John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), posted the following recently on Facebook: 

These kinds of anti-democratic measures must be opposed and, if necessary, defied.

From rabble. 

Scared of progress, two Toronto City Councillors seek to restrict our charter rights

by Andria BabbingtonMay 22, 2024

 

Andria Babbington, President of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council is calling on Toronto City Council to reject a motion that would put restrictions on public demonstrations.

Toronto City Councillor Brad Bradford is the one who put forward the motion proposing restrictions on public demonstrations. Credit: City of Toronto Credit: City of Toronto

This week two Toronto City Councillors will present a motion that poses serious threats to workers’ rights and our  democracy. The motion, which would significantly restrict our charter-protected rights to freedom of expression and  freedom of assembly, attempts to control where and how working people can use our voices, aims to quell collective  action and essentially wishes to silence us. 

Politicians have lots of opportunities to communicate with the public. They don’t just sit in their offices; they go to the  streets by knocking on doors. We go to the streets by rallying and protesting to communicate publicly about the realities of  our workplaces and our communities. Sometimes it’s the only place we can. Why must only our actions be conducted at  the convenience of those who hold power? Why should we no longer be allowed to challenge the status quo? 

For over a century and half, workers in Toronto have fought back against injustice, challenged anti-black racism and  transphobia, and defended human rights to ensure a decent life for us and our grandchildren. As a hotel worker, and as President of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council, I have stood shoulder to shoulder with workers and community  members across this region in these struggles. 

Last year working people in Canada said “enough is enough” more than any other year since 1986. Through strikes and  job actions, we stood up against bosses across the country and fought hard in workplaces, on picket lines, and in the  streets to raise wages and working standards across the country. Overwhelmingly, we have seen the politics of hate and  division replaced with movements for peace, dignity, and justice for all. 

While these and other demonstrations across the country have overwhelmingly remained peaceful, members of councils  in Toronto and in York Region have highlighted the infrequent disturbances during the protests, along with a rise in hate  crimes, particularly Islamophobic and antisemitic hate crimes, as motivation for their by-laws and motions. We must  continue to speak against hate and intolerance, but we cannot allow our fight against hate to turn us against one another  and wind back the clock on progress. 

Beyond that, what these motions seek to outlaw – hate speech, violence and intimidation – is already illegal. In reality, it is  because the protests, pickets, and strikes in the city have been peaceful and lawful that these Councillors, who are  frustrated by these events, seek to expand the powers of the police to reign them in. 

What angers me even more is that Councillors moving these motions have openly talked about their desire to restrict the  ability of unions to engage in protests, one even objecting to a rally held by hospital workers fighting for a new contract  after years of sacrifice. We called workers heroes during the pandemic and now some seek to deny them their right to  fight for a decent life. 

These kinds of restrictions are not new in Toronto. In 2010, during the G20 Summit, thousands of Torontonians were  wrongfully held in officially-created protest zones in an attempt to squash our right to free expression and free assembly.  Members of my own union were arrested at the same time while they picketed their hotel employer downtown – all in the  name of “safeguarding the city.” More than a decade later protestors and my union co-workers won justice in the courts  over their mistreatment. We cannot make the same mistake again. 

These rights have been hard fought and hard won by generations who came before us during their struggle to build a  better society for us all. Some Councillors treat rights like trinkets which can be given and taken freely – like children  trading cards at school during recess. The Toronto & York Region Labour Council, which represents over 200,000  working people and 150 union affiliates urges Toronto City Council to reconsider motions like these today and in the  future