On Tuesday, February 17, Winnipeg City Council’s Executive Policy Committee will be voting on a proposed by-law that would create 100-metre buffer zones prohibiting protests around schools, hospitals, community centres and places of worship. This proposed by-law, titled the Safe Access to Vulnerable Infrastructure By-Law, would ban what it calls “nuisance demonstrations” near a broad list of facilities with fines that would start at $500 for a first offence and escalate to $5,000 for repeat violations.

Bike Winnipeg is strongly opposed to this proposed by-law. While we fully support ensuring safety and access to public services, this by-law significantly overreaches and threatens rights guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the fundamental freedom of peaceful assembly (s.2(c)) and freedom of expression (s.2(b)). These freedoms cannot be restricted without clear, necessary, and proportionate justification—standards this by-law does not meet.

As currently drafted, this by-law could have a significant impact on Bike Winnipeg activities, especially our group rides. The draft by-law states that “nuisance demonstrations include, but are not limited to: harassing or intimidating another person(s), obstructing the passage of pedestrians or motor vehicles thereby rendering passage impassable or difficult, using amplifiers or microphones, or the use of offensive and/or hateful statements”. When we ride as a group, could law enforcement officers consider our slow riding speed or intersection corking as rendering difficult passage of motor vehicles? Could our use of megaphones when providing our pre-ride safety briefing be considered a “nuisance demonstration”? 

According to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the right to protest is not simply permitted in a democracy—it is essential. Peaceful protest is a primary way in which residents can express dissent, hold governments accountable, and influence public policy. Broad 100‑metre exclusion zones around an extensive list of facilities—including schools, community centres, and places of worship—would effectively prohibit legitimate, peaceful demonstrations across large portions of the city.

The City’s own administrative report confirms this by-law would create wide “no‑protest zones” around nearly every major civic institution in Winnipeg. Such sweeping restrictions go well beyond addressing harassment or obstruction (which existing laws already cover) and instead create generalized bans that would chill democratic participation.

We implore the Executive Policy Committee to reconsider the unintended consequences of this by-law and determine whether there are better mechanisms to address the problems they’re trying to solve. 
– The Board of Directors, Bike Winnipeg