Freedom of speech is at stake during provincial and municipal campaigns, according to a Vancouver-based advocacy group thats taken the issue to the provinces top court.

The B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association was in court Friday appealing a decision last year that denied the advocacy groups constitutional challenge to a section of the B.C. Election Act - which requires everyone to register with the province before doing any kind of third-party election advertising.

That means if someone within an election campaign period makes or wears a related t-shirt, for example, or posts a public sign stating a related opinion, must register as election advertisers or risk facing a $10,000 fine or up to a year in jail.

B.C. is the only province in Canada that requires third-party election advertisers to register with authorities with no minimum amount that must be spent on the advertising, according to Vincent Gogolek, B.C. FIPA executive director.

What the government has done is imposed a ban on political expression with criminal penalties, he said.

Most provinces have a minimum $500 registration threshold for advertising expenditures.

Its had the effect of actually restricting free speech, he said. People have shut down websites, refused to comment because theyre intimidated by the law.

But the B.C. Attorney General argued the mandatory registration and identification provisions ensure that during the campaign period leading up to a fixed date election ... the electorate is able to determine who is doing the speaking.

This ability to identify the speaker and their message is key to fulfilling the goals of promoting transparency, openness and public accountability in the electoral process and encouraging an informed electorate, it stated in its respondent letter.

Freedom of expression works both ways to protect the speaker and to protect the listener.

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Political expression isnt criminal: group