Free-speech clubs are forming on campuses across Canada
William Diaz-Berthiaume, national campus coordinator for Canadian Students for Free Speech joined The Ezra Levant Show to discuss the important work the group is doing and an incident that occurred during an event at the University of Calgary involving Rebel News' Drea Humphrey and Dr. Tom Flanagan.
William Diaz-Berthiaume used to report for Rebel News in Ottawa. Now, he's the national campus coordinator for Canadian Students for Free Speech, a new youth movement setting up clubs that invite speakers to tackle the topics people usually only discuss in hushed voices.
On Thursday's Ezra Levant Show, he joined Ezra to talk about the incident that transpired during the group's latest event at the University of Calgary.
Retired professor Dr. Tom Flanagan and Rebel News reporter Drea Humphrey sat down with students to debate whether residential schools were a genocide. It ended with a student sneaking up behind Dr. Flanagan and Drea and pouring water on them.
"What if it wasn't just water? What if it was acid or some other noxious substance?" Ezra asked. "It's assault either way."
But Diaz-Berthiaume wanted people to remember the rest of the day. Students lined up at the microphone, many staying 15 to 30 minutes at a time.
"I want us to remember that what truly happened during this event were the conversations, the great civil dialogues," he said. Most students disagreed with Dr. Flanagan and Drea, but stayed civil, and one woman complimented the professor on books she had read. Much of the conversation, he said, was clarification.
"They were assuming Drea's position on the issue, Dr. Flanagan's position on the issue."
Not everyone wanted to talk, however.
One man stormed the table calling the pair white supremacists. Ezra noted that Drea, who is black and Indigenous, will be surprised to learn she's a white supremacist. Others went to campus security demanding the event be shut down. Security refused, telling them the group had booked the space and had a right to be there.
Diaz-Berthiaume credited the University of Calgary, which has a formal statement defending freedom of expression, for standing its ground. He was also glad the group had brought its own security. "Who knows what could have happened," he said.
Ezra said the failed deplatforming was itself a win. Freezing someone out only works if everyone goes along with it, and when the university didn't, the people who hit the "I'm triggered" button were left with nothing but a water bottle.
The movement is growing fast.
Two weeks ago, Diaz-Berthiaume had seven to nine clubs in the works. Now it's around 12 or 13, with strong interest at McGill and Concordia and an event planned in Vancouver in the coming weeks.
The biggest challenge facing Canadian Students for Free Speech is security. American universities, he noted, routinely charged groups hosting speakers like Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro and Michael Knowles thousands of dollars just to be on campus.
The group is affiliated with The Democracy Fund, which means legal help is there if it's ever needed. To help cover security costs for future events, visit StudentsForFreeSpeech.ca.
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