I’d heard of this quote from a Canadian Human Rights Commission investigator, but I wanted to see the hearing transcript for myself just to confirm that it’s not being misquoted or quoted out of context. I just got the surrounding pages (available here; see PDF page 43 for the quote), and here it is:
MS KULASZKA: Mr. Steacy, you were talking before about context and how important it is when you do your investigation. What value do you give freedom of speech when you investigate one of these complaints?
MR. STEACY: Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don’t give it any value.
MS KULASZKA: Okay. That was a clear answer.
MR. STEACY: It’s not my job to give value to an American concept.
Later on, Steacy does get a bit less clear:
MS KULASZKA: So if someone claims freedom of speech for what they said, it is rejected out of hand?
MR. STEACY: If somebody is claiming freedom of expression, it is not rejected. As I said, freedom of speech is an American concept, it is not a Canadian concept. If somebody said, “I am doing this because of freedom of speech,” I would equate that to somebody raising a freedom of expression concept.
So freedom of speech is equated to freedom of expression, which is not rejected, but freedom of speech isn’t valued because it’s an American concept — hard to tell what he means. But however one reconciles the logic here, and whatever the extent to which free expression is indeed “not rejected,” Mr. Steacy’s rhetoric is still striking: “Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don’t give it any value.”