rights and freedoms.

🔗 Zoom link: tinyurl.com/CFEevent

📣 Our next Virtual Forum Series event is on Nov. 20 at 7PM EST: How is the attack on arts and culture in the U.S. impacting Canada?

Zoom link: tinyurl.com/CFEevent.

Join us TOMORROW at 7pm EDT for our next event: What does the Western media get wrong about the Middle East?

🔗 Zoom link: tinyurl.com/CFEevent

📣 Check out our latest blog post, “Librarians Are My Heroes” by Danielle S. McLaughlin

🔗 cfe.torontomu.ca/blog/2025/10...

📣 Our next Virtual Forum Series event is on October 16 at 7pm EDT: What does the Western media get wrong about the Middle East?

🔗 Zoom link: tinyurl.com/CFEevent

Each year, we grant the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy to call public attention to governments, government departments and agencies that distinguish themselves by denying public access to government information to which the public is entitled

The Centre for Free Expression's Peter Bryce Prize recognizes and honours individuals who serve the greater good by courageously speaking up about wrongdoing or abuses of public trust in Canada or by Canadians.

For more information, visit buff.ly/Y3sVWJi

Join us TOMORROW at 7pm EDT for our next event: Is there more hope for whistleblowers in the private sector than in the public?

🔗 Zoom link: tinyurl.com/CFEevent

“Bill C-9 is deeply flawed and cannot be fixed by amendments,” said James L. Turk, CFE Director. “It creates new criminal laws that risk serious and unjustified infringements on Charter-protected fundamental freedoms, including the criminalization of peaceful protest.”

Read: tinyurl.com/35kn2ybw

Did you know that the Centre for Free Expression has a free, confidential helpline for whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers in Canada?

📣 Our next Virtual Forum Series event is on October 9 at 7pm EDT: Is There More Hope for Whistleblowers in the Private Sector than in the Public?

What Happened to the University’s Commitment to Free Expression? Charlie Kirk, uAlberta, and Me | Centre for Free Expression I was shocked when the University of Alberta administration informed me, one of its law professors, that I was being placed on non-disciplinary leave for my social media comments in the wake of…

📣 Check out our latest blog post, “What Happened to the University’s Commitment to Free Expression? Charlie Kirk, uAlberta, and Me” by Florence Ashley

Join us TOMORROW at 7pm EDT for the next CFE In Conversation event: What can we learn about book banning from the 400 years of the Catholic Church’s Index of Prohibited Books?

🔗 Zoom link: tinyurl.com/CFEevent

Ontario’s Greenbelt email-gate scandal nabs national lack of transparency award | Centre for Free Expression Doug Ford’s Ontario government has been selected as the 2024 recipient of the provincial Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy for its continued failure to prevent se...

The Code of Silence Awards — presented by
@cajournalists.bsky.social, @cjfe.bsky.social and the CFE
— spotlight governments and public bodies that go to great lengths to keep the public in the dark.

🔗 Read more: cfe.torontomu.ca/news/ontario...

“This all undermines public rights to information under Ontario freedom of information legislation,” said James L. Turk, Director of the CFE.

Meanwhile, a dishonourable mention goes to 13 Saskatchewan ministries for ignoring a ruling by the province’s Information Commissioner.

Doug Ford’s government has earned the top (dis)honour for failing to prevent senior staff from using personal email accounts to conduct public business — a violation of Ontario’s freedom of information laws.

🚨 PROVINCIAL AWARD FOR SECRECY:

The 2024 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy goes to… the Ontario government.

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Join us next week for a panel featuring three American journalists — Susan Glasser, Katherine Jacobsen, Craig Silverman — on Trump's unprecedented assault on media freedoms:

Trump’s War on Truth | Centre for Free Expression Panelists: Susan Glasser, Katherine Jacobsen, Craig Silverman Moderator: Julian Sher

🗣️ Panellists: Susan Glasser, Katherine Jacobsen and @craigsilverman.bsky.social.

👥 Co-sponsors: @cajournalists.bsky.social, @pencanada.bsky.social, Toronto Public Library, Edmonton Public Library and Vancouver Public Library.

🔗 Zoom link and more info here:
cfe.torontomu.ca/events/trump...

📣 PANEL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Join us on May 7 at 7 p.m. for a discussion with five American journalists on the frontlines of Trump’s war on truth as we look at the dangers and the road ahead.

TOMORROW AT 2 PM: Join us as we award Scott Campbell the 2025 Peter Bryce Prize for Whistleblowing! 🏆

🔗 Zoom link and more info:
cfe.torontomu.ca/news/scott-c...

🥁 We're back with another year of the Code of Silence Awards for Outstanding Achievement(s) in Government Secrecy 🥁

This year's 'winner' is Canada's federal government for its ongoing fight against Indigenous groups seeking access to records about residential schools.
caj.ca/access-denie...

Federal government given the Code of Silence Award for its obstructing release of records about residential schools | Centre for Free Expression Nearly ten years after the publication of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)’s final report, Canada’s federal government continues to fight Indigenous groups from across the country seeking...

The award, presented by
@cajournalists.bsky.social, @cfetmu.bsky.social & @cjfe.bsky.social, highlights efforts to hide information the public has a right to know.

🔗 Read more: cfe.torontomu.ca/news/federal...

#GovernmentSecrecy #JournalismMatters

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“The legacy of the residential school system is a systemic scar on our country’s history that continues to go unhealed,” said @cajournalists.bsky.social president Brent Jolly.

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🚨 The 2025 federal Code of Silence Award for Government Secrecy goes to… the Government of Canada.

Nearly a decade after the TRC’s final report, the feds are still fighting Indigenous communities seeking access to residential school records.

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Scott Campbell Named Winner of the 2025 Peter H. Bryce Prize | Centre for Free Expression The Centre for Free Expression (CFE) announced today that Scott Campbell, a former Business Development Executive in Opportunities New Brunswick’s Investment Attraction Department is the 2025 winner o...

🔗 More info about the prize and the presentation ceremony details: cfe.torontomu.ca/news/scott-c...

#PeterBrycePrize #Whistleblower #CFE #FreeExpression #PublicInterest

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The Peter Bryce Prize honours individuals who speak out against wrongdoing in the public interest. 🎖️

Campbell will receive the award and a $10,000 prize – made possible by the Zita and Mark Bernstein Family Foundation – virtually on Tuesday, April 22, at 7 PM EDT.

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Campbell, a former Business Development Executive at Opportunities New Brunswick, was fired after filing a complaint alleging that executives instructed him to falsify information presented to the provincial Cabinet – a courageous act in service of public integrity.

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