A group of women were arrested for their silent protest at a Niagara Falls City Council meeting
The Canadian Constitution Foundation has launched its first legal challenge under the Censorship Defence Fund, which was created to challenge municipal-level speech restrictions.
The foundation filed a constitutional challenge on behalf of a group of women who held a silent protest during a Niagara Falls City Council meeting on June 17 after they were not allowed to speak as a delegation. Applicant Lauren O’Connor, along with her fellow demonstrators from the advocacy group Women of Ontario Say No, attended the meeting with small paper signs inscribed with “The Women of Ontario Say No” in their laps.
The group was calling for increased accountability for local officials charged with crimes. Mayor James Diodati would not open the meeting until the women put their signs away, pointing to the Decorum Policy for Public Meetings. The policy prohibits all signs and “symbolic materials” inside council chambers.
Diodati called the police after the women refused to remove their signs; three WOSN members including O’Connor were arrested for trespassing. SV Law’s Kristopher Kinsinger will act for O’Connor on CCF’s behalf.
“These women were denied the chance to speak, chastised for holding paper, and then arrested for quietly expressing their views. That is not how a democratic government should treat the voices of its citizens,” said Christine Van Geyn, CCF’s litigation director, in a statement.
CCF described the sign ban as “an unjustified and extreme limit on free expression” and called the city’s response to the WOSN protest “not only excessive but failed to meet the legal test of proportionality under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” given that courts have indicated that governments must apply the least restrictive measures when limiting constitutional rights.
Van Geyn has made two requests to the City of Niagara Falls to suspend the sign ban or face legal action, but the city has not responded.
“Banning signs is an attempt to ban certain ideas outright, and is a flagrantly unconstitutional violation of the free expression guaranteed to Canadians by the Charter,” Van Geyn said.
Last month, the Canada’s Most Censorious Bylaws report revealed that there was a growing trend of unconstitutional bylaws in the country.
