Ontario LGBTQ 'safety zones' bill misconstrued online

This article is more than one year old.
Published on April 13, 2023 at 23:29
4 min read
By Gwen Roley, AFP Canada

A video of lawmakers and drag artists discussing the need for new safety zone legislation is circulating in posts claiming Canada has outlawed protests or criticism against the LGBTQ community. This is false; the press conference announced a bill that, if passed, would only apply in Ontario to events or establishments under threat from harassment and intimidation.

"CANADA JUST MADE IT ILLEGAL TO PROTEST AGAINST THE LGBT!" says an April 5, 2023 tweet.

The post includes a video of an April 4 press conference where Kristyn Wong-Tam, a member of Ontario's provincial parliament, is speaking behind a podium with a pride flag.

Screenshot taken April 13, 2023 of one of the tweets with false information about Bill 94.

Similar posts spread on Instagram and Facebook with claims that the policy is already law and applies to all of Canada. The claims circulated outside of Canada and in multiple languages, including a tweet in French saying the legislation introduced large fines for criticism of the LGBTQ community.

The posts come amid a rise in hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation in Canada.

The legislation discussed in the video is Bill 94, which was introduced in Ontario's Legislative Assembly on April 4.

If passed, the policy would create an advisory committee on LGBTQ issues. It would also empower the Ontario attorney general to designate a temporary, 100-meter zone around LGBTQ events or establishments to prohibit protests when law enforcement confirms the presence of a threat.

"If they think that there is something that is going to take place that could be harmful to the person or the persons being targeted, then the attorney general will have the authority to create a temporary community safety zone, or what you call a bubble, around that establishment for a specified period of time," Kristyn Wong-Tam, one of the bill's sponsors, told AFP.

But the bill does not aim to create a blanket ban on protests.

"Nothing in this Act prevents peaceful protests or demonstrations," the draft says.

No fine for misgendering

Another tweet sharing the video says: "New bill in Canada would prosecute anyone that misgendered, criticised or protested against Transgenderism."

Screenshot of a tweet taken April 13, 2023.

Wong-Tam's party, the New Democratic Party of Ontario, which holds a minority of seats in the Legislative Assembly, told AFP in a statement that the proposed legislation would not fine people for misgendering others.

"I certainly took notice that people either didn't read the bill, or they didn't care about sharing the truth about the actual nuance and the function of the bill," Wong-Tam said.

'Safety zones' vs freedom of expression

Some posts criticize the bill for restricting freedom of speech and the right to protest.

Wong-Tam said the proposal mimics other Canadian "bubble zone" laws that create distance between protesters and patients seeking access to medical care such as abortion and vaccination.

A 1996 case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia found one such bubble around an abortion clinic did infringe on freedom of expression. But the court also held that it was justified under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms due to a person's right to access health care "without loss to privacy and dignity."

Wong-Tam said Bill 94 aims to similarly protect the LGBTQ community.

"Nobody should be intimidating, using threats or even inflicting bodily harm and violence upon any other person," they said.

However, some experts have reservations about the proposal.

"We have serious issues of homophobia and transphobia in Canada, but Ontario's Bill 94 will likely do more harm than good," said James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, citing the bill's contradictory language.

Turk questioned how the legislation supports peaceful protest while also prohibiting "engaging in a protest or demonstration for the purpose of furthering the objectives of homophobia and transphobia." He also said some of the actions the bill aims to prohibit -- including "uttering threats or making offensive remarks, either verbally or in writing, with respect to matters of social orientation or gender roles" -- are already criminal offences in Canada.

Bill 94 has received a first reading but will need to complete a second and third reading, as well as royal assent, prior to becoming law.

More of AFP's reporting on misinformation about the LGBTQ community can be found here.

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