Last weekend, protesters assembled in Quebec City to express their opinions on the G7 Summit which was held nearby, in La Malbaie. Among other things, activists advocated for the protection of the environment and education for women in developing countries, and “called for an end to expensive and remote meetings of world leaders.”[1]
The Ligue des droits et libertés and Amnesty International cooperated to conduct an observation mission and deployed a team of about 40 civil observants to promote and protect the civil liberties of protestors. There were no mass arrests, but many protestors commented that the presence of more than a thousand police officers instilled a climate of fear and intimidation. This sentiment was exacerbated by the assault rifles and crowd-control weapons carried by some officers.[2]
The Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) declared some of the protest to be illegal, since protesters had not provided their itinerary to the police. A Quebec City by-law forbids citizens from participating in a protest without informing the SPVQ of the time and place or the itinerary of the protest beforehand.[3] CCLA has denounced these types of by-laws since the adoption of a similar policy by the City of Montreal in 2012, since these constitute a violation of the right to free speech, free association and freedom of peaceful assembly protected by Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
[1] Julia Page, Jonathan Montpetit, “Anti-G7 activists in Quebec City call for end to remote meetings as summit in La Malbaie ends”, CBC News (9 June 2018), online: <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/saturday-anti-g7-events-1.4699042>.
[2] Ligue des droits et libertés, Release, “Bilan préliminaire de la mission d’observation : Un G7 entre peur et intimidation” (10 June 2018), online: <http://liguedesdroits.ca/wp-content/fichiers/missiong7-cp-conjoint-dimanche-10-juin-2018.pdf>.
[3] City of Québec, by-law R.V.Q. 1091, Règlement sur la paix et le bon ordre, s. 19.2.
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