Canadian Constitution Foundation to challenge Calgary’s protest by law

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The city’s safe and inclusive access by law could soon face a legal challenge in the courts of a libertarian-leaning society.

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Christine Van Geyn, litigation director with the Canadian Constitution Foundation, said her organization has been in talks with Calgary lawyers about challenging the bylaw.

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“We actually have a portal that we put up because we haven’t decided on our litigation strategy yet,” she said. “We may challenge as a public interest organization, or we may challenge with an individual affected by the law.”

She said citizens can share their concerns at theccf.ca/calgaryprotestban.

Van Geyn said Thursday she’d already heard from more than 50 people with concerns. She said the foundation is concerned about the wording of the bylaw and possible unintended consequences.

The bylaw deals with “specific protests” that disapprove of ideas or actions related to “race, religious beliefs, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical disability, mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income, family status or sexual orientation.”

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It prohibits protests related to this list within 100 meters of the entrances of certain city-owned buildings, including all Calgary Public Library locations, and all city-owned or city-affiliated rec centres.

“This could apply if you wanted to protest female genital mutilation as a religious practice,” said Van Geyn. “If you want to even go to show support for an author who has survived (FGM), if your protest is based on that as a religious practice, you can’t protest within 100 meters of the library. But if you want to protest pipeline construction, you can do it in front of the library.

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“That’s the big problem with the bylaw — it’s not content neutral.”

She said governments should not have a say in what sorts of protests are allowed or where they are allowed. She believes public engagement on cultural flashpoints is an important part of democracy.

The CCF previously challenged a bylaw in Brampton, Ont., that would have prohibited outdoor election signs, and has championed people fighting mandate vaccines and vaccine passports in court.

The city administration drafted the safe access bylaw within a matter of weeks and brought it directly to the council for approval, rather than the usual process of having it go first to a council committee for vetting.

Major Jyoti Gondek said its purpose was not to end protests, but to create safe spaces where people can access public buildings without being harassed by protesters.

The bylaw was brought forward with urgency in response to ongoing protests outside city pools and libraries, targeting the LGBTQ+ community.

Demonstrators are unhappy that the city’s rules allow trans people to use the change room of the gender with which they identify. They also are protesting library-hosted “reading with royalty” events, where drag queens and kings host story times for children and families.

In tweets, the major said the protests are “rooted in hate and fear-mongering, and said those participating are spreading “vile lies and hatred in public.”

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The bylaw passed in a 10-5 vote on Tuesday. All councillors expressed their concerns with the hate-based nature of the drag protests, but some had concerns about the speed with which the legislation had been brought forward.

Count. Jennifer Wyness said she was worried about a boomerang effect, where the bylaw would also affect counter-protesters or prohibit unintended groups from protesting.

But the majority of councillors believe the bylaw is the right direction. Count. Kourtney Penner said while the city shouldn’t be proud that it needs the bylaw, she stands by her support for it.

“I have run into my colleagues in the hallways, I have run into families, you know, taking my kids to activities and getting a very big smile,” said Penner. “I’ve had friends reach out and say thank you. thank you So I’m so glad that we moved this forward and I’m really heartened that we’re making good progress in the city.”

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Twitter: @brodie_thomas