Compelled Speech – Protecting Minorities or Endangering the Masses

Is it a good idea for a law to compel an individual to call a person a specified pronoun at that person’s request? Is it fair that a person could be criminally convicted on account that they refuse to refer to a person as he, she, him, her, or a myriad of other pronouns? These are just some of the questions which the Canadian parliament have had to ask themselves when the much-publicised Bill C-16 was voted into law earlier this year [i](Openparliament.ca, 2017).

See the picture below which lists some of the pronouns that people will be required by the law to use [ii](Williamson, 2017):

Not included in this list is the pronoun entitled, otherkin. This being defined as “People who identify as other than human” [iii](University of Cambridge, 2016).

As a token of common courteousness, I would always refer to a person using the pronoun of their choice. However, to compel a person with the full weight of the law to do so is another matter entirely. In my opinion this is an attack on free speech. One must ask themselves, when such a law is passed, does it open a floodgate for similar compelled speech laws to come into being in the future? The answer to this question is a complicated one, but at the very least it does provide a precedence going into the future.

As Sharon Brooks [iv](2016) states, “the freedom of speech is the cornerstone of any functioning democracy.” She later goes on to note that even if most people do not agree with a statement, it does not mean that a person should not be allowed to say it.

Although Bill C-16 was undoubtedly an attempt to make society in Canada a better place for minorities, it may have come at the cost of the freedom of speech for the society at large.


[i] Openparliament.ca. (2017). Bill C-16 | openparliament.ca. [online] Available at: https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/C-16/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2017].
[ii] Williamson, J. (2017). List of pronouns. [image] Available at: http://www.cposd76.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/pronouns.png [Accessed 14 Dec. 2017].
[iii] University of Cambridge. (2016). Why be human when you can be otherkin?. [online] Available at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/why-be-human-when-you-can-be-otherkin [Accessed 14 Dec. 2017].
[iv] Brooks, S. (2016). Freedom of speech is a key part of democracy. The Irish Examiner. [online] Available at: http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/freedom-of-speech-is-a-key-part-of-democracy-432255.html [Accessed 14 Dec. 2017].

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