The public nuisance bylaw that goes to city council for approval Monday has drawn a lot of attention since it was introduced last September, including a great deal of criticism that it infringes on the right to protest and other civil liberties. The Guelph Civic League and the Council of Canadians told a council committee Tuesday that they still have grave concerns about the bylaw, despite the removal of some sections that were seen as an affront to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
So how long did the four committee members spend Tuesday addressing these remaining civil liberties concerns? The answer is: no time at all.
The only committee member to state clearly where he stood on the bylaw, Coun. Ian Findlay, didn’t specifically mention the civil rights concerns. Nor did any other member talk about this. But they all voted for the bylaw.
There’s a lot to be said for a bylaw that gives police and city bylaw enforcement officers more power to crack down on disruptive student parties in residential neighbourhoods. And there’s a lot to be said for a bylaw that makes it easier for them to control the downtown nightlife scene more efficiently – for example, by handing out $500 tickets for fighting on city land.
However, there’s a lot to be said against a bylaw that appears to use these potentially popular measures as cover for controversial sections restricting people’s civil rights. As the Guelph Civic League points out, restrictions on tents, temporary structures, and blockage of sidewalks and pathways that remain in the bylaw all could be associated with the Occupy Guelph protest in the fall of 2011 and the Hanlon Creek Business Park protest in the summer of 2009.
Those two protests were certainly a major nuisance for city hall, but this new bylaw smacks of overreaction.
It appears council is poised to push the bylaw through, as is, without any further scrutiny. It will be a sad occasion.