THE HATE NETWORK: New film premieres in Calgary, sparks discussion on censorship and civil liberties in Canada

The Hate Network, a new documentary directed by comedian and political commentator Greg Wycliffe, had its world premiere Tuesday night at Canyon Meadows Cinema in Calgary.The film is an exploration of what Wycliffe describes as a growing threat to freedom of speech and the erosion of civil liberties in Canada, asking the question: is Canada still a free country?.Covering a wide range of topics, from the Freedom Convoy and COVID-19 mandates to transgender ideology policies, religious freedoms, and the influence of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in academia, the film examines how Canadian institutions censor and target citizens who dissent from prevailing political ideologies.It specifically critiques organizations such as the taxpayer-funded Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) and highlights their alleged links to groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in the United States and Antifa.To drive its points home, the documentary features interviews with numerous prominent free speech advocates, former politicians, and legal experts, including Tamara Lich, Chris Barber, Chris Elston (Billboard Chris), Jamie Sale, Artur Pawlowski, David Haskell, Jeremy MacKenzie, Randy Hillier, and Bruce Pardy, to name a few..Following the screening, Wycliffe took part in a question-and-answer session alongside Dr. Frances Widdowson (former Mount Royal University professor and free speech advocate), John Carpay (president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF)), Jojo Ruba (pro-life activist and Executive Director of Redeeming Conversations), and Artur Pawlowski (Polish-Canadian pastor who made headlines for defying COVID-19 mandates)..Wycliffe told the audience that his film had several main goals, one of which was to expose the CAHN and to encourage Canadians not to be intimidated by groups like Antifa.“It makes no sense to listen to these people, because they — in the case of Charlie Kirk — don't care if you get killed, right? So do not be intimidated by this group. Do not be intimidated by the name calling,” Wycliffe told the audience.Another reason he wanted to make the film was to “educate the uninitiated” on controversial issues, including the Freedom Convoy and vaccine-related debates.“We were really intentional, trying to make this like very open to people who maybe don't know the truth about the convoy, maybe don't know the truth about vaccine deaths and all this sort of stuff,” he said.The Q&A panel also examined the history of censorship on Canadian campuses, featuring stories from pro-life activists like Jojo Ruba.Ruba, who formerly worked with the CRTC and is the Executive Director of Redeeming Conversations, recounted experiences of being silenced for expressing unpopular pro-life viewpoints, arguing that “when you put feelings over facts, there’s no restriction to what you can censor.”“We learned 20 or 30 years ago we were getting persecuted on campus. Feelings become the thing you use to silence or bludgeon everybody else to agree with you, and unfortunately, that's where we're at right now in terms of society.We can't expect to challenge the culture, the government, or the institutions. We can't expect to have the conversations that matter with them until we're willing to have conversations with our neighbours, our friends... We have to push back on the idea that feelings are more important than facts. That's really the message we need to share... We want to turn around culture, we need to love that truth and live in that truth.”.Carpay expanded on the broader moral challenges faced by Canadians today, emphasizing the virtues needed to persevere:“We live in dark and challenging, dangerous times in Canada and throughout the world,” he said, stating that two virtues were important to cultivate in the current political and cultural climate: courage and perseverance, citing Widdowson as a textbook example of the former.“I just admire her,” Carpay said.“Going onto a campus in front of a crowd that openly opposes her and telling them so, often in undiplomatic language. That is a real example of courage. But everyone, in their own life and sphere, can practice courage by speaking truth to power.”When discussing the second virtue, Carpay firmly stated that “recognizing that truth ultimately vanquishes the lie.”“In the long run, freedom prevails over tyranny, and justice will crush injustice. That is inevitable, but we have to participate through perseverance,” he said.“We’re not going to turn this country around in the next few days, weeks, or months—this is a project that will take years and decades.”.Widdowson echoed Carpay’s points, emphasizing that universities must remain places where all ideas can be discussed openly, noting that the decline in freedom of speech on campuses began in the 1960s.“This [was] something George Orwell was very cognizant of. It's very important to have the idea of an objective truth, and that's especially important in the universities,” Widdowson said.She went on to say that if the objective truth is absent from the conversation, then the subjective belief — which currently prevails at universities — becomes paramount.“There's no way for people to have some common agreement on the nature of reality if you're going to prize subjectivity over objectivity,” she stated.“That began to be destroyed in the 1960s, so we're just right now at the crossroads of where you really cannot state facts that are deemed to be unpopular and are upsetting to favoured groups on university campuses.”“Faculty, student unions, and administrators often collude to prevent open discussion,” Widdowson concluded, citing recent free speech incidents in British Columbia and Winnipeg.When asked by the Western Standard if Wycliffe thought the CAHN would be coming after him for the film, his response was blunt:“I hope they do. It'll prove my points,” he stated.“What this film tried to do is humanize the people that they've dehumanized... These are human beings who care about the country or care about a cause, they're just there’s so much bad faith in everything that [the CAHN] does. It's just total nonsense.”“So, I hope they do come after me, and I'm not afraid of them.”Wycliffe went on to reveal that he hopes when more people see his film, they will realize organizations like the CAHN do not have “any moral authority over us.”“They should be laughed at, not feared,” he concluded.The Hate Network will be having two more screening, with the next one in Ottawa on Dec. 21 and Toronto on Jan. 11. For more information visit here.

THE HATE NETWORK: New film premieres in Calgary, sparks discussion on censorship and civil liberties in Canada

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