Protest, against the bylaw against protests!

In case you haven’t heard, the City of Toronto is trying to pass an anti-protest law. The bylaw is called “Demonstrations Bylaw to Protect Vulnerable Institutions,” a long-form way of saying that our constitutional rights are being taken away. A slippery slope to ban them altogether; as the bubble zones also include places like City Hall and Queen’s Park. If we were protesting in a 100 metre radius from these dubbed “vulnerable institutions,” we would be fined up to 10 thousand dollars.

So what was our answer to this anti-protest bylaw? Protest. Around 50 of us marched across Nathan Phillips Square to City Hall along with The Labour Council and the Charter Coalition. Andria Babbington spoke passionately on the clear Charter breaches of this bylaw, and our members voiced how this would impact our organizing efforts. Through our stealth mission into City Hall, we managed to blitz all the City Councillors and the Mayor, where some staffers came out to receive our letter contesting the anti-protest bylaw!