COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO HIS MAJESTY THE KING

The pre-Charter jurisprudence on the right to free expression should inform the “purposive approach” to the interpretation of Charter rights. [...] One of the oldest defences of free expression, and first of three values underlying the Charter’s protection for freedom of expression, is that it is as necessary to arrive at truth. [...] held that “it is axiomatic that the practice of this right of free public discussion of public affairs, notwithstanding its incidental mischiefs, is the breath of life for parliamentary institutions.” Regardless of whether free expression leads to better decisions in practice, its is “a necessary feature of modern democracy.” Free exchange of ideas is so essential to democratic government that it. [...] Prior to the Charter, Parliament and the legislatures served as the primary guardian of freedom of expression. [...] Some Protestants, on the other hand, view the Catholic practice as a “false teaching that the body and blood of Christ are literally present in the bread and wine of the Mass.” It has even been described as “idolatry condemned by God” because “the bread is in it taken and adored as God.” Catechism of the Catholic Church at para.