Toronto Council Passes ‘Bubble Zone’ Bylaw Restricting Protests Near Schools, Places of Worship

Nathan Phillips Square and Toronto City Hall in Toronto on April 23, 2020. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

Toronto City Council has passed a bylaw that will prohibit protests near places of worship, schools, and daycares by introducing “bubble zones.”

Council debated the issue for hours on May 22, passing the motion 16-9 following several amendments to the original motion.

The bylaw will prohibit protests within 50 metres of any of the facilities listed in the document. It will come into effect on July 2.

The bylaw comes after an increasing number of attacks on Jewish synagogues and schools that started after the Hamas terrorist group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent offensive in the region.

Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said it welcomed the measure.

“With this decision, the City of Toronto has taken a meaningful step toward protecting Torontonians,” said CIJA Ontario director of government relations Josh Landau.

“There is broad support for safe access zones from diverse religious and ethnocultural leaders who recognize that freedom of expression does not include a right to intimidate, bully, and harass communities.”

Some city councillors voiced concern that the bylaw could adversely affect free speech.

Coun. Alejandra Bravo told council during its meeting that protests are a “useful and important” expression of free speech that warrant protection, emphasizing that attempts to limit them may trigger legal challenges regarding Charter rights.

Coun. Lily Cheng countered that the “boundary” created by the bylaw aims “to protect people, especially vulnerable people, at their most sacred and personal moments.” Cheng said the goal was not to “silence opinion.”  

City of Toronto spokesperson Russell Baker told The Epoch Times that the goal of the bylaw is to protect residents when they are attending places of worship, schools, or daycares.

“The recently adopted bylaw builds upon an existing City bylaw to protect these spaces and their visitors from blocked access while respecting individuals’ rights to peaceful assembly,” he said via email.

Baker said the bylaw won’t ban “peaceful gatherings, protests or demonstrations” as long as they do not “impede access” to the buildings.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) had sent a letter to Toronto council ahead of the vote to encourage them to vote against the restrictions.

“This bylaw represents a significant risk to peaceful expression and assembly, and on balance is not necessary in light of the already-existing police powers,” CCLA said in a May 16 post on its website.

The Canadian Constitutional Foundation (CCF) called the bylaw an “unconstitutional limit on the right to protest.”

“The right to protest is a fundamental right of Canadians,” CCF litigation director Christine Van Geyn said in a statement. “This new bylaw will prohibit public protests on matters of public interest and will unjustifiably infringe on the right to freedom of expression.”

She said while some individuals might be upset by certain protests, “there is no right not to be offended.”

The organization has raised a legal challenge to a similar “bubble zone” bylaw in Calgary that was developed in response to protests at drag events, including library story time for children.

Van Geyn described the Toronto bylaw as “similarly constitutionally vulnerable and will almost certainly be subject to a legal challenge.”

Ottawa Considers Bylaw

Ottawa says it’s considering a similar bylaw. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he has meet with faith leaders, health-care workers, parents, and members of the LGBT community about the issue.

“We need to take a very careful, balanced, and strategic approach to this issue. The community expects us to defend the right to protest while protecting vulnerable institutions and individuals from threats and intimidation,” he said in a May 13 social media post.

Sutcliffe said the issue would need to go through a public consultation process.

“The goal must be to have very clearly and narrowly defined situations when a bylaw would apply, minimal distance restrictions, and clarity that traditional demonstrations and political protests must be allowed to continue where they do not directly intimidate or impact the safety and freedom of movement of residents, children, and seniors,” he said.

The mayor said he would support a motion for the bylaw.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.