Ottawa, ON—The Ontario Court of Appeals today upheld a lower court decision and ruled against the Christian Heritage Party of Canada in a pivotal free speech case. In 2023, CHP Canada attempted to purchase advertising space on bus shelters in Hamilton, Ontario. The proposed poster was a picture of a smiling woman with the message: Woman: An Adult Female. The City of Hamilton rejected the ad, saying it might offend some users of the transit system. The CHP challenged that decision in a judicial review and later took the case to the Ontario Court of Appeals.

The Appeals Court supported the City of Hamilton in its ability to control messaging in public places in spite of the violation of free speech rights.

CHP lawyers defended, in court, the right of a political party to publicly promote the biological, biblical and dictionary definition of a woman; that position has now been rejected by the Appeals Court.

Rod Taylor, national leader of CHP Canada, had this to say about the decision: “Today, free speech has been given a black eye by judges who neglected to recognize our constitutional rights. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience, freedom of association—all of these freedoms are listed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and are part of our great Canadian heritage—our Christian heritage. Yet we see today that political correctness and ‘woke’ ideology have infected not only our legislatures but also our courts. We thank all those who have supported our efforts, and we pray that God will work in the hearts and minds of politicians and judges across this land to reverse this recent trend toward censorship. We in the CHP will continue to stand for truth and freedom in spite of this setback. Truth is too important to allow it to be censored. We encourage all Canadians to join us in standing for the truth and the freedom to proclaim it.”

—30—

For more information, contact CHP National Office at 1-888-868-3247 or by email at nationaloffice@chp.ca