UPDATE:
South Bruce Peninsula is ditching a controversial picketing bylaw.
Council voted unanimously this morning (Tuesday) to approve a staff recommendation to update the town’s nuisance bylaw and remove a section about picketing, which barred people from protesting in public places without town authorization.
A constitutional rights advocacy group, Canadian Constitution Foundation, issued a statement celebrating South Bruce Peninsula’s reversal: “This was an obvious and unjustifiable restriction on a freedom that should have never been up for debate in any municipality in Canada.”
Original story:
South Bruce Peninsula is due to revisit a picketing bylaw that garnered some criticism last year.
At the time, the Canadian Constitution Foundation named South Bruce Peninsula as a runners up to its ‘Muzzle Award.’
The CCF said in its Muzzle Award report, ‘South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, has an outrageous bylaw that prohibits picketing in any public place unless authorized by the town.”
The bylaw states, “No person shall picket in or on any public place without authorization” and attaches a $400 fine to contravention of that bylaw. Picketing is defined in the Town’s bylaw as, “any activity associated with protesting/objecting and may include display of signs, placards, signs, shirts, hats etc which portrays a message, symbols or marks, silence, shouting, chanting, singing, marching, standing and sitting.”
The CCF continued, saying, “The right to protest is a fundamental one protected by the Charter, and this blanket ban on public protests without permission cannot be justified. You do not need the government’s permission to protest, and this law needs to be challenged if the municipality does not repeal it soon.”
The CCF is an organization made up of people from a number of professional backgrounds, but many with an emphasis on law. They challenge what they believe are violations of Charter rights.
A March 17th Town staff report explained the existing bylaw doesn’t require permission noting, “There is no physical “permitting” or “licensing” system; if a group is peaceful and in a safe location, staff consider this to be authorized.
But they added, staff were again, contacted about the Public Nuisance By-Law provisions as they relate to picketing. Staff have reviewed the by-law in its entirety and feel that the
specific provisions regarding picketing can be removed from the by-law. There is not necessarily a need to specifically address picketing. The by-law is broad enough to
assist staff in managing public spaces, relying on the OPP for any assistance.
They added, “Staff have no appetite to spend money and staff time defending the picketing provisions in court when our implementation of the provisions does not breach Human Rights. Removal of the provision is being recommended.”
Council is due to address the bylaw at its meeting Tuesday morning.