The balance between countering terrorism and free speech

We are faced more and more with the need to take action against violent—or violence-inspiring—material present on an increasingly diverse online environment. Not surprisingly, governments are having a hard time keeping up.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, left, and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, pictured May 7, 2018, at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa. CSIS, the RCMP, and other investigative bodies need to know who is involved in extremist activity and monitoring online postings is part of that task. Leaving extremist material up is often an important part in building a case to take to court. The government is thus stuck between a rock and a hard place, writes Phil Gurski. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY PHIL GURSKI

October 1, 2018

OTTAWA—In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart came up with a now famous comment that has become a meme (not that there were memes back in 1964). During a threshold case on obscenity he stated, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embra...

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