From November 21
to November 21, 2016
The Theatre Centre
November 21, 2016 at 7:30pm (doors at 7:00pm, debate starts at 7:30pm)
Civil Debates 5
Online freedom of speech has become a hotbed issue in the digital, interactive era. What is harassment? How does that impact our Charter rights to freedom of speech? Are there limits? Should there be limits?
Join us on Monday, November 21 at 7:00pm as we invite the community to an open public debate on the following resolution:
The Resolution:
Be it resolved that freedom of speech is absolute and therefore must be protected online.
The Debaters:
(Clockwise from top)
Lawyer, Abby Deshman
2016 Governor General Award-nominated playwright Brad Fraser
2016 Siminovitch Prize Protégée and performance artist Shaista Latif
2016 Governor General Award-nominated playwright Donna Michelle St. Bernard
Moderated by SpiderWebShow Artistic Director and NAC English Theatre Associate Artistic Director Sarah Garton Stanley.
Attendees will be given an opportunity to weigh in on the resolution through a moderated Q and A that follows the debate, and through before and after polls that seek to discover if the debate impacts or further polarizes audience opinion on the resolution.
As an additional element of audience engagement, the debate will be Livestreamed by US-based Howlround on Howlround.tv. Members of Howlround will be present at the debate and we invite attendees to stick around for adult beverages afterwards to meet the team behind Howlround “a knowledge commons by and for the theatre community”. You will not meet any cool people if you stay home and watch the livestream—although we welcome an American digital audience to our fifth debate.
Follow us on Twitter: @TheatreCentre #CivilDebates
Join the Facebook event.
Civil Debates was launched in 2013 by Praxis Theatre and The Theatre Centre as a public forum for artists to gather and engage in conversation of current social/political events and topics. Civil Debates 5 is presented by SpiderWebShow Performance and The Theatre Centre. Previous Debate topics were: 1 Creative Cities, 2 Arts Boards, 3 Idle No More, and Ethical Funding.
August 20, 2026
Performers Jessie Garon, Scott McCabe and Sully Malaeb Proulx. Photo by Kendra Epik The gasp of breath, the startling slap of flesh on flesh, the stamp of foot to floor—these are the sounds of vulnerability and power that score Heaven. Falling on the heels of Ivanochko’s appointment to 100th Class of Guggenheim Fellows, the 20th...
July 22, 2026
“In all of the pieces there are themes of community, connection, and co-dependency and family, land, and nation. And it’s because of, yeah, what I experienced living in my great-grandma’s house when we moved here, with my great-grandma, my grandma, and my mom. In a co-op!” Residency Artist danjelani ellis took some time this June...
