B.C. Supreme Court orders end to anti-LGBTQ demonstrations on North Vancouver overpass
CBC
The Supreme Court of British Columbia has granted the provincial government an injunction to stop persistent demonstrators' months-long display of "hateful" anti-trans and COVID-19 denial signs on a North Vancouver highway overpass.
The court order came on Thursday after the group of about 20 demonstrators ignored multiple RCMP and Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure requests to stop displaying signs on the Mountain Highway Overpass over Highway 1.
Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said Thursday the signs compromised the safety of passing drivers and demonstrators themselves standing on the overpass.
"The hanging of banners from any highway overpass is not allowed under the Transportation Act," a ministry spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CBC News on Saturday. "Safety is the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure's number one priority."
The injunction prohibits anyone from gathering, hanging signage or otherwise impeding vehicle and pedestrian traffic on the overpass and within 250 metres of it.
In late April, North Vancouver RCMP said they had already asked the demonstrators to leave several times over the last few weeks. On Friday, they said officers were on scene Thursday to enforce the injunction.
RCMP did not return a request for comment from CBC News by publication time.
The signs in question contain false statements about transgender people, the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-vaccine conspiracies that have been debunked.
One reads 'no child is ever born in the wrong body,' and another said 'protect our kids from big pharma greed.'
City of North Vancouver Mayor Lisa Buchanan called the signs "hateful, derogatory and false," and said "hate has no place" in the city in a late April tweet.
"These messages go against who we are as a community," Buchanan wrote. "I stand in solidarity with LGBTQ2SAI+ people on the North Shore and beyond."
Demonstrators have denied their messages are hateful toward any group of people.
While no organized group has publicly taken responsibility for the demonstrations, a number of signs include the link to the website for a group that opposes sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) topics taught in B.C. schools.
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