Compelled speech

Freedom of expression is a fundamental freedom under Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted this right as including "the right to say nothing or the right not to say certain things."RJR-MacDonald Inc. v Canada (Attorney General), [1995] 3 SCR 199. In RJR-MacDonald Inc v Canada (AG), tobacco companies successfully challenged legislation requiring them to include unattributed health warnings on packaging. In Lavigne v Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the Court held that mandatory union membership and dues, some of which were used for purposes the union member disagreed with, did not violate his right to freedom of expression. In Slaight Communications Inc. v Davidson,Slaight Communications Inc. v Davidson, [1989] 1 SCR 1038. the Court held that a requirement to provide a reference letter for a former employee who was unjustly dismissed did infringe the employer's freedom of expression, but this infringement was upheld as a reasonable limitation under section 1 of the Charter.{{cite magazine |last=Bowal |first=Peter |date=2019-07-04 |title=Compelled Expression |url=https://www.lawnow.org/compelled-expression/ |magazine= LawNow |publisher= Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta |access-date=2020-11-01}}

In 2016, University of Toronto psychology professor and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson argued that amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code would require compelled speech.{{cite news|first= Rosie|last= DiManno|url= https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/11/19/new-words-trigger-an-abstract-clash-on-campus-dimanno.html|title= New words trigger an abstract clash on campus|date= November 19, 2016|work= Toronto Star}} The amendments added gender expression and gender identity as protected grounds to the Canadian Human Rights Act and to the Criminal Code provisions dealing with hate propaganda, incitement to genocide, and aggravating factors in sentencing. Peterson argued that the law would allow him to be fined or imprisoned if he refused to refer to students by their preferred gender pronouns.{{cite news |last= Craig |first= Sean |date= September 28, 2016 |title= U of T professor attacks political correctness, says he refuses to use genderless pronouns |url= http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/u-of-t-professor-attacks-political-correctness-in-video-refuses-to-use-genderless-pronouns |newspaper= National Post}} Legal experts challenged Peterson's interpretation, saying that the bill would not criminalize using non-preferred pronouns.{{cite web |last1= Beauchamp |first1= Zack |title= Jordan Peterson, the obscure Canadian psychologist turned right-wing celebrity, explained |url= https://www.vox.com/world/2018/3/26/17144166/jordan-peterson-12-rules-for-life |website= Vox.com |accessdate= 12 December 2018 | quote= He said he would refuse to refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns [...]. Experts on Canadian law said that Peterson was misreading the bill — that the legal standard for 'hate speech' would require something far worse, like saying transgender people should be killed, to qualify for legal punishment.|date= 2018-03-26 }}{{cite news |last1=Khandekar |first1=Tamara|title=No, the Trans Rights Bill Doesn't Criminalize Free Speech |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/no-the-trans-rights-bill-doesnt-criminalize-free-speech/ |access-date=1 October 2018 |work=Vice |date=24 October 2016 |language=en-ca}}{{cite news |last1=Murphy |first1=Jessica |title=The professor versus gender-neutral pronouns |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37875695 |access-date=1 October 2018 |work=BBC News |date=4 November 2016}}

In 2021, Polish-Canadian pastor Artur Pawlowski was ordered by a court to inform his audience of the established opinions of medical experts regarding COVID-19 when expressing his views on the topic in a public setting. The requirement was a part of his probation conditions, which he had been placed on as a sentence for contempt of court, after he violated a court order requiring him to obey public health restrictions.{{cite news|first= Jon|last= Brown|url= https://www.foxnews.com/world/canadian-pastor-ordered-judge-cite-medical-experts-pulpit|title= Canadian pastor defiant as judge orders him to parrot 'medical experts' from pulpit: 'I will not obey'|date= October 16, 2021|work= Fox News}}{{Cite news |last=Grant |first=Meghan |date=Oct 13, 2021 |title=Anti-mask activists ordered by Calgary judge to preach science, too |work=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/pawlowski-brother-street-church-christopher-scott-contempt-1.6209420 |access-date=April 7, 2022}}{{Cite web |last=Grant |first=Meghan |date=2021-06-28 |title=Alberta pastor, brother, café owner guilty of contempt for breaking COVID-19 health rules |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-men-contempt-covid-public-health-1.6083003 |access-date=2022-07-24 |website=CBC News}} However, the sentence was overturned on appeal.{{Cite web |last=Dryden |first=Joel |date=2022-07-22 |title=Alberta appeal court sets aside contempt sanctions against pastor, brother and cafe owner |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/artur-dawid-pawlowski-christopher-scott-alberta-appeals-1.6529072 |access-date=2022-07-24 |website=CBC News}}

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right of freedom of expression, and section 3(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998, requires that as far as possible all legislation be given effect in a way which is compatible with this. In Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd, the Supreme Court considered whether a bakery in Northern Ireland had violated anti-discrimination law by refusing to decorate a cake with a message in support of gay marriage, with which the bakers disagreed on religious grounds. They held that although the bakery may have discriminated on the basis of the customer's political beliefs, which would in itself contravene the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998,[https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2017-0020-judgment.pdf Judgment], part III the legislation had to be "read down" in a way which would not violate the defendants' Article 10 rights, taken to include the right not to express a particular opinion. The right in Article 9 is a limited right because it permits restrictions on free speech that are necessary in a democratic society in pursuit of a legitimate aim, but the Supreme Court found that no such justification existed in this case.Ibid, part IV (The court also considered whether the defendants had discriminated based on sexual orientation, but because they concluded that they had not done, the court did not need to consider whether the relevant legislation should be similarly read down.Ibid, Part II.

{{multiple image

| align = right

| direction = vertical

| width =

| image1 = JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS - The Martyr of the Solway (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, c. 1871. Óleo sobre lienzo, 70.5 x 56.5 cm).jpg

| caption1 = Margaret Wilson, executed by drowning for refusing to swear an oath.

}}

During The Killing Time of the 1680s, an Abjuration Oath could be put to suspects where they were given the option to abjure or renounce their allegiances. The terms of the oath were deliberately designed to offend the consciences of the Presbyterian Covenanters. Those who would not swear "whether they have arms, or not" could be "immediately killed" by field trial "before two witnesses" on a charge of high treason.{{cite book |last1=Wodrow |first1=Robert |title=The history of the sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution |date=1832 |publisher=Blackie |location=Glasgow |pages=154–155 |edition=Vol IV |url=https://archive.org/stream/thehistoryofthes04wodruoft#page/n163/search/refusing+to+answer |accessdate=16 August 2018}} John Brown was included among those executed in this judicial process by John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee (Bluidy Clavers) on 1 May 1685.{{cite book |last1=Terry |first1=Charles Sanford |title=John Graham of Claverhouse, viscount of Dundee, 1648-1689 |date=1905 |publisher=A. Constable |location=London |page=197 |url=https://archive.org/stream/johngrahamofclav00terruoft#page/196/search/abjuration |accessdate=16 August 2018}} The wives and children of such men could also be put out of their houses if they had spoken to the suspect or refused the oath themselves. 18-year-old Margaret Wilson and 63-year-old Margaret McLaughlan were killed "without human hand" when they were drowned in the sea for refusing to take the Abjuration Oath.{{cite book |last1=McCrie |first1=Charles Greig |title=The Free Church of Scotland: Her Ancestry, Her Claims, and Her Conflicts |date=1893 |publisher=T. & T. Clark |location=Edinburgh |pages=50–51 |url=https://archive.org/stream/freechurchofscot00mccr#page/50/search/%22oath+of+%22 |accessdate=17 August 2018}}

• Compelling Amazon's Whole Foods to, per Amazon's filing, "favor certain expressions of political speech over others in its retail grocery stores."{{Cite web|title=Whole Foods says its First Amendment rights will be violated if it's forced to allow employees to wear Black Lives Matter insignia|url=https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/whole-foods-says-its-first-amendment-rights-will-be-violated-if-its-forced-to-allow-employees-to-wear-black-lives-matter-insignia-report-says/ar-AASCVLZ|access-date=2022-01-13|website=www.msn.com}}

• Requiring a cable system to carry local stations – Turner Broadcasting v. FCC (1994)
• Mandatory university fees that support groups with which other students disagree – Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth (2000)
• Mandatory fees on agricultural products to support advertising – Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Association (2005)
• Subpoenas to companies compelling testimony that may be self-incriminatory{{cite news|last1=Frankel|first1=Alison|title=When the government can make businesses talk|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-otc-speech/when-the-government-can-make-businesses-talk-idUSKBN17Q262|accessdate=15 September 2017|publisher=Reuters|date=April 24, 2017}}
• Filing a tax return
• Surgeon General's warnings on alcohol and tobacco products

• Saluting the flag or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance – West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)
• Requiring a newspaper to publish an advertisement – Miami Herald v. Tornillo (1974)
• School attendance past the eighth grade – Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
• Motto on license plate – Wooley v. Maynard (1977){{cite news|last1=Nolan|first1=Mike|title=Orland Park vehicle sticker with Blue Lives Matter symbol stirs debate|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/news/ct-sta-orland-park-sticker-st-0226-20170224-story.html|accessdate=15 September 2017|publisher=Chicago Tribune|date=February 24, 2017}}
• Compelled self-incrimination by an individual – Fifth Amendment (1789)
• Certain disclosures by organizations that offer limited services to pregnant women - National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra (2018){{cite journal |last1=Pomeranz |first1=J. L. |title=Abortion Disclosure Laws and the First Amendment: The Broader Public Health Implications of the Supreme Court's Becerra Decision. |journal=Am J Public Health |volume=109 |issue=3 |date=March 2019 |pages=412–418 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2018.304871 |pmid=30676798 |pmc=6366505 }}

{{main article|Government speech}}

A government of, by, and for the people also speaks on behalf of its people. The government is not required to express views held by groups in the population.

• A state may choose not to offer a license plate with a particular message – Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans (2015){{cite news

| first = Jess | last = Bravin | authorlink = Jess Bravin | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/virginia-moves-to-banish-confederate-flag-from-license-plates-1435071533 | title = Governors Seek to Curb Confederate Flag License Plates: Moves follow Charleston mass killing, Supreme Court ruling | publisher = Wall Street Journal | date = 23 June 2015 | accessdate = 16 March 2019}}

• A city may accept a donation of statue from one religious group and refuse to accept one from another – Pleasant Grove City v. Summum (2009)

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{US1stAmendment Freedom of Speech Clause Supreme Court case law|state=collapsed}}

Category:United States Free Speech Clause case law

Speech