Bubble Zone Bylaws: CCLA Writes to Toronto City Council to Raise Charter Concerns

TORONTO – The Canadian Civil Liberties Association just sent a letter to Toronto City Council expressing concerns about the potential adoption of a “bubble zone” bylaw prohibiting offensive protests near various types of community gathering spaces. This type of bylaw raises serious Charter issues. While we denounce hateful speech and intolerance and are committed to working towards a more inclusive and equal society, in our view, passing punitive laws that give municipalities and the police the discretion to broadly restrict peaceful expression is not a rights-respecting way of achieving this goal.

One of the key points raised in our letter is that law enforcement already has broad powers to maintain order at protests. Police can, when necessary, use their powers to create and enforce space between two groups that are protesting against each other or facilitate access to community buildings or private property. Additionally, existing criminal laws do not only target a wide range of physically violent conduct—they also prohibit a host of other conduct that does not involve physical violence.

Another focus of our letter is the meaning and importance of freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly in a democracy. These rights are often the tools that marginalized groups use to advocate for, and achieve, societal change. Once broad limits on expression and protests are on the books, they are often used to stifle the peaceful expression of marginalized communities. Just because a protest is disruptive or offensive does not mean that it is violent or that it should be prohibited. While freedom of expression is not absolute, the Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that there is no place in a democracy for a right not to be offended.

Finally, we also expressed concerns about the City’s online consultation process, as the survey available to the public sometimes presents a skewed, if not misleading, perspective on bubble zone bylaws. To our knowledge, the survey also lacks safeguards to ensure only Toronto residents participate, raising concerns about its reliability. We urged the City to address these issues in order to promote a fair, transparent, and reliable consultation.

Read here CCLA’s letter to Toronto City Council.