When Obiter’s Editor-in-Chief asked each of us section editors to pen a welcome message to each of you for the 2019-20 school year, I admit that I found the exercise a bit hokey. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to introduce myself, or that I am uninterested in outlining my intentions for this section, but rather that I simply believe that it is a boring way to launch the Opinions section. Opinions should rarely be boring, and Opinion sections certainly shouldn’t be – this one included. Opinions should be provocative, they should reflect a depth of thought and contemplation, elicit further deliberation and reflection, and most importantly, opinions should be firmly held and proudly stood behind.
The bedrock of a free and fair society is a free people – and a free populace is defined fundamentally by their freedom of thought, speech, expression, religion, and assembly. It is these freedoms which make up the fundamental freedoms guaranteed to us as Canadians in section 2 the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, preceded only by the limitations clause. It is these same freedoms which constitute the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Interestingly, all of these freedoms work in concert to allow and protect our ability to form and hold opinions. The freedom of thought allows us to ponder, create, and consider opinions. The freedoms of speech, expression, and assembly allow us to discuss, debate, share, and advocate for-or-against opinions held by us or others. Finally, the freedom of religion allows us to form and hold beliefs, convictions, faith, and yes, opinions, on the most fundamental questions about our existence and the human condition.
So, it is obvious that the freedom to hold and share an opinion is a widely recognized essential first ingredient to a free and fair society. As such, is it not then ominous how controversial and frowned upon holding an opinion is in this day and age? How is it that we can claim to be truly free when popular professional sports stars are transparently black-balled from their profession for holding an opinion? Why is it that one of the world’s most accomplished comedians can be pressured into resigning from hosting the Oscars for having an opinion? Why must our places of worship and people of faith be repeatedly targeted by politicians, security agencies, secular society, and extremists, for holding opinions? How is it acceptable for elected political representatives to be told that they should shut their mouths and “go back” to where they “came from” for having opinions? When did it become normalized for professors who hold opinions – or guest speakers visiting the academy to share opinions – to be “de-platformed” by those who disagree with their opinions?
The freedom to disagree is as fundamental to a free society as is the aforementioned freedom to hold and share an opinion. However, we must all understand that disagreeing with someone’s opinion is still, in and of itself, just an opinion. One’s opinion, no matter how strongly held or believed, does not invalidate anyone else’s opinion. A hierarchy of opinions, and who can and cannot hold them, is the antithesis of a free society, and the death knell of liberty and equality. A hierarchy of opinion, naturally, leads to a hierarchy of society, and a hierarchy of society without the freedom to hold and express an opinion quickly turns into a society not with freedom as its hallmark, but servitude. We should be free to disagree – but with the understanding that our freedom to disagree with someone is equal to that of the person we are disagreeing with.
This year, I intend on this Opinions section being a safe place not for one’s emotions and feelings, but instead for one’s opinions and others’ ability to disagree with them. If you have an opinion, share it. If you disagree with an opinion you read, submit your own. However, there will be no retractions, no apologies, and no censorship. Only opinions.
Obiter’s Editor-in-Chief was of the opinion that a welcome message from myself would be a good way to lead the Opinions section for the first issue of the year. I believe that it would be boring, and a weak way to set the tone for the section. My name is Corey LeBlanc, I am your Opinions editor for the 91st volume of Obiter Dicta, and that’s just my opinion.