The Regional Municipality of Waterloo will be voting on a bylaw amendment which would categorize making people “feel harassed” on gender identity or other grounds as “prohibited activities” on any regional properties in the wake of nationwide parental rights protests.
A report submitted to the region’s Community and Health Services Committee purports to “address harassment based on race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation” that occurs on property owned by the region like community centres, swimming pools or other facilities.
If approved, the amendment would add “communicating, causing or permitting communication, with any person in a way that causes the person, reasonably in all the circumstances, to feel harassed” as a “prohibited activity.” Communication includes written, verbal, visual and other forms.
The report defines “being harassed” as “feeling tormented, troubled, worried, plagued or badgered.”
Additionally, it includes anybody “experiencing objectionable or unwelcome conduct, comment, bullying, or actions that could reasonably cause offence or humiliation.”
This comes about a week after parents from across the country gathered to protest gender ideology in schools and call for parental consent for children who want to use different pronouns while at school.
Hundreds of parents attended a One Million March for Children rally at Kitchener city hall last week. Additionally protests were also held in Guelph and Waterloo. All three cities are affected by Waterloo regional policies.
The report also cites how two municipalities in Canada have already introduced bylaws that limit the ability to protest controversial issues on public properties.
“To date, two Canadian municipalities, London and Edmonton, have recently supported the use of the municipal bylaw making authority to create laws that are responsive to expressions of hate or racism on public lands,” the report reads.
“In the instance of Edmonton, this initiative involved the amendment of its public places bylaw to include harassment based on race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation and other identifiers as behaviors resulting in a fine of $250.”
If adopted, those who break the bylaw will be issued an offence notice or be asked to leave public properties.
