\t\t\t\t\t The City of Montreal adopted a bylaw<\/a> on Sept. 21 to ban people from insulting police officers and other municipal workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under the bylaw, which took effect on Oct. 1, people who insult city staff could face fines between $350 and $1,000 for a first offence. Subsequent offences can lead to fines of up to $2,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bylaw has led to an outcry<\/a> from both academics and Montreal residents. Two legal groups, the Clinique juridique de Saint-Michel (CJSM<\/a>) and the Association des juristes progressistes (AJP<\/a>), filed lawsuits to suspend the bylaw.<\/p>\n Fernando Belton, the CJSM executive director and a lawyer, said the bylaw gives authorities too much power to dictate what justifies offensive conduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBeing offended by someone’s words should not be enough to justify a fine,” Belton said. “Freedom of expression also protects criticism that makes people uncomfortable.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The bylaw follows a similar rule implemented in Quebec City, which has led to more than 11,000 fines<\/a> since April 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n It does not specifically define what constitutes an insult towards a city official. It only states that people are not allowed to intimidate, harass, menace or insult officials while they are acting in their position.\u00a0<\/p>\n B\u00e9atrice Allard, AJP board member and lawyer, said the lawsuit is necessary for Montrealers to retain their rights as citizens. She said police should not have the power to decide which criticism is or is not acceptable.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are concerned that it could be used against people speaking out about racial profiling or police conduct, including during protests,\u201d Allard said. \u201cWe could wait for several months before hearing on the constitutionality of the bylaw; in the meantime, many Montrealers could have their rights infringed irreversibly.\u201d<\/p>\n Montreal residents worry this bylaw will only add to the numerous powers<\/a> already held by the Service de police de la Ville de Montr\u00e9al (SPVM).\u00a0<\/p>\n Ki\u2019ra Prentice has attended protests where the SPVM were present and said<\/a>\u00a0the SPVM attacked her while she was leaving a protest in 2024. She is currently pursuing legal action against the City of Montreal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prentice believes the bylaw does not change anything because of the extensive powers the police already use against people.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople I know have been regularly ticketed under a noise bylaw because the point is not so much to stick someone with a fine, [but] in that moment detain, arrest and humiliate someone,\u201d Prentice said.<\/p>\n She also believes this decision will discourage certain protesters from voicing their concerns when they see police officers behaving violently.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[The bylaw] makes people think, \u2018This is one extra risk that maybe I feel like I\u2019m taking on voicing my discontent because if [the police] see it as a quote unquote insult, then here I am risking my own criminalization, even as I wanted to stand up against the criminalization of someone else,\u2019\u201d Prentice said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Academics who specialize in ending police violence are also concerned about the bylaw\u2019s expansion of police powers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\u201cBeing offended by someone\u2019s words should not be enough to justify a fine. Freedom of expression also protects criticism that makes people uncomfortable.\u201d <\/p>\n \t\t\t\u2014 Fernando Belton, CJSM executive director and lawyer<\/p>\n Concordia University associate professor Ted Rutland believes the police already have adequate powers to deal with harassment and threatening behaviour, including charging people with obstruction of justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIntimidation, threats and violence are already crimes under the code. The police have a law they use in these situations, which in English is obstruction of justice, which they can use if someone impairs their ability to do their job,\u201d Rutland said. \u201cThe police use that abusively all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n According to lawyer Julius Grey, the main issue with the bylaw is that it restricts section 2(b)<\/a> of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which grants Canadians the right to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, as well as freedom of the press.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFreedom of expression is not only for polite and balanced views. […] In the case of police officers and municipal employees, it would be a real reduction of freedom of expression to say insulting them is never permitted. Free expression is precisely there to preserve the right to be outrageous,\u201d Grey said.<\/p>\n Additionally, the SVPM has been under recent scrutiny due to allegations of racial discrimination<\/a>, police violence<\/a> and surveillance<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Ensemble Montr\u00e9al has dismissed criticisms of their bylaw. The Canadian Press reported<\/a>\u00a0that Mayor Soraya Martinez-Ferrada said: \u201cJust giving the middle finger to a police officer would not justify a fine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Link asked the SPVM for comment, and it referred the request to the City of Montreal.<\/p>\n The City of Montreal told The Link it would not comment given the matter is currently before the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fraternit\u00e9 des policiers et polici\u00e8res de Montr\u00e9al, which represents the SPVM, said it welcomes the bylaw’s adoption in a press release on Sept. 21.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hearing on the suspension of the bylaw is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 8. Grey believes the lawsuit has significant credibility and a strong likelihood of succeeding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tA new Montreal bylaw bans the insult of police under threat of fines. Graphic Gabriel Brothers<\/p>\n
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