LAKELAND - As the provincial government fortifies its existing commitment to civil liberties and critical thinking in Alberta's post-secondary school settings, Portage College President Nancy Broadbent says there is already "the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn," within the Portage College community.
Her statement echoes one part of the formal declaration on freedom of speech and expression that can be found in the college's corporate mandates and mission statements. It's also a huge part of the college's roots, dating back 50-plus years to the mostly-Indigenous community members who staged a sit-in to keep the doors open and provincial and federal funding coming to the community learning centre.
"The freedom of expression is not only something to empower, it is who we are – starting in 1970 with a sit in of local people who expressed their opinion regardless of its political popularity," she said.
Portage College officials — like senior administrators in all 26 Campus Alberta post-secondary settings — will now be providing annual reports to the provincial government that outline how free speech has been championed in their institutions. News of the annual update was announced earlier this month. The reporting is the latest addition to the provincial government's commitment to enhance viewpoint diversity, civil liberties and critical thinking for faculty and students.
Check, check — and check, says Broadbent. She welcomes the increased attention to the topic.
"We very much support the concept of ensuring people are empowered to speak freely."
Portage College is a place of free and open inquiry in all matters — reads a portion of the college's official mandate on freedom of speech and expression. In an industry that works under the banner of higher learning, even false, unwelcome or offensive information can and should be part of that overall learning curve, states the existing declaration.
Again, Broadbent agrees.
"We see our role in this as creating safe spaces for difficult conversations in a respectful way," she said. "As a Community College we see ourselves as a resource for the community and we have the capacity for discourse from various points of view. "
The president of the institution that has campus locations across northeastern Alberta, as well as online distance learners, says the diverse nature of the programming and student body naturally draws a diversity of opinions and creativity from instructors and students.
"We have a wide range of disciplines in our College, everything from literacy to highly technical training, to university studies. This means that we have people with those many diverse backgrounds and lived experiences," she said, explaining that cultural diversity is also a big part of that mix. "We are highly diverse and not only respect that diversity but also honour it. This variety of disciplines, backgrounds and experiences creates an organization where diversity of thought is natural and in fact systemic."
"Debate and deliberation must not be suppressed simply because the ideas put forward are thought by some, or even most, to be unwelcome, uncomfortable, unwise, wrongheaded, disagreeable, deeply offensive, immoral or false," reads a portion of the declaration on free speech and opinion at Portage College."
— The Chicago Principles on Free Speech that were adopted by Alberta post-secondary schools in 2019
The college boss credits college faculty and staff for the existing environment of free discussion.
"Much of this encouragement starts in the classroom. Our communications courses include opportunities for students to learn the skills of debate and practice those debates with real and contemporary issues," she said.
The annual reports from all 26 Campus Alberta post-secondary institutions will begin later this year, including specific instances of free-speech and expression events, religous observances, as well as classroom interactions and more general policy links to the subject.
In 2022, the MacDonald Laurier Institute released a study of university professors in Canada. Regardless of political leaning, 34 per cent reported they self-censor because they are concerned about negative consequences if their true opinions on certain topics become known.
While Broadbent says Portage remains well ahead of the curve, Government of Alberta officials say more will continue to done to bolster civil liberties on a provincial scale in the future.
"Alberta’s post-secondary institutions should be bastions of free speech and academic freedom that promote critical thinking," says Alberta's Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nocolaides. "I will continue to explore greater steps we can take to strengthen free speech on campus.”
