Censorship in Canada
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In Canada the principle of community standards is the primary adjudicant of what may be published or broadcast by the media. In most respects, Canadian law takes a relatively liberal interpretation of community standards, although sometimes the existence of competing interpretations results in controversy. Recently, censorship issues in Canada are increasingly impacting on social conservative views .
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[edit] Broadcasting
The main body monitoring and regulating broadcast content in Canada is the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the self-governing association of radio and television broadcasters. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), while popularly believed to be the primary enforcer of broadcast standards, in fact intervenes only in the most serious and controversial cases.
For matters involving nudity, sex, and coarse language, Canadian radio and television standards are more lenient than those in the United States. Canadian standards regarding violence are similar, but not identical, to those in the United States. Many Canadian broadcast stations broadcast sexually explicit or violent programming under certain circumstances, albeit with viewer discretion advisories and at appropriate times on the schedule. CTV, for example, has aired controversial series such as The Sopranos, Nip/Tuck and The Osbournes in prime time without editing, and some Canadian television broadcasters, such as Citytv and TQS, have aired softcore pornography after midnight.
The Code of Ethics of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters[1] defines the "late viewing period" as the hours from 9:00 PM through 6:00 AM. Outside this period (i.e. from 6:00 AM through 9:00 PM), the Code of Ethics prohibits programming containing sexually explicit material or coarse or offensive language.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters also has a "Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming".[2]
In enforcing these two Codes, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (a non-governmental industry organization) permits nudity to be broadcast during the day as long as it is considered non-sexual. For example, the CBSC permitted a 4:00 PM broadcast of the movie Wildcats containing male frontal nudity in a locker-room scene and female nudity in a bathtub.[3] The CBSC even permitted the Demi Moore film Strip Tease to be shown at 8:00 PM, with scenes of bare female breasts during strip-tease performances.[4]
The CBSC has summarized its policy on sexual activity as follows:
- Before the Watershed (9:00 pm – 6:00 am), the CBSC considers that it is inappropriate to show sexual activity that is intended for adult eyes and minds. There is, in the pre-Watershed period, a run of 15 hours (a strong majority of the broadcast day and about 90% of our customary waking hours), during which broadcasters offer their audiences a safe haven, namely, a period in which their television viewing can be free of adult-oriented material, whether sexual or otherwise. There may still, in that time frame, be programming that some parents will not wish their families to see (all adults should make the effort to weigh the appropriateness of all kinds of programming for themselves and their children) but it will not be due to its exclusively adult orientation. And even in the pre-Watershed period, broadcasters advise their audiences of the nature of what is to come.[5]
The CBSC considers that the word "fuck" and its derivatives cannot be broadcast in the period from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM. After 9:00 PM the word can be broadcast if there are suitable viewer advisories.[6]
Canadian radio hosts are generally not permitted to use swear words on the air. Conversely, however, many radio stations do not beep or edit songs which contain swear words in their lyrics, although such songs are normally restricted to airplay later in the evening.
Though Canadians do file complaints with the Broadcast Standards Council over sexuality, language and violence on television programs, it is topics concerning discrimination such as racial and sexual stereotyping in broadcast content which often receives nation-wide coverage. For example, the council received very few complaints about the violence or harsh language in The Sopranos, as it was aired on CTV during the watershed period and had several "viewer discretion advised" warnings. They did however, receive a significant number of complaints about the potential stereotyping of Italians as being connected to the mafia.
Similarly, after the 2004 Super Bowl, the council received more complaints about an allegedly sexist beer commercial than it did about the controversial halftime show incident involving the uncovering of Janet Jackson's breast. And in one of the most famous recent complaints to the Broadcast Standards Council, the Looney Tunes cartoon Bewitched Bunny featured as part of The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show was criticized — not for its violence, but for a sexist comment made by Bugs Bunny ("Aw, sure, I know! But aren't they all witches inside?")
One of the most notable broadcast censorship issues in recent years has been the broadcast of Howard Stern's radio show in Canada. The show was first broadcast on CILQ in Toronto and CHOM in Montreal in 1997, and complaints were filed with the Broadcast Standards Council — again, these related primarily to the alleged broadcast of ethnic and gender stereotypes. Both stations were forced by the Broadcast Standards Council to monitor the show for offensive content through the use of broadcast delays, and both had cancelled Stern's show by 2001. When Stern subsequently moved to Sirius Satellite Radio in 2005, many Canadians erroneously believed that the CRTC had banned Stern's broadcast on Sirius Canada. In fact, the CRTC made no such ruling — Sirius Canada voluntarily chose not to risk provoking an issue with the broadcast regulator. However, on February 1, 2006, Sirius Canada announced that Stern's show would in fact be made available in Canada as of February 6, 2006.
In another recent controversy, the CRTC revoked the broadcast license of CHOI-FM, a radio station in Quebec City which had been the subject to 27 listener complaints to the Broadcast Standards Council and the CRTC. Most of these complaints were judged invalid because the plaintiffs couldn't be reached, mostly due to hotmail addresses. The official number of complaints is three.
[edit] Print
One of the most famous ongoing censorship controversies in Canada has been the dispute between Canada Customs and GLBT retail bookstores such as Little Sister's in Vancouver and Glad Day in Toronto. Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, Canada Customs frequently stopped material being shipped to the two stores on the grounds of "obscenity" — although in many cases the very same material was not considered obscene when being shipped to a mainstream bookseller such as Coles or Chapters. Both stores frequently had to resort to the legal system to challenge the confiscation of their property.
In 2000, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Canada Customs did not have the authority to make its own judgments about the permissibility of material being shipped to the stores, but was only permitted to confiscate material that had specifically been ruled by the courts to constitute an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada.
Canadians can be disciplined by their employers for writing letters to newspapers. Christine St-Pierre, a Radio-Canada television reporter, was suspended in September 2006 for writing a letter in support of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Similarly, school teachers and counsellors have limited freedom of expression and religion regarding certain topics (about homosexuality for example) both on and off the job which can result in disciplinary action by their employer (See related articles, Chris Kempling and Status of religious freedom in Canada).
[edit] Internet censorship
Internet content is not specifically regulated in Canada, however local laws do apply to websites hosted in Canada as well as to residents who host sites on servers in other jurisdictions. A well-known example is the case of Ernst Zundel, who was investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for promoting ethnic hatred via his website.
In November 2006, Canadian Internet service providers Bell, Bell Aliant, MTS Allstream, Rogers, Shaw, SaskTel, Telus, and Videotron announced "Project Cleanfeed Canada"; the voluntary blocking of access to hundreds of alleged child pornography sites. The list of blocked sites is compiled from reports by Internet users and investigated by the independent organization "cybertip.ca". Although this was a voluntary step with no involvement from the authorities, the Canadian government did express its approval.[7] Some citizens have expressed concern, however, due to the questionable accuracy of the blocked sites list and the potential for other types of content (including hate material, defamatory content, and copyright infringement) to be blocked.[8]
[edit] University censorship
Carleton University's student council ("CUSA") denies funding and campus space to pro-life student groups through a policy which reads "CUSA further affirms that actions such as campaigns, distributions, solicitations, lobbying efforts, displays, events, etc. that seek to limit or remove a woman's options in the event of pregnancy will not be supported." [1]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Code of Ethics. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ^ Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- ^ http://www.cbsc.ca/english/decisions/decisions/2002/020314a.htm
- ^ http://www.cbsc.ca/english/decisions/decisions/2000/000531.htm
- ^ http://www.cbsc.ca/english/decisions/decisions/2006/060411.htm
- ^ http://www.cbsc.ca/english/decisions/decisions/2006/060411.htm
- ^ http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061123/isps_childporn_061123/20061123?hub=Canada
- ^ http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1548/125/
