 
Ontario Film Censorship Ruled Unconstitutional In the late spring of 2004, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down that province's entrenched regime of film censorship. Under this regime, films had to be vetted by a special tribunal before they could be publicly shown. That tribunal also had the power to order deletions that, in its view, violated certain public standards of decency. Intervening on behalf of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Osgoode Hall law professors (and CCLA vice-presidents) Jamie Cameron and John McCamus argued that this system of "prior restraint" violated the Charter guarantee of freedom of expression. The Court essentially agreed and declared, among other things, that there was no reason to believe "subsequent prosecution would be so much less effective" than prior restraint in protecting those interests for which the censorship regime had been designed. The Ontario said it would not appeal. Since the decision, the Ontario government has drafted new guidelines limiting the criteria for film censorship, but falling short of outright repeal of the power to censor. Although the Court had allowed the government 12 months to make appropriate amendments (it would allow classification of films rather than censorship), CCLA has complained that there is no excuse to perpetuate the censorship feature of the regime. | CCLA In The Schools | Join Us | Feedback | Search | Other Interesting Sites | Home |
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