Free Speech, Ethics and Democracy in Canada | Panel Discussion

You're invited to a historic and illustrious panel discussion on free speech, ethics and democracy in Canada.

Canadians take for granted that we're a democracy with a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which affirms that reality. However, it seems that the pandemic has provided a pretext to transform the Canada that we know and love into something else where elite-appointed gatekeepers centrally control everything you read, listen and watch.

Are we at the cusp of entering into the "Twilight Zone" world that George Orwell predicted in this book 1984 and Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel entitled Brave New World?

Our panelists come together to collectively identify how we got to this apparent crossroads and how we can as a society defend the 'True North, Strong and Free'.

Here are bios of our panelists:

Andrew Lawton

Andrew Lawton is a bestselling author, broadcaster and journalist. Currently, he is the managing editor of True North, where he hosts The Andrew Lawton Show. In 2022, he wrote the #1 Globe and Mail bestseller The Freedom Convoy: The Inside Story of Three Weeks that Shook the World (Sutherland House). His second book, Pierre Poilievre: A Political Life (Sutherland House), is slated for release in May 2024.

Until 2018, Andrew hosted a daily show on Global News Radio and wrote a national column for Global News.

His written work has been published across the world, including in the Washington Post, the National Post, the Toronto Sun, the Edmonton Sun, and Global News. Andrew has appeared as a commentator on CBC, CTV, TVO, CTS, and on BBC World.

Dr. Julie Ponesse

Dr. Julie Ponesse has a PhD in Philosophy (Western, 2008) with areas of specialization in ethics and ancient philosophy.

She has a Masters in Philosophy with Collaborative Specialization in Bioethics from the University of Toronto and a Diploma in Ethics from the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.

Dr. Ponesse has published in the areas of ancient philosophy, ethical theory, and applied ethics, and has taught at universities in Canada and the US for 20 years.

In the fall of 2021, Dr. Ponesse saw her academic career of 20 years fall apart after she refused to comply with a Canadian university's COVID vaccine mandate.

My Choice: The Ethical Case Against Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates

In December 2021, Dr. Ponesse released a book, published by The Democracy fund, titled My Choice: The Ethical Case Against Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates.

This is her account of the battle and its aftermath, written with passion and intelligence. But Dr. Ponesse's story travels beyond the personal and examines the ethical and philosophical dimensions of our pandemic response.

Our Last Innocent Moment

If there can possibly be anything good to come out of the horrors of the last three years, it is this: some of us, at least, have been shaken awake. We now know that we are under attack. We are under attack not so much for the particular things we say or do but simply for wanting to be free, for wanting to be able to think through our lives, and for wanting our lives to be the products of our own choices.

Whatever happened over the last few years, we have been fundamentally changed by it. There’s no reclaiming the innocence we lost. Life is more serious now. Our obligations are more weighty, or just more apparent. There are certain truths we came to see that can never be unseen. And everything is so much more complicated than we thought.

This is a dark time for humanity. But darkness always creates the greatest opportunities for growth and self-awareness, and for us to intentionally remake ourselves for the better. The moment is upon us. We can’t reclaim the innocence we lost in 2020, but we can use our experiences to remake a more innocent world for ourselves and for our children. We can, I dare say, create something even greater.

Thomas Quiggin

Thomas Quiggin, (M.A, C.D.) wrote the book Eyewitness to Deceit following his intelligence role in Freedom Convoy 2022. This role comprised of protective intelligence for convoy participants, first responders and the citizens of Ottawa.

The book outlines the campaign of lies used by the government and the media during the Convoy. The extent of the misinformation campaign suggests it was more akin to information warfare than it was a reasoned response to a citizen-government policy dispute.

Tom has been qualified as a court expert on terrorism and other subjects in three different court systems in Canada. This includes having testified on intelligence collection and reliability in federal court cases.

Tom was also a Senior Fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has 35 plus years of practical intelligence experience in a variety of positions. These include the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Bank of Canada, the Canadian Armed Forces, the United Nations Protection Force in Yugoslavia, Citizenship, and Immigration Canada (War Crimes), the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (The Hague), and the Privy Council Office of Canada. He was also a qualified arms control inspector for the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty and the Vienna Document.

He has also testified to a Senate Committee on intelligence matters (The Kelly Commission 1998) and to the Air India Inquiry (2007) and provided testimony to the Special Senate Committee on Anti-terrorism (2010).

He has also given training sessions for the Canadian Department of Justice as part of the special advocates program with the focus being on intelligence and evidence in terrorism cases.

Randy Hillier

Randy Hillier is a former elected representative in Ontario, Canada's largest province. A Maverick by any measure both as a Conservative and Independent representative, he was the first elected parliamentarian in Canada to publicly oppose the Covid state of emergency, lockdowns and to expose the fraudulent pandemic.

Married for 43 years (to the same women) he devotes his time to his family and his farm and is an outspoken advocate in public policy and the corruption of Western values.

Randy Hillier was targeted by the state and received 25 charges for organizing No More Lockdown rallies in 2020/21 and is fighting 9 criminal charges for attending the Truckers convoy in Ottawa and is representing himself in court.

Host or Publisher Rai