The Canadian Constitution Foundation is offering a new online course about Canada’s constitution and the right to freedom of expression to all members of the public for free, according to the constitutional rights group’s website.
“Freedom of expression is fundamentally important to the functioning of democracy and requires a strong understanding by the citizenry. It is through freedom of expression that we define the contours of all our other rights. Without these guarantees, governments would be free to act unopposed, and their policies, including unjust policies, would be uncontested,” said executive director Joanna Baron.
The course involves a series of video lectures followed by quizzes. Once the course is complete, students will receive a personalized digital certificate, which can be shared and printed.
The course was created by some of Canada’s leading constitutional lawyers and scholars, who collaborated over the last several months, the Canadian Constitution Foundation said.
The organization said topics include “the constitutional framework for freedom of expression political expression, compelled speech, the philosophical underpinnings of freedom of expression, major freedom of expression cases on issues from hate speech to defamation to pornography, as well as unexplored areas of freedom of expression, including the rights to thought, belief and opinion as well as press freedom.”
The Canadian Constitution Foundation is a registered charity that aims to defend Canadians’ constitutional rights and freedoms in courts of law and public opinion. One of its higher profile cases is a challenge against the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act to address the Freedom Convoy.
Baron said there is a constitutional literacy problem in Canada, which she hopes the course will address.
“Without an understanding of how our constitution functions and how our rights are guaranteed, Canadians are poorly positioned to protect themselves against government overreach,” she said. “There is a lot of misunderstanding about our constitution and the right to freedom of expression, and public education is a core part of our mandate. That’s why we created this free course.”
