September 2008
A
group of U. S. professors launched a campaign this week protesting plans by a
prominent political science organization to hold its annual conference in
Toronto next year, claiming that Canada’s restrictions on certain forms of
speech puts controversial academics at risk of being prosecuted.
Bradley Watson, professor of American and Western political thought at
Pennsylvania’s St. Vincent College, said he will present a petition calling for
the American Political Science Association (APSA) to re-evaluate its selection
of Toronto for its 2009 conference at this year’s annual meeting, taking place
over the Labour Day weekend in Boston.
His
protest has garnered support from dozens of professors across the United States,
including prominent scholars such as Princeton University legal philosopher
Robert P. George and Harvard University’s Harvey Mansfield.
“Our belief is that the APSA should choose its sites
carefully, with particular regard for questions of freedom of speech and
conscience,” Mr. Watson told the National Post by e-mail. “We therefore believe
Canada to be a problematic destination.”
Mr.
Watson said that professors signing the petition are concerned that recent human
rights commission investigations into Maclean’s and Western Standard magazines
over articles concerning Islam, and the conviction of pastor Stephen Boisson,
who was ordered by Alberta’s human rights tribunal in May to cease publicizing
criticisms of homosexuality, suggest that professors risk being chilled from
discussing important academic subjects, or ending up in legal trouble. Mr.
Watson said he plans to distribute hundreds of buttons to attendees at the
Boston conference reading “Toronto 2009, Non!”
Several professors in the working group behind the protest “have written in
areas that seem particularly disfavoured by the Canadian legal establishment,”
Mr. Watson said. “We are uncertain of the extent of the legal jeopardy that APSA
members might place themselves in should they make public arguments in Canada,
or post those arguments online, concerning hot-button issues like homosexuality,
same-sex marriage, or the nature of the Islamist threat to Western
civilization.”
The
American Political Science Association, whose members include both American and
Canadian academics, is the oldest and largest organization of political science
professors. Next month’s annual meeting, expected to draw roughly 7,000
political scientists, will be its 104th. The program includes such discussions
as Terrorism and Human Rights; Varying Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage; and
Missing Alliances and (Un)expected Transformations in the Politics of Islam.
In
a statement issued on Thursday, the working group behind the protest said: “The
nature of radical Islamism and the relationship of public morality and
homosexual conduct are issues of vital public importance” and that “all
political scientists have a professional interest in a full and open scholarly
debate” on these topics. The group called it “unseemly” for APSA to “turn a
blind eye to [Canadian] attacks on freedom of speech” and “unacceptable to risk
exposing its own members to them.”
APSA standards for selecting meeting sites include “protection of academic
freedom, equitable access to opportunity, and a commitment to
non-discrimination,” but Mr. Watson said Canada does not satisfy that test. “Our
belief is that most Americans–even APSA members–have no idea how precarious
the rights of freedom of speech and conscience are in Canada,” Mr. Watson said.
Earlier this year, APSA reevaluated a decision to hold its 2012 meeting in New
Orleans in light of complaints by some members that same-sex marriage is not
legally recognized in Louisiana. The organization’s council voted in June not to
overturn the decision.
The
Toronto petition states that: “Whereas members of the Association ought to be
able at the 2009 annual meeting to present research and argument on
controversial topics, such as public policy concerning homosexuality or the
character of and proper response to terrorist elements acting in the name of
Islam, without fear of legal repercussions of any kind we petition the Council
and staff of the APSA to take all steps necessary to ensure that academic
freedom and free speech, even on controversial topics such as these, are not
threatened at the 2009 annual meeting, including soliciting legal advice and
seeking the assurance of the Government of Canada and local authorities that the
civil rights and liberties of members to free speech and academic freedom will
be secure.”
National Post, August 23, 2008.
Help us maintain freedom in teaching, research and scholarship by joining SAFS or making a donation.
