Coulter's Ottawa speech cancelled after protests

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Concerns for "public safety" forced the cancellation of American conservative political commentator Ann Coulter's public speaking event at the University of Ottawa Tuesday night.

However, the show will go on in Calgary, one of the organizers said.

"This is a black mark on the University of Ottawa, but I am very confident it will be a success in Calgary, where one of the values at the university is tolerance," said Ezra Levant, who will give the opening address for Coulter when she speaks on campus Thursday. "Calgary is still a go."

Several hundred people, including students from both Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, showed up prior to Coulter's speech. The loudest and most vociferous were protesting her presence, drowning out a smaller group of pro-Coulter demonstrators.

The event was cancelled about 8:15 p.m. -- before Coulter had a chance to speak. Reports suggested the building was evacuated after someone pulled a fire alarm.

"It's a public safety issue," said Sgt. Dan Beauchamp.

Coulter said the cancellation proved the point she came to make -- free speech in Canada leaves much to be desired.

Then she said what she really thought of the student protesters.

"The University of Ottawa is really easy to get into, isn't it?" she said in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen after the cancelled event. "I never get any trouble at the Ivy League schools. It's always the bush league schools."

Coulter said she has been speaking regularly at university campuses for a decade. While she has certainly been heckled, she said, this is the first time a speaking engagement has had to be cancelled because of protesters.

"This has never, ever, ever happened before -- even at the stupidest American university," she said.

The fiery right-wing pundit and author stirred controversy even before she arrived in Ottawa. The university's student federation objected to her even appearing on campus, going so far as to ban posters advertising her speaking engagement.

The U of O also sent Coulter a directive of sorts, urging her to weigh her words with "respect and civility in mind" in order to avoid potential criminal charges linked to hate speech.

"Our domestic laws, both provincial and federal, delineate freedom of expression (or 'free speech') in a manner that is somewhat different than the approach taken in the United States," Francois Houle, vice-president academic and provost of the University of Ottawa, wrote in an e-mail. "I therefore encourage you to educate yourself, if need be, as to what is acceptable in Canada and to do so before your planned visit here."

Levant said the provost's letter to Coulter set the tone for the event and he doesn't expect similar protests in Calgary on Thursday.

"University of Calgary has a tradition of celebrating liberty and I am sure it will live up to its reputation as a place that allows for difference of opinion."

She has since suggested she may file her own complaint with Canada's Human Rights Commission.

That move and the contents of Monday's talk at the University of Western Ontario -- which included Coulter telling a Muslim student she "take a camel" as an alternative to flying -- grabbed headlines on both sides of the border.

Coulter made the camel quip when pressed on a question asked by a UWO student Fatima Al-Dhaher, who was referencing a previous quote made to the media that Muslims shouldn't be allowed on airplanes and should take "flying carpets" instead. Al-Dhaher had noted she didn't own a flying carpet, and asked what Coulter suggested she do instead.

But Coulter defended herself on CTV's Power Play Tuesday, saying each comment was taken out of context.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Coulter+Ottawa+speech+cancelled+after+protests/2719863/story.html#ixzz0jCy2wpLR

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

[peejay 327]

Doesn't surprise me one bit. A lot of universities are more about indoctrination than education. Better to silence other opinions than to debate the merits of your own.

[scandal 951]

Allowed to exist on the same continent. :blink: Canada needs HER permission merely to "exist"?

She's a bully, an ignorant bully to boot. Canadian soldiers, members of the Canadian army, are fighting and dying in Afghanistan to protect the same freedom and the same values that the US is fighting for. Canadians fought in WWII including landings at Normandy, fought in Korea, and fought in Operation Desert Storm. Shame on Ann Coulter. Shame.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/03/20/13300156.html

Coulter on Canada

In 2004 George Bush won a second term as a president of the United States after a race in which some democrats lamented they'd move to Canada if Bush defeated Al Gore. Weeks later, Ann Coulter appeared on Fox. Here's what she said:

"The worst Americans end up going (to Canada). The Tories after the Revolutionary War, the Vietnam draft dodgers after Vietnam and now after this election we even have blue states moving up there . . .

When you're allowed to exist on the same continent of the United States of America, protecting you with a nuclear shield around you, you're polite and you support us when we've been attacked on our own soil. They [Canada] violated that protocol.

They better hope the United States doesn't roll over one night and crush them. They are lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent.

They don't even need to have an army, because they are protected, because they're on the same continent with the United States of America , , , we're their trading partner. We keep their economy afloat."

[alienlovechild 75]

The event was cancelled about 8:15 p.m. -- before Coulter had a chance to speak. Reports suggested the building was evacuated after someone pulled a fire alarm.

"It's a public safety issue," said Sgt. Dan Beauchamp.

"The University of Ottawa is really easy to get into, isn't it?" she said in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen after the cancelled event. "I never get any trouble at the Ivy League schools. It's always the bush league schools."

The U of O also sent Coulter a directive of sorts, urging her to weigh her words with "respect and civility in mind" in order to avoid potential criminal charges linked to hate speech.

"Our domestic laws, both provincial and federal, delineate freedom of expression (or 'free speech') in a manner that is somewhat different than the approach taken in the United States," Francois Houle, vice-president academic and provost of the University of Ottawa, wrote in an e-mail. "I therefore encourage you to educate yourself, if need be, as to what is acceptable in Canada and to do so before your planned visit here."

Can anyone name a single left-wing speaker that was prevented from speaking at a U.S. university in say the last 20 years?

The sad thing is the kids suppressing free speech scream the loudest at the slightest suppression of their views. Colleges should be the one the places that respect an exchange of views but that hasn't been the case for years on a lot of campuses.

[The_Dude 1,142]

I was reading about this whole Coulter debacle. What isn't mentioned in the OP was a stop at the University of Western Ontario in London, ON that followed her attempt in Ottawa. During the course of her speech, Coulter stated that muslims should not be allowed to fly. When a female muslim student asked her duing the Q&A period what she should do if she shouldn't be allowed to fly to travel. Coulter's response was that she should fly on her flying carpet, or ride a camel. I know that she's a harpy and merely says stuff to get a reaction out of people, but I will be glad to dance on her grave one day.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Rob and Mel

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Say, how many town hall meetings that Members of Congress scheduled were cancelled because of rowdy crowds? Free speech isn't what it's made out to be in the US either. And it isn't the libruls denying people the right to speak. But what would anyone expect from an ignorant loudmouth like Coulter?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Can anyone name a single left-wing speaker that was prevented from speaking at a U.S. university in say the last 20 years?

The sad thing is the kids suppressing free speech scream the loudest at the slightest suppression of their views. Colleges should be the one the places that respect an exchange of views but that hasn't been the case for years on a lot of campuses.

negative. free speech is a one way street to the modern liberal

[The_Dude 1,142]

Can anyone name a single left-wing speaker that was prevented from speaking at a U.S. university in say the last 20 years?

The sad thing is the kids suppressing free speech scream the loudest at the slightest suppression of their views. Colleges should be the one the places that respect an exchange of views but that hasn't been the case for years on a lot of campuses.

I get the impression that "campus" is more of a theoretical place for you rather than a practical one. Universities are a place for ideas and ideals. Hatred is not one that needs to spread. Ann Coulter says things to piss people off, vile, racist things that have no merit.

[alienlovechild 75]

Universities are a place for ideas and ideals. Hatred is not one that needs to spread. Ann Coulter says things to piss people off, vile, racist things that have no merit.

Most of your thoughts have no merit and you piss off posters but you need to understand the basic concept of speech free. It's not up to you to weigh the quality of the speech in question in order to justify banning it.

I get the impression that "campus" is more of a theoretical place for you rather than a practical one.

Your "impression" is wrong as I was a perma-student in several colleges for several years. At least, I heard more diverse views than you'd ever allow if you had your way.

[CDAgirlMI 51]

They better hope the United States doesn't roll over one night and crush them. They are lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent.

They don't even need to have an army, because they are protected, because they're on the same continent with the United States of America , , , we're their trading partner. We keep their economy afloat."

What a dumb F**k.

" We keep their economy afloat"....She should spend more of her energy on the pitiful state of the US!. Right now, I think the Canadian economy is better than the US's.

Canada's army may be the joke of a lot of countries, but our men and women do an excellent job with what they have. We're allies to the US, so if any county attacked, the US would get involved. So why SHOULD we build up an army like the US? Who's the dumb one there?

[The_Dude 1,142]

Most of your thoughts have no merit and you piss off posters but you need to understand the basic concept of speech free. It's not up to you to weigh the quality of the speech in question in order to justify banning it.

You display your ignorance again. You are transposing your view of U.S. freedom of speech onto a foreign university. It simply isn't legal to preach hatred, not at a university, or anywhere else for that matter. I'm sorry that my posts piss you off, maybe because you're wrong so often.

Your "impression" is wrong as I was a perma-student in several colleges for several years. At least, I heard more diverse views than you'd ever allow if you had your way.

The university that I went to was quite the opposite of what your stereotype of what a university campus is like. Check out Clemson University in S.C., to say that it is overwhealmingly conservative is a mild understatement. I'm all for hearing a litany of ideas across the board. But racism and hatred are not among them.

What a dumb F**k.

" We keep their economy afloat"....She should spend more of her energy on the pitiful state of the US!. Right now, I think the Canadian economy is better than the US's.

Canada's army may be the joke of a lot of countries, but our men and women do an excellent job with what they have. We're allies to the US, so if any county attacked, the US would get involved. So why SHOULD we build up an army like the US? Who's the dumb one there?

To the bolded part, not even close. However, the U.S. would have to worry that Canada doesn't roll over one night and shut off their oil supply

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Doesn't sound to me as though Coulter's speech was "banned". To ban something there needs to be some sort of mandate from people in power (whether it be the government, or the university leadership). Rather the event was cancelled because of security concerns - not the same thing at all; and as far as "free speech" goes - Coulter doesn't have some god-given right to a public platform for her views, just as she (or anyone else in fact) doesn't have the right to an audience to listen to them.

If Coulter did indeed say what Rob said, then it surely begs the question as to why anyone should waste their time trying to defend it with platitudes about "liberal tolerance" and "free speech". Clearly no weight whatsoever should be given to such views, and the fact is that this is not the first time one of Coulter's events has gone down like that. Her reputation has little to do with any sort of reasoned debate as much as aggressive attention seeking. She deliberately provokes this kind of reaction for the express purpose of benefitting from the resulting publicity (and usually in advance of the publication date for one of her books).

[scandal 951]

What a dumb F**k.

" We keep their economy afloat"....She should spend more of her energy on the pitiful state of the US!. Right now, I think the Canadian economy is better than the US's.

Canada's army may be the joke of a lot of countries, but our men and women do an excellent job with what they have. We're allies to the US, so if any county attacked, the US would get involved. So why SHOULD we build up an army like the US? Who's the dumb one there?

Moreover.. let's not forget that Canada & the US are both founding members of NATO and NORAD. NORAD, in particular, is a strategic defense alliance which calls for early warning stations in Canada's arctic to detect incoming Russian ICBM launches targeting sites in the US. Through a close cooperation, the two nations realize that shared defense on a shared continent requires active involvement by BOTH nations. Canada in a very real and tangible way is defending the United States, by standing ever vigilant and alert to nuclear missile strikes headed for New York and Washington.

[alienlovechild 75]

You display your ignorance again. You are transposing your view of U.S. freedom of speech onto a foreign university. It simply isn't legal to preach hatred, not at a university, or anywhere else for that matter. I'm sorry that my posts piss you off, maybe because you're wrong so often.

The university that I went to was quite the opposite of what your stereotype of what a university campus is like. Check out Clemson University in S.C., to say that it is overwhealmingly conservative is a mild understatement. I'm all for hearing a litany of ideas across the board. But racism and hatred are not among them.

Never claimed the 1st Amendment applied in Canada- that's something you came up with. You left-wing types label most things you don't like as "hate" speech but you haven't the foggiest notion what the quality of speech means so it doesn't surprise me that you don't know "hate" speech is protected by the 1st Amendment.

I went to Clemson, dummy. I lived in Central and commuted to classes. I don't remember any protestors screaming when McCain and Bush campaigned there in 2000 so you're probably correct that the place wasn't politically correct.