[homeles_ot-l] And FREE SPEECH and dissent will have no place in Ottawa. Abuse of power is already the norm, for Ottawa --> Tonight FW: City to give itself powers to ticket people for being "unruly" in city streets - public meeting Thursday Apr. 22

Fri Apr 23 12:00:53 EDT 2010

And FREE SPEECH and dissent will have no place in Ottawa. 

Abuse of power is already the norm.

Rideau Street already is a weird show of police-based bullying.

Moreso, the real unruly-trouble-makers are those drafting these ignorant so-called laws.

What an ugly City.

Dissent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea (eg. a government's policies) or an entity (eg. an individual or ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissent - Cached - Similar

From: lbrowne at ysb.on.ca
To: homeles_ot-l at list.web.net
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:15:29 -0400
Subject: [homeles_ot-l] Tonight FW: City to give itself powers to ticket people for being "unruly" in city streets - public meeting Thursday Apr. 22

FYI . . . Lynne Browne
Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)
147 Besserer St., 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7
Cell 613-513-6647
Office 613-241-7913, ext. 205
www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca

From: Linda Lalonde [mailto:linda_lalonde_ottawa at yahoo.com] 
Sent: April 21, 2010 10:41 PM
To: Linda Lalonde
Subject: City to give itself powers to ticket people for being "unruly" in city streets - public meeting Thursday Apr. 22

Hi folks,

Public Meeting Thursday, April 22 at 7 pm at City Hall

I'm sending this to both local and national folks because this could be a bylaw that will impact your use of Ottawa streets. Although I'm sure you'll want to Maintain Safety and Harmony on City streets!

The suggestion is that this is to deal with rowdy characters outside bars and clubs. The question is whether that is all it will be used for.

Who is going to decide if I am disturbing adjacent property owners and where is the line between our mutual rights to access/occupy the public spaces in the city? Will this be used against people who some members of society would rather not have in their neighbourhoods? Is Not-In-My-Back-Yard moving to the front yard and the streets?

Will this be used to quell legitimate citizen protest such as marches, demonstrations or sit-ins? 

It also concerns me that the notice went out just over 48 hours before a public meeting which has, I'm sure by coincidence, been scheduled for Earth Day when many members of the community will be otherwise occupied.

Linda.

The City of Ottawa is moving to give itself powers to ticket people for making noise in the streets.  "Disorderly conduct" is defined pretty broadly:

1.     No person shall engage in loud, boisterous, threatening, abusive, insulting or indecent language, or engage in any disorderly conduct or behaviour on a highway; and
2.     No person shall engage in any activity so as to interfere with or become a nuisance to the general public using the highway or to adjacent property owners.

A "highway" is any city street, sidewalk or space, in this case.  

There is little indication what the "useful enforcement tools" might be....This could apply to folks on the street who do their living and hanging out there - it could just as easily apply to any demonstration or action you could imagine.  The notice was sent out yesterday evening...

Public meeting at City Hall on this tomorrow, Thursday, April 22, 7:00 PM

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Lemay, Anne" <Anne.Lemay at ottawa.ca>

Date: April 20, 2010 4:51:49 PM EDT

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Subject: Invitation: Public meeting / Réunion publique

Please see the attached invitation to a public meeting at City Hall this Thursday April 22nd.  
Re: MAINTAINING SAFETY AND HARMONY ON CITY STREETS 

Veuillez prendre note de l'invitation ci-joint pour une réunion publique à l'hotel de ville ce jeudi 22 avril. 
Re: SÉCURITÉ ET TRANQUILLITÉ DANS LES RUES DE LA VILLE 

<<Reunion Publique - avril 22 - Sécurité et Tranquillité dans les Rues de la Ville - FR.pdf>> <<Public Meeting - April 22 - Safety and Harmony on City Streets - EN.pdf>> <<Discussion Paper - Maintaining Safety and Harmony on City streets - final.doc>>   <<FR - Discussion Paper - Maintaining Safety and Harmony on City streets - final.doc>> 

Georges Bédard 
Councillor / Conseiller 
Ward 12 / Quartier 12 Rideau-Vanier 
georges.bedard at ottawa.ca 
tel.: 613-580-2482 fax/téléc.: 613-580-2522 
"In the Heart of the City / Au coeur de la ville"

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