Anti-Protest Bylaws

The declared purpose of Vaughan’s bylaw is to balance people’s rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly with the health, safety and well-being of Vaughan’s community members.

This is an important goal. But, in pursuing this objective, Vaughan’s bylaw punitively prohibits an extremely wide range of peaceful protest activities. It severely infringes upon freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association in a manner that is not justified in a free and democratic society.

We want to be clear: everyone in Canada is entitled to physical safety. In case of violence, threat to physical safety or incitement to violence, the police can and should consider using their authority to protect public safety. But the police already have broad powers to fulfill their mandate. They did not need a new bylaw.

In any case, the breadth of Vaughan’s bylaw shows that it is not really about protecting people’s physical safety or safe access to property.

This bylaw is about prohibiting peaceful protests because some people find them disruptive. It is about chilling and suppressing speech because some people find it offensive.

These limits strike at the heart of what it means to live in a free and democratic society.

Help us fight back against state censorship. 

If the police or bylaw enforcement officers have arrested you for peacefully protesting, we want to hear from you. 

If you care about people’s right to use their civic space to protest peacefully, consider donating to CCLA today.