The Committee studying the “Current State of Civic Resilience in Canada” will hear Dehaas argue that freedom of expression is essential to democratic government, and that when politicians erode lawful expression, the result is historically frustration, anger, distrust and political polarization.

Dehaas will also provide five concrete recommendations for Parliament to restore freedom of expression, including repealing recent legislation that restricts online speech and rejecting new proposals that would expand government control over expression including a new Online Harms Act and regulation of AI-generated speech.

“I plan to remind the committee that it is only when all of us are allowed to express our ideas freely, no matter how unpopular, distasteful or contrary to the mainstream, that we’re able to get to the truth and govern ourselves as a democracy,” said Dehaas.

“When governments censor, they risk holding back progress for all,” he added. “I intend to warn the committee not to repeat the mistakes of past governments that believed restricting speech was the right thing to do. The censors are not usually the good guys.”

A recording of the remarks will be made available upon request.