Barbara Kay: Canada Needs an Academic Freedom Act to Protect Viewpoint Diversity in Universities

Before the Lindsay Shepherd affair in 2017, the general public was largely unconscious of the extreme campus bullying that can result when campus community members dissent from contemporary ideological orthodoxy, writes Barbara Kay. AlbertArt/Shutterstock

Commentary

The Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute used to run a lively series called The Great Canadian Debate. In 2014 I took the affirmative side in one such, whose resolution was “Free speech in Canadian universities is an endangered species.” My opponent was a staunchly leftist York University professor.