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Hamilton Spectator
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Whitehorse civility policy updates floated after legal action
The city is planning on changing its civility policy — and it could result in a lawsuit against it being dropped. The policy, introduced last summer by the previous council, has been a controversial one: it attracted multiple delegates when it was first proposed. It passed with four votes in favour and two against. Then, after threatening legal action, the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a charity group, filed a court challenge against the policy on the grounds it violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The original policy set rules regarding the conduct of people entering city hall chambers while council meets. Among other things, the policy banned micro-aggressions, signs, physical attacks, threatening behaviour, and verbal abuse, including threats. The original policy also bans participants from wearing clothing that has imagery or language which is discriminatory, offensive, detrimental, profane, racial, sexist, violent or vulgar. At the May 20 standing committee of city council, corporate services director Valerie Braga introduced a new version of the civility policy with changes at least partially motivated by the legal challenge initiated late last year. The policy overhaul completely axes the section about micro-aggressions and allows certain signs based on sign size and content. It includes a definition of hate speech and changes the parameters of what type of clothing is permitted inside city council chambers. The petition filed with the Yukon Supreme Court by the Canadian Constitution Foundation in November alleged the civility policy is contrary to section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. It also includes freedom of the press and other media of communication. The lawyer representing the Canadian Constitution Foundation in this lawsuit, Vincent Larochelle, told the News that his client would be backing down from the lawsuit should the updates to the policy be adopted. 'They consider the amendments to address the vast majority, the essence of what their lawsuit was,' Larochelle said. 'My client's issue was with how vague and wide-ranging and subjective that previous policy was. It covered all sorts of language or expression, from attire, signs, language and even just offensive stuff, but the fact that you're offended by what someone is saying doesn't make it necessarily hate speech.' He said his client said the original policy was 'flagrantly unconstitutional.' One of the things highlighted in the petition, as noted by Larochelle, was that the policy was brought forth in the wake of people voicing support for the people of Gaza within city chambers. The Middle Eastern enclave has been under Israeli bombardment since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre in 2023. A United Nations report tallying cumulative deaths as of May 14, 2025, said 1,200 people were killed in that massacre. The same United Nations report said nearly 53,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023. Last summer, delegates in Whitehorse packed the public gallery to speak on a motion to publicly support calls for a ceasefire. At May 20's standing committee meeting, Braga told councillors about the history of the policy when presenting the changes. 'When the policy was originally brought forward, we had gone through a period of time where we had a few contentious meetings. Topics were heated. People took positions on one side or the other. There was a gap in extremes, for lack of a better term,' she said. 'And what we wanted to do was to ensure that all participants felt safe coming into chambers, felt able to speak their piece, that council also felt that they were respected through the process, and were able to give respect back to participants. It was very important to the council of the day that people feel safe within this room. That was the main intent of the policy.' The new policy focuses on hate speech, Larochelle said, and there are recognized limits to that form of expression. The Canadian Constitution Foundation does not take issue with that type of targeted policy. 'We need to be able to have rigorous debates in our society, and the civility policy as amended, if it's accepted, would presumably allow that to happen in the context of city council meetings,' said Larochelle. 'What the lawsuit was getting at was that vagueness, the micro-aggression, the sign ban, the attire ban, and all that's essentially gone.' The majority of the current council was elected in October, after the civility policy was installed by the previous council. Only Coun. Dan Boyd and Mayor Kirk Cameron are holdovers from the previous council: they both voted in favour of adopting the policy when it was presented last year. Coun. Lenore Morris, who is also a lawyer, said it is incumbent on city council to not infringe on political speech anymore than necessary. 'I think everybody who's on city council really wants to encourage engagement and polite, courteous, lively discourse with the public, and I think that the changes that we are making to the policy, or that we are proposing to make to the policy, will permit that,' she said. Coun. Jenny Hamilton also said that she was upset as a citizen when the policy was installed last year, and that she supports the changes. Larochelle said his client still has some minor concerns regarding the policy — specifically on some remaining vagueness within the policy and the limits on signs — but they do not believe the updated policy would warrant a lawsuit. He said the Canadian Constitution Foundation considers the amendments a victory. 'The lawsuit seems to have triggered a pretty significant overhaul of the policy. So even better, if we can affect change without having to go to court.'
Hamilton Spectator
09-05-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Cost of new buses needs double take, per Whitehorse city staff
Prices are increasing for the City of Whitehorse transit fleet expansion On May 5's standing committee meeting, councillors heard that the city's budget will need to be changed to adjust for a nearly $500,000 price increase on an order for five buses. Originally the budget item was marked down as costing $4,109,924, funded with the federal government's Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program's public transit stream. That initial cost estimate was made in 2024. However, prices have increased beyond what was expected and those five buses now cost $495,000 more. Aside from the now confirmed cost of the buses being higher, the additional $495,000 includes a contingency of 3.5 per cent to buffer against any impacts from tariffs or supply chain issues. The $495,000 would come from the Transit Equipment Reserve, a pot of money that can only be used for public transit purposes. That fund clocked in at $4.7 million as December 31, 2023. More recent numbers won't be available until information for the 2024 fiscal year has been finalized, which will happen in the coming months, as per a city spokesperson. Valerie Braga, the city's director of corporate services, told councillors the fund hasn't been used much in the past because there have previously been easy ways of finding funding for public transit. However, moving forward, it looks like finding that funding will be more difficult, she said. The city's contract for the buses is with Quebec-based Nova Bus, said Richard Graham, the city's manager for fleet and transportation. That said, the company has assembly plans on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. 'We are fairly confident in the pricing, and we are hopeful that we wouldn't need the 3.5 per cent. The wild card is just what may happen globally in terms of additional costs,' said Graham. 'In terms of the costs from Nova Bus as long as we award within the time limits on the pricing, then that price would be fixed for the delivery.' Two of the buses being ordered are set to replace two buses within the city's fleet. Both of the buses due for replacement are from 2008, with over 1 million kilometres on them each. The remaining three buses on the order would be additional buses to bolster the city's fleet. The transfer payment agreement for the new buses is in the final stages but not yet quite solidified — however, Graham said that it would not be long before the agreements are signed. The buses are currently on appendix B of the budget, which means they're not purchased until there is confirmation of external funding — in this case, the money from the federal government. 'So no purchase order or anything can be written until such point as we get the TPA. But once we do, it moves into Appendix A, and the buses can then be ordered,' said Braga. The buses are currently scheduled to be delivered to the city sometime in 2026 or 2027.
