With regard to today’s Supreme Court decision upholding Taylor and Canada’s anti-hate speech laws: Obviously, libertarians will hate the decision, but hopefully they weren’t disappointed. Did anyone really think the Court would strike down the censorship provisions in every human rights act across Canada? But I see a puzzle. To quote the decision, the term “hatred” contained [...]
Category Archives: Fundamental Freedoms
Bylaw bullies in the news
Posted by Peter Jaworski on September 2, 2012 Comments Off
Over the last little while, I’ve been doing my best to let people know that municipal law enforcement can walk onto your private property without giving you notice, and without a warrant. I think these sorts of no-notice, no-warrant power of entry provisions are an outrage. More people should be aware of it, and more [...]
Should By-Law Officers have all that Power?
Posted by Peter Jaworski on August 14, 2012 2 comments
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been railing against a specific provision in the Ontario Municipal Act. That provision permits municipalities to pass bylaws that allow bylaw officers to walk onto your private property without having to give the landowner notice, and without the need for a warrant. It lets strangers come onto your property, [...]
Reason # 305 for why we need property rights in the Charter
Posted by Peter Jaworski on June 19, 2012 Comments Off
“I am of the opinion that the properties proposed for expropriation are absolutely essential for the safety and security of Canada,” reads the final decision from Ottawa, signed by Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose. “For that reason and in absence of valid justification to do otherwise, I have confirmed my intention to expropriate.” And with [...]
The death of MegaUpload and extraterritorial application of law
Posted by M.J. Sheppard on January 20, 2012 2 comments
Hey, you know what really bothers me? When one country figures that laws passed by their legislature apply to the entire fucking world. You know who the leading proponent of that idea is? The United States. That’s right, a nation that refuses to recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court because it might place their [...]
On neoconservatives and conspiracy theories
Posted by Mike Brock on January 8, 2012 5 comments
Ron Paul is driving the neoconservative right crazy. For them, a Ron Paul presidency signals the end of America. His foreign policy will be the final nail in the coffin of the United States. They often lament that many of Ron Paul’s views are driven by wacky conspiracy theories. In particular, they focus on a [...]
Freedom of Religion should not be in our constitution
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 24, 2011 8 comments
Federal Court Judge Michel Shore dismissed Christopher Bennett’s claim that, for him, marijuana is a holy sacrament and thus him smoking it is protected under the Charter as a freedom of religion. Judge Shore said that Mr. Bennett’s pot smoking is a “life style choice.” Yes it is a life style choice, but so are [...]
What is expression?
Posted by Mike Brock on November 21, 2011 4 comments
I have some complex and nuanced views on the Occupy Toronto protest, and I’m going to avoid getting into them here. Instead, I want to ask a question and hope in elicits a coherent response: if occupying a public park and turning it into your de facto domicile can be a Charter-protected form of political [...]
Occupy Toronto has no right to St. James Park
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 16, 2011 7 comments
On Tuesday the City of Toronto issued eviction notices to the Occupiers at St. James Park, I am sure in response to my post on Monday. A group of the Occupiers went to a judge for an injunction claiming that the eviction would violate their charter rights. The judge put a stay on the enforcement [...]
Turns out we do have the freedom to celebrate freedom
Posted by Peter Jaworski on August 3, 2011 1 comment
This upcoming weekend will mark the eleventh annual Liberty Summer Seminar, held on my parents’ property in the municipality of Clarington. A year ago, it looked like the Liberty Summer Seminar would be no more. It looked like it was going to be cancelled due to zoning regulations. The Liberty Summer Seminar is an event [...]
Economic Freedom: prosperity and protection
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on July 5, 2011 9 comments
Three articles published last week together make for a powerful argument for property rights to be protected in Canada’s constitution. One of these articles was written by Karen Selick of the Canadian Constitution Federation. Ms. Selick argues that the idea that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not protect economic freedom is a myth. [...]
Bill C-51: the Conservative government is in favour of censorship
Posted by Terrence Watson on May 5, 2011 5 comments
Why must you DO these things, Conservatives? 1. Bill C-36: a Conservative betrayal In the comments to this post, commenter Robert McClelland correctly highlights Bill C-36 as one of the lesser known pieces of bad Conservative legislation to come out of their minority government. C-36, the Consumer Product Safety Act, takes effect in June. It [...]
A twitter rebellion in Canada
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on April 22, 2011 5 comments
Social media has proven itself a powerful tool to fight tyrants in Asia and Africa. Now here in Canada it may be used to defend free speech. According to this news article there is a movement on Twitter that would have people tweeting election results in violation of federal law. The law is this: Don’t [...]
The Human Right not to be offended
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on April 21, 2011 5 comments
Comedian Guy Earle has lost his case and is being forced by the “Human Rights” Tribunal to give $22 000 for insulting someone at a comedy club. It is now a “human right” never to be offended. Well I am offended by this verdict. I am offended that this case would have been thrown out [...]
States rights? Sure.
Posted by Peter Jaworski on March 21, 2011 Comments Off
Sometimes, supporters of states’ rights aren’t who you’d expect: The Volunteer is a libertarian news and views blog. To read more about The Volunteer, check out our About page. You can follow us on twitter, or on facebook. ShareFacebookStumbleUponDiggRedditEmail
The great conservative smear of Al Jazeera
Posted by Mike Brock on March 18, 2011 1 comment
It happened during the Egypt uprising. I was looking for more information on the protests on the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. As a libertarian, the spectacle of people rising up against a repressive government is something that gets my attention with little effort. It also came a few weeks after the fire bombing of [...]
Comparing the world, in terms of freedom
Posted by Peter Jaworski on March 14, 2011 20 comments
I suggested we should put together a meta-index, and listed a bunch of possible indexes that already exist which we could use for our overall evaluation. There appear to be two such indexes already: The Free Existence meta-index, as well as the Institutional Quality Index (the actual report is in Spanish h/t Nico in the [...]
Canada is free, the U.S. is mostly free
Posted by Peter Jaworski on March 13, 2011 31 comments
UPDATE: There appears to be a reliable meta-index. The results, and more top-10 lists, are located here In my bleeding heart libertarians post, I made the claim that I’d like to, as an interim step, move towards a Scandinavian and Swiss-style state. It surprised me that more than one person responded by suggesting that those [...]
When terrorist sympathizers investigate terrorism
Posted by M.J. Sheppard on March 9, 2011 3 comments
I’ve long been suspicious of legislatures using their subpoena powers to investigate matters not directly related to the functioning of the government. The only intellectual and legal basis the United States Congress has to engage in jock-sniffing exercises such as investigating steroid use in baseball is that Major League Baseball enjoys an exemption from federal [...]
A reasonable limit on property rights
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on March 6, 2011 14 comments
Randy Hillier and Scott Reid’s proposed amendment to include property rights in the constitution has led to a torrent of posts on property rights here on the Volunteer. Given that this is likely going to be an ongoing theme, I thought it would be constructive to clarify my own position on what I believe is [...]