Speaker: Erik Thomson

Topic: Academic Freedom in Canada is largely a creation of labour law, and disputes about it are adjudicated by arbitrators. Guided by a growing corpus of rulings, as well as by statute law and other sources, they rule on arguments presented principally by faculty associations and university administrators.

I will discuss the advantages and weaknesses of these arrangements based on my experience as the Vice President of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA) and as a member of the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). I will describe the basic mechanism of these cases. I will also address some of the advantages and risks of this approach to academic freedom, in the context of current threats to academic freedom.

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