How to win the war on free speech by Debra Soh

The battle in favour of academic freedom has been a tumultuous one. In August, an event at Ryerson University, titled "The Stifling of Free Speech on University Campuses," was shut down after far-left group No Fascist T.O. harassed university administration.

The event was rescheduled for this past Saturday. As perhaps a testament to the public's frustration around being coerced into silence, the audience quintupled in size, from 300 to 1,500 attendees.

Contrary to how it was painted by activists, the event wasn't a hate rally promulgating white supremacy. Moderated and organized by former social worker, Sarina Singh, panelists included Jordan Peterson, the University of Toronto professor who opposes gender-neutral pronouns; Gad Saad, an evolutionary behavioural scientist at Concordia University; and Oren Amitay, a sessional lecturer at Ryerson University.

Dr. Amitay stresses that parents need to be involved in what their children are being taught, even before they reach university. As a testament to how entrenched these loopy ideas are, the indoctrination process begins as early as elementary school – take, for instance, social justice lessons in phys-ed class.

We can take comfort in knowing that ideologues don't bother to hide their agenda – according to Dr. Peterson, if your child's teacher uses words like "diversity, equity, inclusivity," and "white privilege," these should tip you off that something is amiss. He suggests allowing your child to leave class, if you feel it's appropriate...