{"id":482124,"date":"2026-02-18T03:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482124\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T03:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:29:08","slug":"winnipeggers-rally-at-city-hall-after-councillor-walks-back-protest-bylaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482124\/","title":{"rendered":"Winnipeggers rally at city hall after councillor walks back protest bylaw"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 100 people gathered outside city hall on Tuesday morning to oppose a proposed protest bylaw that critics say would have limited fundamental freedoms in\u00a0Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

The demonstration followed councillor\u00a0Evan Duncan\u2019s decision to walk back the proposal after widespread backlash.<\/p>\n

\"\"Winnipeggers rally at city hall in Winnipeg to protest after protest bylaw on Feb. 17, 2026. ( Koby Mitchell, CityNews)<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the people who came to city hall today in Winnipeg where concerned and expressing their disgust actually with the motion put forward by councillor Duncan to regulate and limit public demonstrations, the right to assemble, the right to freedom of expression and free speech,\u201d said Marianne Cerilli, speaking out against the proposed bylaw.<\/p>\n

The proposed rules would have created 100-metre buffer zones banning protests around schools, hospitals, community centres and places of worship. First-time offenders could have faced a $500 fine, escalating to $5,000 for repeat violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a situation where our charter rights are under attack with the language that has been proposed. It is not careful. And anyone who is telling you that it has been carefully tailored or that is only doing a specific job isn\u2019t telling the truth about what\u2019s in the by law and its important that Winnipeggers know that and we resist this kinds of efforts to restrict our charter rights,\u201d said Andrew Kohan, speaking out against the proposed bylaw.<\/p>\n

\"\"Winnipeggers rally at city hall in Winnipeg to protest after protest bylaw on Feb. 17, 2026. ( Koby Mitchell, CityNews) <\/p>\n

\u201cThis proposal was ill conceived, legally dubious, I think it was suspiciously timed, but I\u2019m glad that it appears councillor Duncan has heard the overwhelming majority of Winnipeggers and walked this terrible idea back,\u201d said Cam Scott, speaking out against the proposed bylaw.<\/p>\n

Addressing the criticism, Duncan acknowledged the proposal may have gone too far.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have several factors of this bill that potentially has to be revisited. As we heard from several groups today, too broad. That\u2019s a great point that the communities making here. That\u2019s my bad for not doing the extensive community consultation that\u2019s needed in this case. But I\u2019m still supportive of safe spaces within the city of Winnipeg,\u201d said Evan Duncan, councillor for Charleswood \u2013 Tuxedo \u2013 Westwood.<\/p>\n

Mayor\u00a0Scott Gillingham\u00a0also weighed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support councillor Duncans decision to receive the information. For a couple reasons. One, because the public feedback has said this is not specific enough, it\u2019s too broad. And also, the federal government right now is looking at Bill C9 which would cover many of the similar topics that were raised in the bylaw,\u201d said Gillingham.<\/p>\n

During the council meeting, more than 100 delegations spoke against the proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to speak as somebody who\u2019s attended hundreds of protests and who often is there with a safety mindset. One of the things that they say this bylaw would have improved is safety. And I wanted to speak to the fact actually when community builds safety together, it\u2019s always safer for the people. And for the people against us,\u201d said Erica McNabb, speaking out against the proposed bylaw.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinnipeg is a city of passionate concerned people. Who will gather and demand justice. I think so many of the protections that workers enjoy today. The history of Manitoba is one of resistance,\u201d said Scott.<\/p>\n

The bylaw has since been shelved as the city waits to see how federal Bill C-9 develops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 100 people gathered outside city hall on Tuesday morning to oppose a proposed protest bylaw that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-482124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}