In both America and Canada, all individuals are given the right to peacefully assemble and protest. These protests can be for any reason, whether it be against the government, the treatment of other individuals or business interests. Provided that protests do not engage in violence, people have the right to assemble on public property.*
Freedom of Assembly
*To be clear, this is an examination of the legal protections related to protests and not a reflection of unlawful activity on the part of the state to eliminate any particular protest. There are many documented cases of unlawful arrests during protests, even so far as to incorrectly claim the incitement of violence, or planting people within the protest to provoke it. This is not an examination of that, but solely what is described as protected in the Bill of Rights and the Charter.
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The Curious Case of
Colin Kaepernick
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For anybody that has successfully avoided most types of media for the last year, Colin Kaepernick was a quarterback for the San Franscisco 49ers. In 2016, amid a media frenzy over police racism and brutality, he decided to protest by taking a knee during the national anthem. The public was divided over the issue. Some demanded he stand during the anthem, and any less is disrespectful to the American flag. Others applauded his peaceful protest and admired him for using his platform to protest the issue. Regardless of their opinion, it seemed everybody was talking about it. Because of this, when Mr. Kaepernick's contract expired and he became a free agent, NFL teams were hesitant to take him on due to the controversy. Because the NFL operates in the private sector, they aren't legally obliged to take him on. (More on the private sector later.) Eventually, his protest expanded to include many players on various teams. It seemed that, even a year later, all anybody would hear about was Colin Kaepernick.
It can't be denied that President Donald Trump's coverage of the NFL protest amplified it's spread. Unfortunately, his coverage was not all that positive and set a recent precedent in threatening the First Amendment.
President Trump made public announcements, demanding repeatedly that NFL players should stand for the national anthem. He threatened the various teams and even went so far as to encourage a public boycott of NFL games if players continued protesting. Vice President Mike Pence became involved, staging a protest himself when players knelt at a game he attended. This may seem like odd behaviour of White House staff, considering you'd think they'd have something better to do that offer opinions of NFL anthem etiquette. But the water became much more murky when President Trump started to threaten legal action against players, the teams and the leagues if they continued to allow players to protest. No legal measures have been taken as of yet, and many would argue that President Trump has threatened other people in the past and not followed through. Nonetheless, the President of the United States threatening legal action against a group protesting in a visibly peaceful order sets a dangerous modern precedent for the American citizens' First Amendment rights.
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