Canadian free speech activists

Elon Reeve Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a businessman known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. His other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. In November 2024, United States president-elect Donald Trump appointed Musk as the co-chair of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the second Trump administration. Musk is the wealthiest individual in the world; as of November 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$304 billion.

Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian YouTube personality, clinical psychologist, and a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. He began to receive widespread attention in the late 2010s for his views on cultural and political issues.

Mark Steyn (born December 8, 1959) is a Canadian conservative author. He has written several books, including the New York Times bestsellers America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It and After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. He has guest-hosted the nationally syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show, as well as Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News, on which he regularly appears as a guest and fill-in host when Tucker Carlson is away.

Irshad Manji (born 1968) is a Ugandan-born Canadian educator. She is the author of The Trouble with Islam Today (2004) and Allah, Liberty and Love (2011), both of which have been banned in several Muslim countries. She also produced a PBS documentary in the America at a Crossroads series, titled Faith Without Fear, which was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008. A former journalist and television presenter, Manji is an advocate of a reformist interpretation of Islam and a critic of literalist interpretations of the Qur'an.

Justin Trottier (born 4 December 1982) is a political activist, former political candidate and founder of Canada's largest social-political movements for secularism and men's issues. He was one of several founding members of several secular organizations such as the Centre for Inquiry Canada in 2007, where he served as National Executive Director until 2011. He also founded the Freethought Association of Canada, which created the 2009 atheist bus campaign where Trottier served as one of the spokespersons. He also founded the Canadian Secular Alliance. In 2011, he was a Green Party candidate in the 2011 Ontario provincial election. Later, Trottier co-founded and has served as the chairman and spokesperson for the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE), and was heavily involved in CAFE's campaign to open the Canadian Centre for Men and Families in 2014. He currently serves as the Centre's director.

Ezra Isaac Levant is a Canadian media personality, far-right political activist, writer, and broadcaster. He founded Rebel News (which he owns) and Western Standard (being its former publisher). He has worked as a columnist for Sun Media, and hosted a daily program on the Sun News Network from the channel's inception in 2011 until its demise in 2015.

Jane Vance Rule, CM, OBC (28 March 1931 – 27 November 2007) was a Canadian writer of lesbian-themed works. Her first novel, Desert of the Heart, appeared in 1964, when gay activity was still a criminal offence. It turned Rule into a reluctant media celebrity, and brought her massive correspondence from women who had never dared explore lesbianism. She did not, however, support gay marriage. Rule became an active anti-censorship campaigner, and served on the executive of the Writers' Union of Canada.

Lindsay Shepherd (born 7 December 1994) is a Canadian columnist who became known for her involvement, as a graduate student and teaching assistant, in an academic freedom controversy at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) in Waterloo, Ontario, in 2017.

Kitty Marion (12 March 1871 – 9 October 1944) was born Katherina Maria Schäfer in Germany. She immigrated to London in 1886 when she was fifteen, and she grew to minor prominence when she sang in music halls throughout the United Kingdom during the late 19th century. She became known in the field for standing up for female performers against agents, corruption, and for better working conditions. She joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1908, engaged in selling their newspaper Votes for Women and became a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom for her participation in civil unrest protests including riots and arson. As a result, Marion was arrested many times and is known for having endured 232 force-feedings while on hunger strike in prison. She is quoted as saying “there are no words to describe the horrible revolting sensation.” When World War I started she emigrated to the United States, and there she joined the team on Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Review. Although she used her tenacity and loud voice to get people to pay attention to her cause, she did not use violence as much as she had in the United Kingdom, although she was still arrested many times for advocating birth control.

Stephen Ronald Craig Hicks (born August 19, 1960) is a Canadian-American philosopher. He teaches at Rockford University, where he also directs the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.