To: Federal and Provincial Ministers responsible for higher education; Provincial ministries that fund post-secondary institutions; University and college Boards, Presidents, and Administrators across Canada.

Universities and colleges are meant to be places where students learn by testing ideas — including unpopular ideas — through open debate, peaceful protest, and free inquiry. Yet across Canada, campus speech is increasingly governed by politicized gatekeepers, opaque “safety” claims, and administrative policies that are applied unevenly to silence certain viewpoints, speakers, and student groups.

Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression is a foundational Canadian right. Publicly funded institutions should not operate as “speech zones” where access to campus, classrooms, facilities, and student audiences depends on ideological approval. When an elected representative — or any invited speaker — can be barred through pressure tactics, bureaucratic obstruction, or intimidation, it sends a chilling message to students: keep quiet, conform, or face consequences.

We, the undersigned, call on governments and university administrations to take immediate, concrete action to protect lawful speech on campus by:

1. Strengthening and enforcing clear free speech policies that presume speech is allowed unless it is unlawful, and that protect peaceful debate, lawful demonstrations, and the right to hear and question invited speakers.

2. Prohibiting “no-platforming” and viewpoint discrimination by student unions, administrative offices, or campus authorities with respect to access to campus facilities and events.

3. Requiring transparent, timely, and fair event approval processes that cannot be weaponized to delay, block, or impose punitive costs on lawful events based on controversy or political pressure.

4. Ensuring student unions and campus bodies that receive mandatory student fees are subject to rules against censorship, intimidation, and discriminatory conduct.

5. Making federal/provincial funding conditional on measurable compliance with robust free speech standards — including public reporting, independent complaint processes, and meaningful consequences for institutions that repeatedly fail to protect lawful expression.

We urge ministers and administrators to publicly reaffirm that universities are marketplaces of ideas — and to act accordingly, so students and Canadians can speak freely, hear freely, and disagree freely without fear of censorship or retaliation.