This legal saga, which embroiled a university bureaucracy and now hangs on a decision in court, is one that should serve as a lesson — and a warning — to all Canadians interested in free speech.
asserted
that → embroil → speech
It’s the story of one student, but it could be any student at any North American university.
uncertain
it → ’ → university
His experience is a cautionary tale to anyone who challenges the system, whose underlying message is very clear: Don’t try.
asserted
message → challenge → system
In the fall of 2023, Haggstrom, then a law student, was formally censured by the University of Saskatchewan for “harassment,” after he challenged critical race theory in open letters to faculty and peers.
asserted
he → censure → faculty
He appealed the administrative decision and lost.
asserted
He → appeal → decision
He then filed a judicial review and constitutional challenge with the Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench.
asserted
He → file → Bench
In May, the court heard the university’s motion to dismiss his case.
uncertain
court → hear → case
A decision will be released any day.
asserted
decision → release → ?
Haggstrom was in his third and final year when, following an academic exchange, he returned to the University of Saskatchewan to hear rumblings of a great controversy.
asserted
he → follow → controversy
Law students had learned that up to one-third of their peers were being allotted extra time on exams.
asserted
one → learn → exams
The university’s official position, including when I attended back in the 1990s, has always been that extra time levels the playing field.
asserted
time → include → field
Keep in mind, however, that many law exams account for 100 per cent of a student’s grade.
asserted
exams → keep → grade
Timing, and properly managing it, is critical to this high-pressure, competitive exercise.
asserted
Timing → manage → exercise
In this case, concerned students asked the Law Students’ Association (LSA) to broach the issue.
asserted
students → ask → issue
There was no substantial discussion at the next meeting, and the agenda item was simply listed in the minutes on the association’s Facebook page.
asserted
item → be → page
It was then that other students, who had been silent during the meeting, took to the comments section, saying that it was racist to even raise the issue of extra time because it’s commonly allocated to students who self-declare as Indigenous.
asserted
who → take → students
Haggstrom was then-student president of the Runnymede Society, whose purpose — ironically — is to foster debate.
asserted
purpose → foster → debate
He reached out to peers.
asserted
He → reach → peers
“There appeared to be no interest in resolving misunderstandings,” he said in a phone interview this month.
asserted
he → appear → interview
“Many interpreted the situation through the prism of ‘race scholarship’ and critical race theory (CRT).
asserted
Many → interpret → scholarship
According to CRT, you can’t question a claim of subjective harm made by a member of a racialized group.”
uncertain
you → accord → group
Quoting John Stuart Mill, John Locke and Nelson Mandela, Haggstrom penned a letter to peers, writing that “courageous discourse does not run from irritation or offence.”
asserted
discourse → quote → irritation
At the next Law Students’ Association meeting, he asked to read the letter aloud, then posted it on the association’s Facebook page.
asserted
he → ask → page
It was quickly removed.
asserted
It → remove → ?
Within days, a classmate, subsequently joined by 15 others, filed a harassment complaint against Haggstrom under the university’s misconduct policy, citing the “harm” caused by his letters.
asserted
classmate → join → letters
Astoundingly, while the university could have pursued a mediated discussion and informal resolution, it opted instead for a formal disciplinary hearing, which took place on Aug. 23, 2023.
uncertain
which → pursue → Aug.
Leading up to the hearing, Haggstrom says he had some supporters, “but none on the record.
asserted
he → lead → record
One student I’d never met before sent me a thoughtful, private message about her shared agreement with John Stuart Mill.
asserted
I → meet → Mill
We became friends as a result.”
asserted
We → become → result
As for his detractors, “at least two had privately expressed their support, but were facing pressure to publicly denounce my letter.
asserted
two → express → letter
Most of those who participated in the complaint against me I’d never met before.”
asserted
I → participate → me
The disciplinary hearing was presided over by board chair Russell Isinger, a political studies instructor.
asserted
hearing → preside → Isinger
According to Haggstrom, other board members said little to nothing, and most of the time was taken up with legal submissions and testimony on behalf of complainants, who by that time included only six: Jordan Calladine, Rory Erickson, Chris Hinchcliffe, Kristyn McDougall, Nicolas Olson and Dominga Robinson.
uncertain
who → accord → six
During the hearing, Haggstrom says lip service was paid to freedom of expression, but it wasn’t “defined or grappled with, let alone considered as any sort of shield for perceived harassment and harm.”
asserted
it → say → harassment
No transcript of the hearing exists, he says.
asserted
he → exist → hearing
The disciplinary committee issued a letter of reprimand and asked Haggstrom to provide a letter of apology, which he did not.
asserted
committee → issue → apology
Following an unsuccessful appeal on July 4, 2024, Haggstrom applied to the Court of King’s Bench for a judicial review.
asserted
Haggstrom → follow → review
The grounds: that the university hearings unreasonably offended fundamental freedoms of conscience and expression under the Charter of Rights, and that under its misconduct policy, the university has no authority to define harassment so broadly.
asserted
university → offend → harassment
“The university’s institutional commitment to critical race theory improperly relies on misconduct proceedings to enforce ideological conformity, which creates a reasonable apprehension of bias,” Haggstrom says.
asserted
Haggstrom → rely → bias
For the judicial review, he hired one expert witness to guide the court on critical race theory’s specialized terminology, and another to interpret “principles of academic freedom” — which, according to the University of Saskatchewan’s enabling statute, must be given effect in all proceedings.
uncertain
which → hire → proceedings
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
