First Freedoms Forum

The term “Great Awakening” is used to describe several religious revivals that occurred in the past.  North American Christianity had at least three periods from the 18th to the 20th Centuries where there was an intense spiritual fervour among a significant...

Barry W. Bussey When the Globe and Mail told the nation that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) expressed concerns to the government about Chinese interference in our elections the Prime Minister's immediate concern was not the interference but the fact...

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The following editorial, co-authored with lawyer Iain Benson, was previously published by Epoch Times. Commentary A complaint to the Canadian Judicial Council was recently filed concerning comments made by the Right Honourable Richard Wagner, chief justice of the...

The following editorial was previously published by The Lawyer's Daily. Religious or conscientious objectors to the COVID-19 vaccine have paid a high price for their principles over the last year in Canada. Many lost jobs (even when working from home) or were...

The following editorial was previously published by The Lawyer's Daily, June 16, 2022. Philosopher Thomas Sowell once quipped, “You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats, procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.”...

Barry W. Bussey I woke up Tuesday morning to the news that the Government of Canada is “suspending” the COVID-19 vaccine travel mandates. At first glance, this is welcome news. After growing opposition from Canadians, the government has finally relented on (at least...

A shortened version of this editorial was published under the same title by The Lawyer's Daily on June 1, 2022. Barry W. Bussey On May 13, 2022, Ontario Superior Court Justice J. Fregeau issued his decision in Alford v. Canada (Attorney General)[1] striking down...

Barry W. Bussey “Traitor!  You’re Not Welcome Here!” Those were the words (along with other insults) that confronted NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh when he was visiting an NDP candidate headquarters in Peterborough, Ontario.  Ontario will have its provincial...

Barry W. Bussey “History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” So said David McCullough, an American historian who authored some of the most engaging biographies of American leaders.  McCullough’s pithy statement is profound.  Our present is wrapped...

Barry W. Bussey Someone (we do not know who) will be deemed a hero, by some, that eclipses Hercules. He or she will be branded a demon, by others, that eclipses Eris. That someone just leaked to the news site Politico one of the most explosive stories of our time: the...

Read Part One, “The Charter at 40” here. The first time that I began to question the utility of the Charter was during law school. I remember studying a course called Civil Liberties, taught by Professor Ian Hunter at Western University in London, Ontario. Professor...

PART ONE: The Political Maneuvering Barry W. Bussey On a cold April day in 1982, her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II gave her Royal Assent to the Constitution Act 1982, entrenching the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This marked the end of a career-long aspiration...

The Canadian Prime Minister and The Case for An Immediate Reduction of Power Many Canadians still feel shaken by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act. “I’m still not over it!” a friend expressed to me the other day. “I cannot believe...

February 14, 2022: according to the Prime Minister of Canada, public order was under threat. A national emergency had to be declared because protestors with unacceptable views had “occupied” the city of Ottawa. So menacing were the truckers, with their bouncy castles...

In January 2020, as information began to emerge regarding the novel coronavirus, many experts and public voices (at least those quoted in media articles at the time) appeared to be skeptical of China’s dictatorial response to the new respiratory illness.  One CTV...

Who would have thought that jerry cans would become Canada’s newest symbols of freedom? Hundreds of pro-trucker demonstrators in Ottawa have presented Canadian history with a new way of looking at freedom:  the red gasoline cans and yellow diesel cans.  This...

Barry W. Bussey The ongoing dispute in Ottawa and around the country over the COVID-19 mandates got me thinking about a book in my library by Dudley Weeks: The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution.[1] I thought maybe, just maybe, there would be something there...

Over the course of the pandemic, Canadians have become so conditioned by repeated warnings from our health officials that, unless we look back, it can be difficult to recall what life was like before COVID-19 arrived on the scene. Many Canadians have become convinced...

Barry W. Bussey I spent some time in Ottawa last weekend to experience history in the making. The “Freedom 2022” Trucker Convoy to Ottawa must be among the most massive spontaneous protest that this country has ever seen. When I asked two members of the police if they...

How does one stop evil? Philosophers have spent much energy trying to solve that question throughout the centuries, and they are still at it. Civilizations are fixated on the conundrum. Recently, an independent team of forensic experts looking into an old “who done...

  For nearly two years, politicians have promised that the end of the pandemic is near: another two weeks, another layer of masking, another jab, and it will all be over. Now it appears that we are, at last, entering the final stages of the viral contagion – and yet...

Diane Francis, Financial Post columnist, wants to “make the unvaccinated pay for their own health care.” She argues that Canada should follow Singapore: “if you don’t want to be vaccinated and don’t protect yourself, then fall ill, nobody else should have to pay for...

by Jonathan Martin, First Freedoms Foundation Board Member. Previously published in The Lawyer's Daily. In my previous article, I made the case that the current Oakes test is inadequate to meet the broad-scale threat to our rights and freedoms presented by long-term...

by Jonathan Martin, First Freedoms Foundation Board Member. Previously published in The Lawyer's Daily. The global Covid-19 pandemic, and the unprecedented government incursions into the rights and freedoms of Canadians that have resulted from it, represents a...