I think it's essential to recall a teaching made in categorical terms by the majority judges in Ward v. Quebec, a case handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court ruled to the majority that “a right not to be offended…has no place in a democratic society.”
I think this is an extremely salutary reminder at a time when people are often trying to impose their point of view.
Of course, there are pressure struggles, even in the artistic community. I was tempted to say “sadly”, but I think I'm going to strike out the word, because that's also normal.
However, we sometimes forget that freedom of expression is both the freedom to express oneself and the freedom to receive.
When a work is heckled and the organizers end up backtracking, the public is also deprived of the work. Therefore, the Kanata case and the SLĀV case are critical; they are symbolically clumsy. In my opinion, the consequences—this is an opinion that isn't binding on my co-chair and that we haven't talked about very specifically—were probably excessive. Again, freedom of expression includes being able to receive information.