A new poll by the Association for Canadian Studies shows that while 60% of Canadians believe academic freedom should not protect professors who advocate personal political views unrelated to their curriculum, younger Canadians aged 18-24 are significantly more divided on this issue. Only 38% of those in the youngest cohort agree with this view, compared to 70% and 73% among Generation Xers (55-64) and boomers (65+), respectively. The poll also reveals that Canadians who support protection for such advocacy are more likely to consider justifications of terrorism or minimization of historical atrocities as acceptable.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-17,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
A poll conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies found that while 60% of Canadians believe academic freedom should not protect professors who use class time to promote personal political views unrelated to the curriculum, younger adults aged 18-24 are more conflicted. Only 38% of this age group agreed with the majority view, and 32% supported protecting such behavior, while 30% were unsure. Generation X (55-64 years) and boomers (65+ years) showed the highest agreement at 70% and 73%, respectively. Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, warned that unchecked political advocacy in classrooms could threaten academic freedom. He noted younger respondents' division is likely due to their direct experience with such issues.
Written for “Canadian Academic Freedom Poll” on 2026-09-18,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Political advocacy in a post-secondary classroom where it does not relate to the subject matter could become a “threat to academic freedom” if left unchecked, warns Association for Canadian Studies president Jack Jedwab.
uncertain
Jedwab → relate → Studies
While new polling for the organization indicates the majority (60 per cent) of Canadians firmly feel academic freedom shouldn’t protect a professor who uses class time to push personal political views unrelated to the curriculum, the 18-24-year-old cohort was the most conflicted, with only 38 per cent sharing that opinion, 32 per cent in support of protection and 30 per cent unsure.
asserted
cent → indicate → protection
Generation Xers between 55-64 (70 per cent) and boomers 65 and over (73 per cent ) were most likely to disagree.
asserted
Xers → disagree → 55
Jedwab isn’t surprised most respondents feel “there’s a line” for academic freedom protection and reasoned the youngest cohort, predominantly students, are divided due to their exposure.
asserted
cohort → feel → exposure
“It’s hard to contend when your professor advocates a particular cause,” he told National Post in an interview.
asserted
he → ’ → interview
“It can be very challenging to reflect on whether this is crossing a line or not.”
asserted
this → reflect → line
He highlighted the recent Campus Anti-Semitism Student Experiences report commissioned by Heritage Canada, which he co-authored, which found that 34 per cent said a professor brought up Jews, Judaism, Israel, or Zionism when unrelated to the course subject.
asserted
professor → highlight → subject
“In a course that had nothing to do with Israel, my professor spent three weeks talking about Gaza and the creation of the State of Israel,” one Jewish student told researchers.
asserted
student → have → researchers
“He never mentioned the Holocaust as a precursor to its founding, repeatedly calling the state a ‘Zionist political project.’”
asserted
He → mention → state
Jedwab, a Ph.D. himself, stopped here to stress the critical importance of academic freedom, but said it’s also critical to have a frank conversation about the checks and balances “when it comes to the roles and responsibilities of academics around controversial issues that are not within the purview of what they’re being asked to teach.”
“The risk is that academic freedom is being abused by some parties in pursuit of a particular cause,” he added.
asserted
he → stop → cause
Polling also identified that among those who support academic freedom protection in those instances, “are also considerably more likely to regard the justification of terrorism, the denial of documented atrocities and the minimization of their victims as acceptable.”
asserted
who → identify → victims
Almost four in 10 (39.6 per cent) think it’s very or somewhat acceptable to say that a well-documented historical atrocity might not have occurred.
uncertain
atrocity → think → ?
More than a third (36.5 per cent) felt it was acceptable, to some degree, to exaggerate or minimize the number of victims of historical atrocities and more still (37.4 per cent) think it’s to some degree acceptable to say that members of a religious group are collectively responsible for the actions of a foreign government.
asserted
members → feel → government
Jedwab said that adds to the need “to reflect on the extent to which these types of freedoms are indeed detrimental to the well-being of individual Canadians.”
asserted
types → say → Canadians
Perhaps more alarming, nearly one in four (24 per cent) believe acts of terrorism can sometimes be justified.
asserted
acts → believe → terrorism
(67.3 per cent said it cannot and 8.7 per cent were unsure.)
asserted
cent → say → ?
“It’s showing you that there’s a risk when we don’t have this conversation,” Jedwab said, “that ideas that we consider very worrisome to public safety can manifest themselves in certain situations, and the academy is not outside that altogether, as we can see.”
asserted
we → show → that
Part of the challenge with the youngest demographic group is addressing their distrust of historical atrocities, which is partially fuelled, Jedwab said, by mass exposure to misinformation via social media continually blurring the line between what’s real and isn’t.
asserted
what → address → line
“We do need to give a lot more reflection about the way in which information is being conveyed to people,” he said.
asserted
he → need → people
The poll of 1,538 respondents, conducted by Leger on behalf of the Association for Canadian Studies, was conducted Sept. 4-6.
asserted
poll → conduct → Studies
A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes.
asserted
margin → associate → purposes
However, a probability sample of this size would have a margin of error of 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
asserted
sample → have → 20
The Aporia
