Quebec’s Bill 78 threatens freedom of expression

TORONTO, May 30, 2012 /CNW/ – PEN Canada today voiced further concerns
that Bill 78, passed two weeks ago by the Quebec National Assembly,
constitutes a serious threat to freedom of expression. Its vague and
dangerously overbroad provisions can easily be interpreted in ways that
constrain and discourage legitimate collective action and civil
protest.

“The whole Bill looks thrown together,” said Charlie Foran, president of
PEN Canada. “Its penalties are draconian and disproportionate, designed
more to stifle free expression than protect public order. The reported
mass arrests in Quebec suggest that the authorities have been given too
much latitude to interpret and enforce this new law. Legislatively,
it’s the equivalent of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”

PEN believes the Bill’s prior notification requirements for
demonstrations (section 16) are unreasonable and ill-suited to the
realities of modern protest. Imposing penalties on organizers who fail
to notify authorities “not less than eight hours before the beginning
of the demonstration” would, if enforced, rule out all but the most
premeditated forms of civic action. The uncertain phrasing of section
30, which may, on its face, make it illegal to attend demonstrations
that violate the provisions of section 16, also exposes individuals who
attend these gatherings to fines of up to $5000 per day, or more in
certain circumstances. In general, the fines provided for breach of the
Bill’s provisions are grossly excessive. Taken together, these measures
are easily abused by authorities and likely to result in a serious
chill on freedom of expression.

Philip Slayton, Chair of PEN Canada’s National Affairs Committee,
described the bill as “poorly drafted and too easily open to
interpretations that permitunreasonable limitations on freedom of
expression. As it stands, the situations in which the Bill’s penalties
could be brought to bear on individual protesters are so vague and
open-ended that they can be used to deter demonstrations that should be
perfectly acceptable in a free and democratic society.” 

PEN Canada fights censorship and defends the right to freedom of
expression.

SOURCE PEN Canada