When I first moved to Canada, I learned its free speech protections are not as absolute as they are in the United States.

I may have had something like a constitutional-reverence hissy fit. How could any liberal democracy worth its salt not enshrine civil liberties principles exactly like in the sacred US Constitution?

Then, after I started paying attention, I realized Canadians were seriously smart about civil liberties and balance. They had structured a society in which people are fundamentally free, even as they know they sometimes have to take responsibility for the consequences of their public speech.

That might have been my first strong lesson in understanding the US Constitution is not a sacred document that must not be questioned. It was certainly not my last lesson.