Ontario government call for Toronto police to crack down on protests puts free expression at risk: expert

An expert in free expression feels Ontario’s solicitor general is attempting to pressure Toronto police to change how they handle protests for political reasons. 

This comes after Solicitor General Michael Kerzner issued a letter to the Toronto Police Service (TPS) on Dec. 30, calling out what he described as a lack of enforcement for hate, intimidation and harassment-motivated offences at protests in the city.

But James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, is worried about Kerzner’s motivations.

“It seems to me that the solicitor general is trying to intervene in how the police work for political reasons,” he told CBC Toronto.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza, Toronto police have attended more than 800 demonstrations related to the conflict, according to TPS spokesperson Stephanie Sayer.

Officers have also made almost 500 arrests, she said, and laid more than 1,000 criminal charges related to protests and hate crimes during that time.

But calls for stricter laws around protests have also increased, playing a part in city council’s decision to introduce a “bubble zone” bylaw last year that restricts protests within 50 metres of schools and places of worship under certain circumstances.

Kerzner’s letter aligns with those calls, highlighting a pro-Palestinian protest at the Toronto Eaton Centre on Boxing Day, as well as ongoing marches in predominantly Jewish neighbourhoods near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue W.

“These incidents have left many residents living in a state of heightened fear and anxiety, concerned about a lack of visible response and feeling unable to move freely and safely in public spaces,” he wrote.

CBC Toronto emailed Kerzner's office requesting a response to criticism of the letter. Spokesperson Saddam Khussain wrote back: "The letter stands as the statement."

But Turk says it’s not as simple as police making more arrests and laying more charges. 

“Our courts have been very clear that our democracy depends on ongoing public discourse about what's legitimate and what's not legitimate in a society,” he said. “There's just a lot of things that people don't like, they may find offensive or hateful, that are perfectly legal in a democratic society.”

It’s not the job of police to shut those things down, nor the province’s to urge them to do so, Turk said. 

Bashar Al-Shawwa, a Palestinian human rights activist that moved to Canada in 2024, echoed those sentiments.