Edmonton to consider mandating envelopes, warnings for graphic flyers
CBC
Edmonton's city council will consider adding restrictions aimed at preventing people from unwittingly seeing flyers with graphic imagery.
Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette introduced a motion during Wednesday's city council meeting that administration prepare changes to the community standards bylaw to require all unsolicited print material containing graphic images to be contained in a sealed opaque envelope with a content warning and senders' names and addresses.
Paquette said he regularly receives complaints from residents coming across flyers in their mailboxes with pictures of aborted fetuses.
He said such images have traumatized his constituents for a variety of reasons.
"It's often children who bring in the mail and they're confronted with imagery that they are not emotionally or developmentally prepared to process in a healthy way," he told CBC News on Thursday.
Paquette's motion, which passed unanimously, proposed a minimum fine of $500 for violating the rules.
The motion did not mention abortion and the city councillor said he thinks the rules should also extend to other types of graphic imagery.
Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford said at the meeting that her office has also received complaints about this topic.
Ward Sspomitapi Coun. Jo-Anne Wright said she hasn't been hearing the same complaints but she's willing to explore restrictions to address concerns.
"I think I'm going to take the guidance from our legal department as to what they define as being graphic," she said in an interview Thursday.
Calgary's city council approved a change to its community standards bylaw in 2023. The regulations apply to graphic images of fetuses and violations carry fines of $1,000.
The City of Edmonton's legal team told councillors Edmonton's bylaw requirements could be modelled after Calgary's.
Cities in other provinces have also passed similar bylaws, but several have faced legal challenges.
The City of St. Catharines, in Ontario, repealed its graphic images bylaw last year after the Association of Reformed Political Action, a Christian political advocacy organization, launched a legal challenge against it.
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born renegade architect behind some of the world's most recognizable buildings, has died at 96.
Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can't find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.
An Alberta judge says a referendum proposal on Alberta separating from Canada goes against Charter and and Treaty rights, in a decision given less than 24 hours after the provincial government introduced legislation that would have ended the court proceeding.
The architect of Alberta's politician recall legislation says it was never meant to be used as a political weapon, but as an "ultimate tool of accountability" if a politician engages in illegal or unethical behaviour.
The Government of Saskatchewan has introduced its long-promised involuntary treatment legislation on the final day of the fall sitting.
The Law Society of Ontario has suspended the licence of Deepak Paradkar, one of seven Canadians arrested in connection with alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding’s cocaine smuggling ring.
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is getting rid of unlimited mental health benefits for staff, blaming ballooning costs and former administrators for implementing it without proper due diligence or oversight.
Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's TV and film studios and streaming division for $72 billion US, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood's most prized and oldest assets to the streaming pioneer that has upended the media industry.
CBC Calgary kicks off its annual Make the Season Kind campaign this morning at Fratello Coffee Roasters.
CBC Newfoundland and Labrador is kicking off its annual holiday campaign, helping to raise money to support local food banks.
If all goes according to plan, at 6 a.m. AT on Saturday people working at the IWK Health Centre will become the test case for a generational change to Nova Scotia’s health-care system.
One month after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced what he called "generational" military spending, New Brunswick’s defence ecosystem is on high alert.
Miranda Mirlycourtois, 34, looks directly at the camera and makes a confession.