“An uncomfortable moment between passengers aboard a New Jersey-to-Toronto flight has renewed the debate over reasonable accommodation and the balance between competing rights.” (Source: National Post)

Here’s our McGill expert available to comment on this issue:

“In crowded spaces-- city streets, airplanes-- we have to buffer between people's rights with manners, and the rule of good manners is that the burden falls on the person who objects to someone else's proximity. The objectors can buy extra space, or appeal and persuade, or avoid crowded spaces, but they can't demand."
- Jacob T. Levy

Expert: Jacob T. Levy, Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory, Department of Political Science, McGill University.
Expertise: In his research, he’s interested in multiculturalism, nationalism, liberalism, pluralism, religious freedom. Relevant to this issue, he wrote a book, Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom (2014), and an essay, Multicultural Manners (2010).
Contact: jtlevy [at] gmail.com. He answers questions in English and French (only for print media).