Adopt anti-hate bylaws across Waterloo Region

On September 20, Kitchener City Hall played host to a protest against the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ youth. This protest resulted in numerous incidents of identity-based harassment against members of the Queer community, both at and after the protest.

On September 27, the Region of Waterloo Council passed an anti-hate bylaw that would prohibit identity-based harassment on its properties. However, this bylaw only applies to locations operated by the regional government, and not to locations operated by the cities that make up the region.

To ensure that our shared community spaces are not used to spread hatred against any marginalized group, every municipality that makes up the Region of Waterloo must pass its own anti-hate bylaw to protect its facilities from identity-based harassment. Tell our Region's mayors to take action to keep our shared spaces safe for members of marginalized communities!

We've provided a sample letter with some ideas that you can use, but we strongly recommend customizing it to reflect your own perspective and experiences. We also suggest adding additional recipients to the list, such as your own ward councillor.

To: (7 recipients)

Berry Vrbanovic, Mayor of Kitchener Dorothy McCabe, Mayor of Waterloo Jan Liggett, Mayor of Cambridge Joe Nowak, Mayor of Wellesley Sue Foxton, Mayor of North Dumfries Natasha Salonen, Mayor of Wilmot Sandy Shantz, Mayor of Woolwich

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Hatred against the 2SLGBTQIA+ members of our community has reached epidemic levels across the Region of Waterloo, with slurs and defamatory statements against Queer individuals routinely spoken in public. This is incompatible with the values that our cities should strive to achieve. I am writing to you today to urge you to speak publicly and intentionally against the actions of individuals and organizations who are propagating this hatred, and to take concrete action to prevent municipal resources from being used to promote anti-Queer rhetoric.

On September 27, the Region of Waterloo Council passed a bylaw amendment that would prohibit hate-based harassment on Regional properties. However, the scope of the bylaw does not apply to the facilities of the individual municipalities that make up the Region, so your Council needs to adopt similar amendments to its bylaws governing use of municipal facilities. The need for this was made all too clear on September 20, when Carl Zehr Square, outside the Kitchener City Hall, was used to host a “Million March” rally opposing the rights of transgender youth.

At the September 27 Regional Council meeting, one eyewitness, who is an openly Queer member of the community, reported that they were called a “groomer” and a “pedophile” at the Million March rally. Another eyewitness reported seeing signs containing the slur “groomer.” After the Million March rally, a group of extremist individuals targeted and harassed people on the street yelling these same dehumanizing slurs. These accounts were corroborated by other speakers at the meeting. The term “groomer” is now frequently used as a slur against members of the Queer community and their supporters, as a group libel implying that members of the Queer community are engaging in sexually abusive behaviour toward children. The term has been recognized as a slur by companies such as Meta, Reddit, and TikTok, which have established policies against the use of the slur on their platforms. This type of hateful rhetoric leads to tangible harm and harassment against Queer people, and must be addressed immediately to ensure safety for the Queer community.

Moreover, the nature of the objections being raised by the so-called “parents’ rights” movement indicates that it is not based in fact. This situation is being fueled by a campaign of disinformation about the Queer community and the policies of our local school boards, including frivolous accusations of indoctrination and exposing children to sexual content. It is a tragedy that this disinformation is being used to divide our community and pit marginalized groups against each other.

This has resulted in a situation in which access to public spaces has been restricted for marginalized groups. I call on you to adopt bylaws in your respective cities to prohibit the use of municipal property and facilities for the purpose of engaging in harassment or group libel based on race, religious beliefs, colour, disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, source of income, family status, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and housing status. It is critical that this objective be achieved through preventative measures, such as outreach, education, and ejecting offending individuals from municipal properties, rather than being enforced through fines after the acts of harassment and libel have occurred.

Sincerely,

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