What are Canada’s censorship laws? Are they adequate or not?

Censorship has been a controversial issue for many years in a lot of countries, including Canada. But what is censorship and how does it affect us?  It is a type of law, in which the government protects society from seeing such disturbed material on the internet or in a book. 

In Canada, under section 2 of the Charters of Rights and Freedom, we have the “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication (Tedesco 1)”. We also have the “freedom of conscience and religion”, this means anyone is allowed to express their feelings by posting up videos on YouTube, publishing a book, or teaching a certain topic in Canada.

But with all this freedom we sometimes cross our limits and end up infringing or violating someone else’s rights, which is not acceptable. Sometimes the words people use are very harsh and offensive, which leads to media censorship. For example, posting a racist video up on YouTube or using foul words can lead to censorship.

By blocking and banning access to such material, we are not allowed to see the full details of a certain story or topic because our governments have been censoring material such as books, films, and other sources linked to media.

Have you ever noticed that your school libraries have been censoring certain websites so that you cannot access them? Such as Facebook, Twitter, Msn, MySpace and all the social sites we like to use every day. It definitely made many of us angry because we do not have any access or freedom to use them. By censoring material on the internet, it is believed to help kids better focus in school rather than jumping to social sites during school hours and distracting themselves. By banning or censoring a book, it is seen that the book is going beyond our rights and freedom of speech.

         What do you think about the issue of censoring our media, especially in schools? Do you find it to be a good thing or bad by banning and censoring such material as the internet and books?

 

 

REFERENCE:

All about laws: Exploring the Canadian Legal System. sixth. canada: Print.

TEDESCO, STEPHEN. "School Censorship And The Null Curriculum." Our Schools / Our Selves 18.4 (2009): 55-62. Canadian Reference Centre. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.