Freedom Flyer 22
the official newsletter of the
Freedom Party of Ontario
December 1992
As party of principle...
WE SAY "NO" TO CENSORSHIP!
TORONTO (July, 1992) - In a written
submission to the Ontario Law Reform
Commission, Freedom Party responded to
the issues being raised in a review of the
Ontario Film Review Board, formerly
known as the Ontario Board of Censors.
Despite its name change, the current board
still classifies, approves, and prohibits films
and videos in the province of Ontario.
The Reform Commission was primarily
concerned with three basic areas of discussion; their questions as posed have all been
reproduced, along with our responses, in this issue.
Also accompanying our response to the
Commission was a copy of Freedom Party's
1986 publication, Censorship Alert, a 24-page newsletter highlighting many of the
censorship laws in Canada and around the
world. The newsletter discusses virtually all
aspects of censorship from the days when
Elvis Presley could only be shown on TV
from the waist up, to the current and
on-going debates about pornography, rock
videos. hate literature, political ideologies,
and even "crime" comics.
REFORM COMMISSION SAYS 'NO" TO CENSORSHIP TOO!
Surprisingly, in its 134-page Report On
The Powers Of The Ontario Film Review
Board, the commission acknowledged the
futility of censorship, though unfortunately it
did not condemn censorship as a matter of
principle:
"The Commission concludes in the
Report that censorship is neither a desirable
nor an effective method for the regulation of
targeted materials. Changing technology
makes it increasingly easy to avoid controls
that attempt to ban images. The Commission
does recommend that controls on advertising
be instituted and strictly enforced."
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS:
Among the Law Reform Commission's
eleven key recommendations regarding the
Ontario Film Review Board were the foIIowing:
- "Ontario should work with the other
provinces to develop, by agreement, one
uniform set of classification categories
with guidelines."
- "A sticker system... should be instituted so that the classification accorded to
each videofilm is clearly displayed on the
video box and on the video cassette itself.
Illegal videos... will then be readily identifiable to both inspectors under the Act and to
consumers."
- "The Board should no longer have
the power to require eliminations or to
disapprove or prohibit completely the exhibition of films and videos in Ontario."
- "The Board's name should be
changed to the Ontario Film Classification
Board."
STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
The Commission's recommendation that
the Ontario Film Review Board no longer
have the power to censor film or video in
Ontario is a welcome change of direction in
terms of government powers to control
expression. However, serious difficulties
could be encountered with its proposed
"sticker system" which could effectively
render all videos directly imported by consumers
from outside the province technically
illegal.
Even though a particular video title may
have been "classified" by the new board,
any copies of that title not purchased or
rented in Ontario could be subject to charges
by the government. Indeed, "censorship"
could take on a now form: any film or video
awaiting "classification" could be prohibited
from the marketplace until its classification
was obtained.
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last updated on April 30, 2002
