Protesters can no longer gather within about 165 feet of “vulnerable” institutions, such as faith-based schools, houses of worship and community centers, in Toronto after the city council passed a “bubble zone” bylaw last week by a vote of 16 to 9.
The law will take effect on July 2, and it carries fines up to about $3,500.
“With this decision, the City of Toronto has taken a meaningful step toward protecting Torontonians,” stated Michelle Stock, vice president for Ontario at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA.
“There is broad support for safe access zones from diverse religious and ethnocultural leaders who recognize that freedom of expression does not include a right to intimidate, bully and harass communities,” she added.
Ariella Kimmel, the executive director of ABC Toronto, told JNS that her nonprofit supported the law and petitioned councilors to support it.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe in the city,” she said. “It’s been made to be about Israel and the Jews. It’s not just those who want free license to be able to target synagogues and Jewish daycare and Jewish day schools without a second thought,” she added, “but this affects any vulnerable community.”
Kimmel told JNS that prior to its amendments, the original proposed legislation had “burdensome” red tape and that for an institution to file for an approved buffer zone, it had to prove it was victimized previously.
On May 16, B’nai Brith Canada stated that “Toronto’s proposed ‘bubble legislation’ bylaw amendment is not about protection. It’s about performative politics. It’s a shameful and disingenuous subterfuge designed to look like action while doing nothing of substance.”
“Let’s be clear,” B’nai Brith stated. “This bylaw does not prevent harassment outside schools, childcare centers or places of worship. Instead, it demands that victims jump through hoops after the fact—filing paperwork, proving past abuse and somehow predicting future threats.”
“The message from City Hall is appalling,” it added. “‘You’re on your own, unless you can prove you’ve already been harmed and that it might happen again.’”
The legislation doesn’t bar the kinds of “hateful marches” that have occurred, according to Kimmel, who told JNS that the police haven’t been enforcing existing criminal code legislation against incitement, “including the glorification of terror.” (JNS sought comment from the Toronto Police Service.)
James Pasternak, a Jewish member of the city council, told JNS that he is “very pleased that we finally got these bylaws passed,” after more than a year of proposals.
“It’s good news for those who want to go about their lives in peace, security and without incitement, and those institutions that want to protect the people that want to enter and leave them,” he said.
Pasternak told JNS that the legislation is a major accomplishment, “because many Jewish institutions have been threatened over the last 18 months, and this is for every faith, every cultural group, every ethnicity if they feel they’re being threatened.”
He added that the council was careful to avoid any kind of ban on free speech.
A spokesperson for the Toronto advocacy group Lion of Judah, which has pushed for the legislation since March 2024, told JNS that it is up to the city’s mayor and police to ensure that the law “is matched by meaningful follow-through to protect Toronto’s Jewish and broader faith communities.”
‘It’s free speech’
Sam Goldstein, a Toronto criminal lawyer, told JNS that he disagrees with the new legislation.
“You cannot deny someone else’s speech without ultimately denying the right to your own free speech,” he said. “It’s free speech that is the Jewish community’s greatest weapon.”
The lawyer told JNS that many people say it’s not denying others’ free speech but is simply saying they must speak elsewhere.
“I understand people are afraid, but if people are afraid, then they should be asking the police to do their job,” he said.
Other municipalities have passed similar bylaws or are in the process of doing so, such as Ottawa, Mississauga and Hamilton.