'bubble bylaw' to be drafted for ottawa council amid charter concerns from councillors, community
staff will have nine months to craft a bylaw aimed at protecting vulnerable “social infrastructure” while also balancing and respecting the right to protest.
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a file photo shows a verbal confrontation between pride and anti-pride protesters near a broadview avenue school in june 2023.
julie oliver
/
postmedia
city staff will draft a “bubble bylaw” prohibiting protests within 80 metres of vulnerable spaces as ottawa council gave the green light to the proposal amid legal concerns from councillors and charter challenges in other cities.
staff will have nine months to craft a “bubble zone” bylaw aimed at protecting vulnerable “social infrastructure” such as schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities and places of worship while also balancing and respecting the right to protest. the draft is expected to come back before council for a vote in early 2026.
a motion from barrhaven west coun. david hill passed through a marathon joint meeting of the city’s emergency preparedness and protective services committee and the public works and infrastructure committee on may 15-16, where 42 public delegations signed up to voice their support for and opposition to the proposed bylaw.
somerset coun. ariel troster said that committee debate had been “gut-wrenching” as she voted for the motion “with extreme reservations” at the may 28 council session.
troster voted for the motion after the committee agreed to remove language defining “grievance” or “nuisance” demonstrations. troster had expressed concern over the wording and the potential for handing new powers to police or bylaw officers “to make the determination about whether a protest is legitimate or not.”
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troster cited the landmark protests that advanced lgbtq causes and said the act of protest was “not always convenient, it’s not always quiet.
“the purpose is to be disruptive and it is to make people listen,” troster said. “and people do it when they’re desperate, when they don’t have any other place or any other way that they can make their voice heard.”
troster urged city staff to “make a distinction between danger and discomfort because we can all stand to be a little bit uncomfortable sometimes if it makes us realize what’s going on in the world.”
knoxdale-merivale coun. sean devine was among three councillors who voted against the motion, citing the “unintended consequences” of such bylaws and the uncertain legal status of similar legislation in other municipalities.
“we are moving forward with the drafting of our own bubble bylaw without taking the time to study calgary’s version or vaughan’s version or toronto’s version to see how they might fare in court,” devine said.
“we are directing staff to draft legislation that, by expert accounts, could possibly be seen as government-imposed censorship, based not on proven harm, but on subjective and speculative fears.”
devine urged staff to “actively seek out objective legal opinions from individuals well-versed in constitutional law and charter rights” during its research and consultations before returning to council with a draft bylaw.
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calgary is defending two legal challenges to its safe and inclusive access bylaw — the first bylaw of its kind in canada when it was passed in 2023. one of those court challenges in calgary is calling for a judicial review of the entire bylaw.
capital coun. shawn menard, who voted against the motion along with devine and coun. jessica bradley, questioned why ottawa’s legal staff had not yet provided legal advice to councillors before proceeding with wednesday’s vote.
city solicitor stuart huxley said there would be extensive consultations with legal advisors over the ensuing nine months before staff returned with the draft bylaw next year.
mayor mark sutcliffe publicly endorsed the motion on social media before it was introduced at the committee level two weeks ago.
“this is a very difficult issue and i know a lot of councillors felt conflicted about what we had to deal with, and i accept and respect that. it’s not an easy decision, it’s not an easy issue,” sutcliffe said following wednesday’s council session.
“obviously, i support defend and respect the right for people to demonstrate and protest, i support and defend and respect the right of people to conduct labour demonstrations and all sorts of other demonstrations and protests.
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“but we heard from people in the community that they didn’t feel safe dropping their children off at school in some specific cases, that people were being traumatized, people were being threatened and intimidated when they were going to places of worship or to a retirement residence … when employees were going to a hospital because of demonstrations and threats.”
sutcliffe cited legal precedent with a similar federal law prohibiting demonstrations near abortion clinics.
“the line always gets drawn somewhere,” sutcliffe said. “what we’re talking about is drawing a line somewhere where we respect the right for people to demonstrate and protest, but we also respect the right for people to be able to have access to the places where they’re going and where people are not feeling threatened and intimidated when they’re dropping their kids off at school or going to a place of worship.
“i think we found a very balanced, careful, strategic approach to this that allows us to send a signal to the community that we’ve heard their concerns and that we want to protect them. we want to keep the community safe and continue to defend the right for people to demonstrate and protest.”
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