Toronto non-profits, legal clinics oppose city’s new protest bylaw

Author Sharlene Gandhi

Toronto City Council has passed a bylaw that could limit protests and demonstrations outside and within 50 metres of “vulnerable social infrastructure,” such as places of worship, schools, and childcare centres. 

Sixty-seven community groups sent a joint letter to Mayor Olivia Chow, encouraging City Council members to consider this bylaw’s impact on local non-profits. According to this group, the bylaw amendment restricts Charter rights to protest and peaceful assembly. 

In another joint letter sent by several of Toronto’s legal clinics and organizations, they suggest the “stated impetus for this law has been the ongoing Palestinian solidarity demonstrations that have filled Toronto’s streets since October 2023.”

The letter adds that it is likely the most marginalized groups – the racialized, Indigenous, newcomers and unhoused people – that will bear the brunt of this bylaw disproportionately. 

According to Social Planning Toronto, more than 42,000 people contributed to the City’s public consultation process, and 60 per cent were unsupportive of this measure. 

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  • Sharlene Gandhi is the Future of Good editorial fellow on digital transformation.

    Sharlene has been reporting on responsible business, environmental sustainability and technology in the UK and Canada since 2018. She has worked with various organizations during this time, including the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University, AIGA Eye on Design, Social Enterprise UK and Nature is a Human Right. Sharlene moved to Toronto in early 2023 to join the Future of Good team, where she has been reporting at the intersections of technology, data and social purpose work. Her reporting has spanned several subject areas, including AI policy, cybersecurity, ethical data collection, and technology partnerships between the private, public and third sectors.

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