The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) has released its Freedom of Speech on Campus Annual Report for 2023 to the Government of Ontario. Since 2019, HEQCO has been tasked with providing an annual report on the free speech policies of the province’s postsecondary institutions. The 2023 report concludes that the “ongoing implementation of the free speech initiative across Ontario colleges and universities continues to meet government objectives.” Additional findings from HEQCO indicate that, throughout the 2022-23 reporting cycle, no institution reported updates to its free speech policy; ON’s postsecondary institutions hosted a substantial number of events aimed at fostering dialogue; and, in total, ten formal free-speech related complaints were registered across the various institutions, which were subsequently resolved internally.
