Bubble By-law Survey: Action Needed
Access the survey here.
Ottawa City staff are currently studying options for banning protests within a certain distance of “vulnerable social infrastructure” like schools, healthcare facilities, and religious buildings using a similar by-law recently passed in Vaughan as a model.
They have a survey on this proposed by-law that closes on Sept 30 at 9:00 am. You can fill in this survey here. I think this survey can be filled in by all Canadians, as Ottawa is the capital, and people from all across the country should have a right to come here and have their voices heard.
Horizon Ottawa has created a great guide to help you with this survey which you can access here.
Some Things Worth Noting
The Vaughan by-law claims that it is not intended to prohibit peaceful gatherings, protests or demonstrations – but that it prohibits anyone from organizing or participating in any and all nuisance demonstrations. Then it states that a “nuisance demonstration” includes one or more people publicly protesting or expressing views on an issue in any manner – whether intended or not – that causes a reasonable person, on an objective standard, to be intimidated – meaning that they are concerned for their safety or security. When deciding whether a reasonable person would be intimidated by a demonstration, enforcement staff will make a case-by-case assessment having regard to the objective facts and also what prior court decisions have said about what a “reasonable person” is.
Under the provisions of Vaughan’s by-law, much of downtown Ottawa would be in the range where law enforcement could award fines up to $100,000 for protesting.
Should we be giving authority to Ottawa Police and By-law Services to determine if a reasonable person would be intimidated by a demonstration, when they have displayed bias in enforcement in the past few years, including but not limited to:
• Allowing “Freedom Convoy” protests to proceed and cooperating with organizers.
• Ticketing and arresting community members supporting a broad range of concerns, including Palestinian solidarity actions, for normal protest activities like using a megaphone.
It is also worth noting that Vaughan’s bubble zone bylaw was passed following several demonstrations that took place in Thornhill outside a synagogue. But this was not to protest Judaism or Jewish people – the synagogue was holding a real estate event that was promoting and selling occupied land in the West Bank – land that settlers had recently stolen from Palestinians. I think we need to consider how much this bubble bylaw is rooted in anti-Palestinian racism.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has already launched a constitutional challenge against Vaughan’s bubble zone protest bylaw. This will happen in Ottawa – which is such a waste of time and money, when there are already laws that prohibit illegal behaviour like violence, threats of violence, preventing access to buildings, and harassment on public property (streets, sidewalks, parks) within a certain distance of “vulnerable” infrastructure.
Here is a great article to read to learn more about this.
These bubble bylaws are unwarranted and a violation of the rights of all Canadians and will have the greatest negative effect on the most marginalized in our community. Read more about this from the Centre for Free Expression here.
For More Information
Horizon Ottawa has prepared a fantastic backgrounder on their concerns and advocacy around this issue – you can read that here.
They also organized a Bubble Bylaw Panel back in May, which I helped out with and attended – you can watch the livestream of that panel here.
In December 2024, we held a Harmony Circle for Palestine where Albert Dumont was in conversation with Shaheen from Labour for Palestine about this Bubble Bylaw. Shaheen went through an in depth presentation on the topic for us. You can watch that here. If you want to see just Shaheen’s presentation, skip ahead to the 20 minute mark. But I do recommend watching the entire recording!
Lastly, you can read this Statement on the Bubble Bylaw Proposal, written by Diana Ralph, Founder of Independent Jewish Voices, in December 2024.
Why I Am Concerned
In our current reality, where governments around the world are cracking down on their citizens’ right to protest, I don’t want to give our government any more power to shut down our right to dissent.
I think that we should look to what is currently happening in the UK as a warning for us: a British pro-Palestinian group called Palestine Action was branded a “terrorist organization” and banned by the UK government on July 5. The group has performed many acts of civil disobedience with the goal to denounce “British complicity” with the State of Israel, particularly on the issue of arms sales. Things came to a head on June 20, when several Palestine Action members broke into an air force base and damaged two military aircraft. The government quickly introduced a bill which added the group to its list of “terrorist organizations”. This means it is now illegal to be a member of Palestine Action or to show support for the group – even wearing a T-shirt bearing its logo or holding a sign that says “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”. Since this decision, demonstrations in support of the group have taken place across the country. More than 700 people have been arrested for defying the ban – for supporting Palestine Action, mostly holding up signs during non-violent protests. You can watch this video about it to learn more.
I don’t think we can sit back and say that something like that could not happen here in Canada. We don’t need to come up with a new bylaw, with a potential $100,000 fine, to give more power to our government to take away our right to protest. The police already have enough tools at their disposal to shut down illegal behaviour at protests, they don’t need more.