(M. Lepoutre, “Can ‘More Speech’ Counter Ignorant Speech?” (2019), 16 J. Ethics &
Owen M. Fiss, The Irony of Free Speech and Liberalism Divided” (1998), 43 McGill
L.J. 445, at pp. 464-65; C. F. Zwibel, “Reconciling Rights: The Whatcott Case as
Missed Opportunity” (2013), 63 S.C.L.R. (2d) 313, at pp. 332-33). The theory is that
dissenting voices can “out-compete more pernicious speech” in the marketplace of
ideas (C. Forcese and K. Roach, “Criminalizing Terrorist Babble: Canada’s Dubious
New Terrorist Speech Crime” (2015), 53 Alta. L. Rev. 35, at p. 47), showing that,
“though some citizens may hold despicable ideas, the weight of public opinion runs
against them” (Horwitz, at p. 464). In American First Amendment jurisprudence, this
concept is called “counterspeech” (Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927), per
Brandeis J., concurring; United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709 (2012), per Kennedy J.
(plurality opinion)).
[81]
In s. 2(b) jurisprudence, the idea of counter-speech inheres in the
recognition that the open exchange of ideas is a precondition to unlocking the value of
free expression. For example, in Keegstra, at p. 766, this Court noted that “it is partly
through a clash with extreme and erroneous views that truth and the democratic vision
remain vigorous and alive” (see also Committee for the Commonwealth of Canada v.
Canada, [1991] 1 S.C.R. 139, at pp. 173 and 175, per L’Heureux-Dubé J., concurring;
Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61, [2009] 3 S.C.R. 640, at para. 49). While counterspeech is not necessarily a complete solution to harmful expression (see Keegstra, at
2023 SCC 14 (CanLII)
Soc. Philos. 155, at pp. 155-56; P. Horwitz, “Citizenship and Speech. A Review of
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