![\"cra_headquarters\"](\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/08\/cra_headquarters.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto: John Bristowe\/flickr<\/p>\n
As its website notes, “PEN Canada envisions a world where writers are free to write, readers are free to read and freedom of expression prevails.”<\/p>\n
With goals like those, no wonder the little charity has found itself in the crosshairs of the Harper government.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, PEN became the latest charity to face a massive tax audit as part of a sweeping clampdown that appears aimed at intimidating groups critical of the Harper government.<\/p>\n
PEN had the audacity to criticize the government for muzzling scientists in the civil service, and for spying on Canadian citizens alongside U.S. intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n
But the little org, which includes iconic Canadian literary figures like Margaret Atwood and Yann Martel, insists it won’t be deterred by the audit.<\/p>\n
“I refuse to let it have a chilling effect on us,” PEN president Philip Slayton told The Canadian Press. “We are not going to have some kind of fear \u2026 stop us speaking out on issues.”<\/p>\n
The writers at PEN have a long history of defending free speech in the face of intimidation from repressive governments around the world. You just don’t expect them to face intimidation from the Canadian government.<\/p>\n
For detail please visit here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY LINDA MCQUAIG | JULY 24, 2014 Photo: … Continue reading