Juno News - September 12, 2025MP Jamil Jivani on Kirk assassination & free speech
Episode Stats
Words per minute
172.36761
Summary
In the wake of the death of YouTube personality Charlie Kirk, we discuss his impact on the world of politics and debate, and how the media's coverage of his death has been biased, unfair, and unfair to his family and friends.
Transcript
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You were talking a lot about Charlie Kirk's assassination today.
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Can you just kind of round up a bit of a response to the news that Charlie Kirk died yesterday?
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Yeah, well, it's a very sad and tragic situation.
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I think it's important for people to remember there's an entire generation of people in Canada
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and in the United States and around the world who have grown up with Charlie Kirk being a part of how they think about politics
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because he's been famous and on YouTube for the last 13 years.
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And there are so many people who've watched his debates on campuses and whether they agree with him or they disagree with him,
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a lot of people admired the effort he made to have conversations with people who don't share his point of view.
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And so I heard from so many young people in our community here in Bowmanville, Oshawa North,
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and also around the country who are just really sad.
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And I felt like, you know, we had planned this event here in Bowmanville weeks ago,
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but it felt like an important thing to talk about today and to just acknowledge the sadness a lot of people feel,
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but also to make the point that, you know, we're at risk of people feeling discouraged by what happened, right?
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Young people feeling like politics is not worth engaging in because of how polarized it is
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and to feel like, you know, hopeless about the future, especially people who agree with Charlie
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that debating folks on the other side of the political issue is worth doing.
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So I felt it was important to kind of point out that, you know, not to take that lesson from this,
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but rather to really look at the impact he had and remind ourselves that having debates
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and taking strong positions and standing up for what you believe in,
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but also being open-minded to talk to people who don't agree with you,
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And I hope that's what people remember him for, and that is his legacy.
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And then I hope young people who grew up watching him on YouTube
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feel that that is part of the legacy to continue,
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that don't shy away from taking strong positions, say how you feel, say what you believe,
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and I think that's what makes for the best political culture we can have here in Canada.
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Okay, and I don't know if you've seen any of the CBC's reporting on this.
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They're, you know, they immediately, like, their first article,
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they ended it off by wrapping this up into January 6th,
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referencing January 6th and political violence that happened since from Trump supporters.
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They also immediately put a thing out on his most controversial statements.
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This morning, Barbara Perry from Oshawa, the so-called hate expert,
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was on and discussed kind of her fears that this will backlash into violence against left-wing folk.
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but what is your response to the way that the CBC, the state broadcaster, has handled this?
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I'm not surprised by how CBC has reported on this story,
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in part because I think CBC has a hard time humanizing people they don't agree with.
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And I think that's a really huge problem in Canadian media.
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We have a diverse country with people with all sorts of different perspectives,
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and we should be able to share that with peace and understanding of one another.
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And, you know, you look at an outlet like CBC and they love to lecture about things like diversity
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and, you know, equity and inclusion, you know, and the whole, you know, ideology that they embrace wholeheartedly.
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And yet, when they have an opportunity to show that they appreciate and respect differences of opinion,
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you can see in their reporting that they actually don't seem to respect people with a different point of view.
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I think at minimum, they should be able to say without equivocation that violence is never acceptable,
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regardless of whether you like what someone said or not.
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And when you publish an article outlining someone's controversial views,
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it almost has this hint of suggestion that that somehow justifies what happened
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or should be taken into consideration when you grieve a young man's death.
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And I think that's, you know, it's just reprehensible.
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And, you know, I think this is an opportunity for people to really check their own humanity here.
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Like, a young man, 31 years old, two children and a wife, was assassinated on a university campus,
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assassinated at an event where he was debating people with another point of view,
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open to hearing their side and sharing his own.
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I think that's what we're supposed to want in our politics and in our media,
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And their reporting doesn't seem to suggest that they do.
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And I think when they, you know, clutch their pearls,
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I hope they remember how they reported on this.
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And maybe, you know, remember why people call them biased,
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because time and time again, when they've had an opportunity to show
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they respect people across the political spectrum,
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And, you know, it is too early to say we don't know a lot about this case,
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but we've seen people on media from institutions in Canada.
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There was a U of T professor saying that a bullet is,
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is, like, you know, not good enough for fascists and things like this.
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Does this kind of play into kind of potentially why people felt radicalized enough
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Like, why do you think people are feeling like this radicalized,
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Well, as you said, we don't know all the specifics of this case.
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I do think, you know, as a member of parliament who's been in office for about a year and a half now,
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I certainly have felt that we are in a political culture where vilifying people comes easily
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to some folks in the media, to some folks who are involved in partisan politics.
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And I think in many cases, they want to have it both ways,
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where they, you know, want to hold you accountable for what you say,
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but they don't want to hold themselves accountable for what they're saying.
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And the reality is, like, if you have a systematic effort to smear a person,
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to portray them as something other than a human being who simply disagrees with you,
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but instead they want to make this person into a monster,
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I think they have to accept that, like, their actions have an effect on people.
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You know, and I wish they held themselves to the same standards that they hold others,
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and certainly making jokes or making light of death or justifying someone being assassinated.
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I mean, this is really unhealthy, bizarre, unhinged stuff,
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and I think people need to be able to point that out.
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Whether they agree with me or not, I'm pretty open about my views.
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And I have never once in my entire life thought that to make a joke or make a light
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or make excuses of violence perpetrated on someone who disagrees with me.
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And I wish more people on the political left felt that way, too.
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Are people free to have a different point of view,
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or are institutions feeling, like, entitled to crack down on them
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and try to stifle the ability to articulate different ideas?
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And I will say, you know, as a person who spends my time talking to Canadians every day,
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it's my job to read emails that are sent to my office,
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I really believe Canadians are far more open-minded than a lot of the powerful people
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And I think Canadians are open to debates and different perspectives.
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And in fact, regardless of where they fall in the political spectrum,
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I think we all feel like we have to accept other points of view
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Whether it's your workplace, your own family, your friends,
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people are used to talking to people with different points of view.
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It's odd to me that we have so many institutions and media outlets
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that seem completely out of sync with the Canadian people.
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We deserve a country where the values and the morality of the people
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are reflected in the institutions that we fund with our taxpayer dollars.
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And when that's not happening, we have a problem.
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And frankly, this is one of the reasons why I'm a member of parliament,
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because I want an alignment between the good natured values of the Canadian people
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Is there anything I didn't ask you that you think is relevant
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Yeah, I'd just like to reiterate the point I made earlier,
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which is any young person who is sad and feels like they're in a moment of grief
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because of what happened to Charlie Kirk, I just want to encourage them.
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We need you to organize. We need you to be politically involved.
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We need you to speak clearly and take a stand for what you believe in.
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And yeah, I just genuinely hope that people are not discouraged because of what happened.
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I want them to feel hopeful and to keep trying, keep fighting for a better future.