Ottawa Bylaw to Ban Protests
Ottawa City Council is feeling the heat as more people and organizations are raising the alarm about a far-reaching bubble zone proposal, the “Vulnerable Social Infrastructure By-law”.
We warned you about this by-law proposal when it was first announced last fall. At that time, we launched a petition to stop it. So far, over 2,500 concerned citizens have added their names and comments to our petition.
This by-law proposal, which was introduced by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, builds on and expands the provincial bubble zone legislation implemented under former Premier Kathleen Wynne, which forbids protest, counselling, and prayer around all Ontario abortuaries.
It was under that provincial law that an octogenarian Catholic priest, Tony Van Hee, was arrested in 2018 for silently holding a sign that read, “The Primacy of Free Speech: Cornerstone of Western Civilization”.
This new, Ottawa-specific by-law would go even further than the provincial law, restricting lawful protests, demonstrations, rallies, and even conversation and prayer for as much as 100 metres around thousands of locations across the nation’s capital. Entire city blocks could be engulfed in new speech-controlled zones.
Under this draconian proposal, citizens will no longer be free to express themselves in the public spaces around thousands of “protected buildings” across the city – around every school, hospital, place of worship, child care centre, care home, and more.
If your views are deemed to be a “nuisance” to the powers-that-be, they will be verboten within the bubble zones! Unless you hold the politically-correct party line, you will be restricted in your right to protest, speak, and pray on the public streets and sidewalks of Ottawa. Officers will be given the power to issue steep fines to silence “unacceptable” voices.
During recent City Council meetings in mid-May, some councillors and delegates voiced harsh criticism of the by-law proposal. One councillor stated, “I think that we already have the tools we need… Let’s figure out how to best utilize those tools first.” This councillor was referring to the laws that already exist in the Criminal Code of Canada, which ban actual intimidation and harassment.
On May 28th, despite strong opposition, Council voted to move forward with their plan to finalize the details of their anti-free-speech proposal in the coming months. It is expected that a vote to fully implement the by-law will take place in early 2026.
In the mean time, we must keep putting pressure on Ottawa City Council to reverse-course on this by-law! We need to be persistent and unwavering in voicing our opposition to bubble zones over the coming months. Take a moment to sign our petition, forward a copy to a friend, and request a snail-mail postcard be sent to councillors.
Petition Link: https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/petition/id/91