Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has distanced himself from the position of French President Emmanuel Macron on the Mohammed cartoons. He pleaded for “prudent” use of freedom of expression.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended freedom of expression on October 30, while believing that it is “not without limits” and should not “arbitrarily and needlessly hurt” certain communities.
“We will always defend freedom of expression,” said the head of the Canadian government, in response to a question on the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad, as did the magazine Charlie Hebdo.
“But freedom of expression is not without limits,” he argued at a press conference, adding: “We owe it to ourselves to act with respect for others and seek not to arbitrarily or needlessly injure those with whom we are sharing a society and a planet. ”
Trudeau calls for attention to the impact “of our words, our actions on others”
“We are not allowed, to cry fire in a cinema crowded with people, there are always limits”, argued the head of government.
“In a pluralist, diverse and respectful society like ours, we owe it to ourselves to be aware of the impact of our words, our actions on others, particularly these communities and populations who still experience a great deal of discrimination”, he pleaded. As he had done the day before with the leaders of the European Union, Justin Trudeau nevertheless wished to condemn the recent “horrible and appalling” terrorist attacks in France: “It is unjustifiable and Canada wholeheartedly condemns these acts always hanging out with our French friends who are going through extremely difficult times. ”
Three people were stabbed to death on October 29 in a church in Nice, southern France, by a Tunisian migrant who was neutralized. Attacks that take place in a context of anger in the Middle East against France and President Emmanuel Macron, vilified for having defended the right to publish cartoons in France. Emmanuel Macron spoke in this direction during the official tribute to Samuel Paty, a teacher beheaded in the middle of the street in an attack for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad as part of a course on freedom of expression.
