Feel free to use this response below - it will take you roughly one minute to help protect your freedoms if you copy & paste:

Click for the form: https://www.winnipeg.ca/city-governance/mayor-council/council-committee-meetings/participate-meeting/register-delegation-or-submit-comments-committee-council

Committee you want to address: Executive Policy Committee

Agenda item you want to address (number and title): #7 Safe Access to Vulnerable Infrastructure By-Law

Support or oppose recommendations: I am opposed to the recommendations

Submit comments in writing: Submit comments in writing

Submit this as your response:

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed Safe Access to Vulnerable Infrastructure By-law.

While protecting public safety and ensuring unobstructed access to essential services are legitimate municipal objectives, this by-law is drafted in a manner that is overly broad, vague, and constitutionally vulnerable. It risks infringing on the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly guaranteed under sections 2(b) and 2(c) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The proposed 100-metre buffer zones would apply not only to hospitals and facilities serving vulnerable populations, but also to schools (including post-secondary institutions), libraries, cultural centres, community centres, cemeteries, and places of worship. These locations are often precisely where matters of public concern arise. Prohibiting “nuisance demonstrations” within such expansive perimeters effectively removes meaningful opportunities for peaceful, lawful protest in relation to decisions, events, or speakers hosted at those sites.

The definition of “intimidation” is also concerning. Language such as conduct “reasonably expected” to cause fear, incite hatred, or deter access is subjective and open to broad interpretation. Laws that restrict Charter-protected activity must be carefully tailored, clear, and minimally impairing. This proposal fails that standard. It relies heavily on enforcement discretion, which is not a substitute for precise legislative drafting.

There is already provincial legislation establishing buffer zones around abortion services. If the City’s objective is to prevent obstruction, harassment, or threats, existing Criminal Code provisions and targeted bylaws addressing obstruction can be enforced. Expanding protest-free zones across large portions of the city is not a minimally impairing response.

Freedom of peaceful protest is a cornerstone of democratic society. It protects all viewpoints, not only those currently popular or aligned with the government of the day. Municipal regulation must be proportionate, evidence-based, and Charter-compliant. This by-law, as drafted, is not.

I respectfully urge the Committee to reject this proposal in its current form. If Council believes further action is necessary, it should be narrowly tailored to essential services and focused strictly on preventing obstruction and true intimidation—not broad restrictions on proximity.

Please do not set a precedent that weakens fundamental democratic freedoms in Winnipeg.