Freedom of Shutting Up

A group of protestors showed up outside yesterday's Munk debate beween David Frum and Steve Bannon, and delayed its start by 45 minutes. Police had to stand two deep to protect those trying to enter. “Protesters chanted, booed and jeered at those waiting in line,” reports CBC, “and held up signs with slogans such as, 'refugees are welcome,' and 'human rights are not up for debate.'" At least one protestor entered the hall, and tried to shout down the debate in progress.

Steve Bannon responded by acknowledging their right to free speech. 

Let us be clear. Bannon is wrong. The right to freedom of speech does not extent to trying to silence someone else's speech. Otherwise no one has free speech. Trying to shut down or shout down a speaker or a debate is a direct assault on free speech. I would have considered such a thing unthinkable in Canada a few decades ago; now it seems to happen whenever anyone tries to speak. And speeches and debates are regularly being shut down—sometines on the premise that the police protection needed would cost too much.

This urgently needs to be dealt with severely, not viewed as anyone's right. The situation is dangerously out of hand. Trying to prevent someone else from speaking publicly should be made a serious crime, and that law rigorously enforced. Such protestors should have been dispersed or arrested and bundled into police vans as soon as they appeared.