‘Free speech’ warriors fight to keep Bill Ayers out of Canada

Conservatives love to talk ‘free speech’ and get upset when they meet the legal wall after they libel or defame. But if you happen to be a non-Con, the rules change. Bill Ayers has found this out in his attempts to travel to Harper’s Canada, where is currently barred because of … well, nobody can really explain why.

There’s another irony, of course, in the government preventing me from exercising the very responsibility I was invited to address. This is a basic issue of free and open debate and the democratic exchange of ideas – not one of a potential threat to the nation’s security. 

The technical issue here is that the border guard who turned me back in Calgary said that, according his computer, I had quite a lengthy arrest record. True, I said, arrests from sit-ins, occupations, and antiwar activities 40 years ago, and all misdemeanours. Well, he responded, you have one felony conviction, and that’s why you will not get into Canada today. 

But I don’t have any felony convictions. Prove that you don’t have any, he said. 

Years and a lot of lawyer’s fees later, I’m still having trouble disproving a negative, if you get the Catch-22 here … but wait! I just realised that some of those fees are, indeed, contributing to the prosperity of Canada! OK, I’ll stay out.