This should not please the most ardent defenders of freedom of expression. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended freedom of expression on Friday while believing that it was “not without limits” and should not “arbitrarily and needlessly hurt” certain communities.
“We will always defend freedom of expression,” said the Canadian Prime Minister, in response to a question on the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad, as did the magazine Charlie Hebdo. “But freedom of expression is not without limits,” he said at a press conference. “We owe it to ourselves to act with respect for others and to seek not to arbitrarily or unnecessarily injure those with whom we are sharing a society and a planet.”
A “prudent” use of freedom of expression
“We do not have the right for example to cry fire in a cinema crowded with people, there are always limits”, argued the head of government, using an example little in connection with the Charlie Hebdo cartoons . Distancing himself from the position of French President Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau pleaded for a more “cautious” use of freedom of expression.
“In a pluralist, diverse and respectful society like ours, we owe it to ourselves to be aware of the impact of our words, our actions on others, particularly these communities and populations who still experience a great deal of discrimination”, he pleaded mirroring the position of the French President.
“Our French friends”
However, as he had done the day before with the leaders of the European Union, the French-speaking man wished to condemn the recent “horrible and appalling” terrorist attacks in France. “It is unjustifiable and Canada wholeheartedly condemns these acts while always standing with our French friends who are going through extremely difficult times,” he insisted.
Three people were stabbed to death on Thursday in a church in Nice, southern France, by a man who was apprehended. These attacks come amid anger in the Middle East against France and President Emmanuel Macron, vilified for having defended the right to publish cartoons in France.
Emmanuel Macron spoke in this direction during a tribute last week to Samuel Paty, a teacher beheaded in the middle of the street in an attack for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class in a course on freedom of expression.
Original article by : www.leparisien.fr
