Towards the end of the Summer, we saw two major victories in the effort to defend pro-life freedom of expression.
First, the City of London voted down a multi-year effort to place restrictions on fetal imagery on the streets — a major victory to stop the spread of bylaws that restrict freedom of expression.
Second, the City of St. Catharines voted to repeal their flyer bylaw on fetal imagery — a major step to undo restrictions that have already been passed.
The battle is far from over, but these and several other wins this Spring and Summer show that freedom of expression can win out in the long run, if we make our voices heard.
The City of London
In 2020, four Councillors put forth a motion to place restrictions on fetal imagery in flyers delivered to homes. This eventually led to a flyer bylaw in 2022, which was adopted by several other municipalities (including the City of St. Catharines). London City Council showed no real concern for the Charter right for freedom of expression in this process, and pushed ahead with the bylaw regardless of the risk of a legal challenge.
Since the passage of the flyer bylaw, London was exploring even more restrictions on fetal imagery, this time all across the city through the use (or abuse) of its streets bylaw. No other municipality has done this before. The first draft, in February 2024, would have astonishingly redefined the display of any images of fetuses, whether ultrasound photos or abortion victim photography, as obstruction of sidewalks, causing a public nuisance, and interfering with public travel. However, with the litigation in St. Catharines, and long in-camera sessions with the City’s lawyers, the committee asked for a new draft bylaw that would withstand a Charter challenge — as the first draft was outrageous.
City staff came back with a new proposed bylaw that was content-neutral, and would have required all advocacy signs in the City of London be limited to 7.5 sq ft and not be held within 3m of a street corner. Faced with the reality that there is no Charter-compliant way to restrict only pro-life speech, London City Council finally realized they could not do what they had set out to do, and in July, voted the motion down 5-10. This effort to restrict fetal imagery on the streets is now dead in London!
Councillor Lewis, who had been one of the main supporters of the flyer bylaw, even said during that Council meeting: “I’m not prepared to go any further with this. I think there are a number of serious, serious legal considerations at play. […] Based on where we are today, I feel like we’re at the limit of our authority as a municipality.”
This shows that speaking up can make a difference. Several Councillors, including some ardent abortion advocates and some who are perhaps neutral, changed their votes as they realized that the Charter protects this kind of freedom of expression, and that there was no legal way to target pro-life speech for special restrictions.
The City of St. Catharines
Meanwhile, the City of St. Catharines had adopted the same flyer bylaw as London restricting the use of fetal imagery. In February, the Association of Reformed Political Action launched a legal challenge against this bylaw. The matter was scheduled for hearings in court this Fall, but in August, the St. Catharines City Council saw the writing on the wall, and after an in-camera session with their lawyer, voted to repeal the bylaw. They knew it wouldn’t survive a legal challenge in court.
The bylaw they felt they could not defend is the same bylaw that many other municipalities have passed. This shows that it is possible to undo these bylaws, and that the days are numbered for other similar bylaws that remain in other municipalities.
Reports from Other Municipalities
The battle is not over. The City of St. Catharines repealed their flyer bylaw, but voted to draft a new one that would exclude ultrasound photos from their definition of “graphic images.” The problem for them is that other cities have explored this and realized it’s not straightforward at all to come up with a definition, and the question of content-based discrimination still looms for any Charter challenge.
For example, the City of Toronto report recommended against passing any bylaws and explored this very question:
“Assessing what constitutes a “graphic” or “disturbing” image on a flyer or on a temporary sign such that it would be subject to enforcement action would be challenging and would vary based on the person viewing the image. As such, staff do not feel it is feasible to recommend by-law changes at this time.”
The Town of Oakville and the Region of Niagara also put forth similar reports, raising serious concerns about the Charter and advising to wait for the outcome of litigation in St. Catharines. Well, we know the outcome now – the City of St. Catharines knew they were going and repealed the bylaw rather than defending it in court.
Other municipalities still have these flyer bylaws though, and other municipalities are still considering them. We’re waiting for a report from the City of Hamilton, and a municipality in British Columbia has started exploring a flyer bylaw. The battle is not over, but with these big wins through the Spring and Summer, we can see that freedom of expression can win out.
Our job now is to share these outcomes with other cities, before they make the same mistakes. We need to continue to speak up, so that we can defend our voice and our right to speak out on behalf of pre-born children. Freedom expression will win out in the end!
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