Important news today — the Association of Reformed Political Action has launched a legal challenge in Ontario Superior Court against the St. Catharine’s by-law that targets pro-life flyers.
ARPA Canada argues in its application to Ontario Superior Court that this forced expression is a well-recognized violation of the Charter right to freedom of expression. They also argue that a municipality does not even have the constitutional authority to “[regulate] the distribution of literature based on the City’s judgment of what specific content, point of view, or subject matter is objectionable or offensive.”
ARPA claims that “the bylaw’s true nature and purpose is to suppress pro-life or anti-abortion content,” arguing that it applies to any image of a fetus, whether graphic or not, yet doesn’t apply to any other graphic or gory images.
“Despite the bylaw’s obvious limitations on freedom of expression, City Council took only ten minutes on September 25 to introduce, discuss, and adopt the bylaw,” Sikkema says. “The City Council did, however, hold an in-camera session with the City’s lawyer before that. It may be that City Council received advice regarding the obvious constitutional problems with the bylaw, but adopted it anyway.”
ARPA is asking the court to strike down the bylaw as unconstitutional, as a violation of the Charter right to freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of expression, and as outside of the authority of a municipal government. If the court agrees, a ruling would likely impact similar bylaws in London, Woodstock, Calgary, and other municipalities.
If a court strikes down the St. Catharine’s by-law, this would affect similar by-laws in other cities across Canada too.
Abortion advocates have claimed that these restrictions on pro-life freedom of expression do not violate the Charter, but none of these by-laws have survived a challenge in the courts.
Make sure city councillors considering these by-laws know about this legal challenge!
Learn how you can send an email or meet with your councillor.