Canada is truly a wonderful nation. It’s a place where anyone you meet might have an opinion about something, and every single person can express it. We have many rights and freedoms here, bought and kept safe by the blood of millions over the last century-and-a-half, like the freedom of worship, and the freedom to assemble, but none of them would mean very much without freedom of expression.

At the very heart of Canadian law is the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in which are defined its title characters, and freedom of expression is held in quite high regard. In this nation, any child can be taught in his or her own language, the primary medium of communication. Sure, this wasn’t always so, but we are growing as a nation, and getting better with time.

Anyone who doubts our growing acceptance of diversity, our reverence of that freedom, can take note of our government; we have not one, not two, but several political parties. Some have overwhelming support, and some have almost none, and even the least popular—think about those words, the least popular—have the right to campaign, to argue their cases. In light of that, doubt is difficult.

I have heard it said that it is impossible for such a right to exist, that because people tend to disagree, they cannot be allowed to speak their minds to one another for fear of reprisal. I say no, that our common respect for each other, our acceptance and our tolerance make it possible to speak freely not in spite of, but because of our differences. If we hid our differences, instead of recognizing them, lied about them instead of celebrating them, then we wouldn’t have the right to claim that we have the freedom.

Truly we live in an enlightened nation, one that functions by the knowledge that it is so much easier to find happiness when we can tell each other what it is we are looking for. We can say that we want a completely different government, if what we have isn’t what we want. No one is exempt from these fought-and-died-for freedoms; we can say that even to the Prime Minister himself, without fear of reprisal. He’s got the right to tell us what he thinks too. If we want steak, if we want to be vegan, if we want to advocate a complete changeover of our government, we have those rights; but one thing is certain: we couldn’t have those things if we didn’t have the freedom to say what we want.

Something I hear on an almost nauseatingly frequent basis is this phrase: Freedom of expression. People praise our nation for its reputation for tolerance and acceptance, represented by the right of anyone to express his or her beliefs without fear of reprisal. Oh yes, freedom of expression would be great, it would make the world a place of lollipops and roses. There’s just one problem with that: we have no such freedom.

There are people who cannot state their beliefs because of the section of Canadian statute law regarding obscenities. One might make the argument that some parts of obscenity law, are reprehensible, and therefore should be illegal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against all of obscenity law, just one part of it: the section defined as anything that may advocate or incite hatred. Let me paraphrase: People are fined or even arrested for saying things that cause other people to get upset. The same law that supposedly guarantees our civil liberties also limits them.

If our government thinks its citizens shouldn’t be allowed to speak their minds, what does that suggest about our education system? It says that our children are learning what they want our children to learn. If we should say something to our children that makes a teacher angry, they will say that we are wrong. And their “education” is the law. In this insidious way, they rob us of our children’s respect.

They don’t want us raising our own children. They don’t want us saying what we think to one another. I find it hard to believe that any government that thinks so little of its citizens can be trusted to act on their behalf.

We aren’t really free. We don’t have freedom because they try to limit it, and they seem to be succeeding. If freedom is not complete and unfettered, then freedom cannot be real. But rather than work for the rights and freedoms of its people, this government would rather sit in their seats and vote themselves raises. I guess anything more than that would be putting them out. I say we put them out—I just hope they don’t perceive that as me advocating hatred toward them.