Ottawa councillors give city staff nine months to craft 'bubble bylaw'

Ottawa Citizen

16-05-2025

City of Ottawa staff will have nine months to craft a draft 'bubble bylaw' aimed at protecting vulnerable 'social infrastructure' while respecting the right to protest,
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On Thursday and Friday, councillors faced a roster of 42 speakers who had signed up to speak to a motion from Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill to develop a bylaw that would prohibit 'specified nuisance demonstrations' within a defined distance of vulnerable social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities and places of worship.
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The proposed bylaw comes in the wake of anti-trans protests and counter-protests on Broadview Avenue, where there are two high schools and an elementary school, and an anti-Israel protest outside the Jewish Community Centre, which is near the Hillel Lodge long-term care facility,
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Among the most contentious issues was the definition of what would define a 'nuisance demonstration,' and there were concerns that a bylaw would give police and bylaw officials blanket authority to suppress dissent. There were also concerns over a proposal for a 100-metre bubble, which would result in many neighbourhoods, especially those downtown, being covered by dozens of overlapping bubbles with no room to protest.
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Katy de Souza, a Broadview Public School parent, said she had attended counter-protests on Broadview Avenue.
'I can say from the display of solidarity I witnessed and got to be part of, the community is more than capable of handling something like this without having to resort to this kind of blanket ban on protests,' she told councillors.
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Hillel Lodge CEO Ted Cohen said disruptions, especially those with load noises and visual chaos, could trigger confusion, agitation and even medical episodes among vulnerable LTC residents.
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'Protesters arrived with signage, flags, banners, bullhorns, loudspeakers and drums,' Cohen said of the anti-Israel protest last September. 'The protest was loud, forceful and unrelenting.'
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Hill said the goal of the motion was to be narrow and 'surgical,' minimizing the impact on protesters while maximizing protection for vulnerable people.
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For example, Knox Presbyterian Church is very near Ottawa's city hall, but that would not preclude a protest at city hall, he said.
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'If you choose to protest city hall, the fact that Knox Presbyterian is next door and that there's a daycare in this building will not deny anybody the ability to assemble and speak out at city hall. Common sense prevails,' Hill said.
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'We're asking staff to consider time-limited protective zones so that, if a school is closed for a weekend or a place of worship is outside its hours of operation, we're not placing protections on empty buildings,' he said.