The City of Ottawa’s decision to plough ahead with its bubble bylaw in spite of superior, if controversial, federal anti-hate legislation making its way through Parliament, is a waste of time and resources. It should be scrapped. Read MoreMohammed Adam: The troubling rise in hate crimes provides the perfect excuse to attempt to erode free expression.
Mohammed Adam: The troubling rise in hate crimes provides the perfect excuse to attempt to erode free expression.
Article content
The City of Ottawa’s decision to plough ahead with its bubble bylaw in spite of superior, if controversial, federal anti-hate legislation making its way through Parliament, is a waste of time and resources. It should be scrapped.
Article content
In a memo last month, Ryan Perrault, the city’s general manager of emergency and protective services, said staff are proceeding with the so-called “vulnerable social infrastructure bylaw” to complement the Liberal government’s Bill C-9 and fill any remaining gaps. But there are no gaps to fill that would make any meaningful difference. The bylaw has become redundant.
Article content
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
The bubble bylaw, whose aim is to limit protest to 80 metres from schools, houses of worship and hospitals to help curb hate crimes, was itself controversial to begin with. Back in May, after some backlash, council asked staff to go back and fine-tune the bylaw and bring it back for debate and approval early next year. But it has since been overtaken by the tougher federal Combatting Hate Act, which creates new hate offences, and has been criticized by the likes of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association for potential criminalization of peaceful protest.
Article content
Even those who supported the bubble bylaw in the past because they thought it would help combat hate crime must now admit it is of little value. If it is a crime to intimidate and obstruct people from accessing places of worship and schools, what is the point of the city bubble bylaw? What is it trying to do that the federal anti-hate legislation is not doing?
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
The bubble bylaw will eventually make it to council for a vote, and Perrault maintains that free speech remains its cornerstone. Don’t buy it. The city is talking out of both sides of its mouth. Perrault can’t say the city is committed to free expression when its actions point in an opposite direction. So, when the revised bylaw makes it to council, our representatives should thank staff for their effort and then park it. Its continuation merely allows the city to be seen to be doing something, when the actual work is being done by the feds. We don’t need empty gestures.
Article content
Read More
Article content
The broader point the city, and for that matter the federal government, is missing is that protest is not inherently violent or inspired by hate, as they seem to be implying. The assumption is a dangerous slippery slope to travel. We cannot ignore the fact that the instinct of government, no matter its colour, is to suppress dissent, limit criticism and chip away at free speech at any opportunity. Now, the troubling rise in hate crimes provides the perfect excuse to attempt to erode free expression. We should always be suspicious when government tells us it is curbing freedom for our own sake. Yes, Ottawa residents, indeed Canadians of all races, religions and sexual orientations should be able to live their lives without intimidation, fear or harassment. No argument with that, and it is why we have laws that deal with transgressors. If the laws are not being enforced, then get the police to enforce them.