TORONTO: The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) has released a Christmas-themed civil liberties “naughty and nice” list, ranking different government actions over the last 12 months. The tongue-in-cheek report lists the government actions which showed the least respect for our fundamental freedoms or constitutional division of powers in the “naughty list”. The CCF report also lists the times where government, courts or civil society got things right on the “nice list”.
The report, which is available to download on the CCF website here, listed the following government measures on the “naughty list”:
- The Rouleau Commission Report
- Calgary City Council’s Protest Ban
- The Ontario College of Psychologists Censorship
- Military Vaccine Passports and a 2023 Tribunal decision
- Bill C-11: Online Censorship of user generated content
- Canada’s Government Monopoly Healthcare System
- Waterloo Regional Council’s Speech Restrictions
- The Impact Assessment Act
- Bill C-18: Online News Blocking
- Federal Single Use Plastics Ban
- Edmonton Transit Service’s Media Ban
On the “nice list”, the CCF found that governments, courts, or civil society got things right:
- Math: No Longer Racist!
- Canada’s Electoral System
- Voluntary School Prayer
- Public Interest Litigation
- Our Book: Pandemic Panic
- Our Podcast: Not Reserving Judgment
“As a national civil liberties charity in Canada, we are concerned with expanding state intrusions into our rights we saw in 2023. But we are looking forward to a new year where we can fight back against these intrusions. This will not occur because of governments’ own decisions to cede power. Rather, it is because of the tireless advocacy of all our supporters and the work that we and other organizations do to fight against government overreach,” said CCF Litigation Director Christine Van Geyn.
