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TORONTO – Today, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) handed out its first-ever Municipal Muzzle Award to the City of Calgary for its Orwellian-named Safe and Inclusive Access Bylaw. Runners-up for this dubious distinction are Caledon, Ont., and South Bruce Peninsula, Ont.

The Municipal Muzzle Award was created by the CCF to recognize the municipality that has done the most to stifle free speech. To determine the winner, the CCF’s legal team reviewed bylaws from more than 80 municipalities and identified an alarming increase in local laws that suppress the free expression Canadians are entitled to under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Those laws are documented in the CCF’s new report, Canada’s Most Censorious Bylaws, available to download here.

“When Canadians think of government censorship, they usually look to Parliament Hill or their provincial legislatures,” said CCF Litigation Director Christine Van Geyn, who helped author the report. “Increasingly, it’s city halls that are quietly chipping away at Canadians’ free expression.”

“If you’ve encountered a bylaw in your municipality that unfairly restricts what you can say or do, now is the time to speak up,” Van Geyn added. “We’re ready to step in, challenge these laws, and defend your fundamental freedoms.”

CCF Counsel and co-author Josh Dehaas said that he hopes the report will empower Canadians with a clearer understanding of their constitutional freedoms, so that they can challenge unreasonable limits on speech in their own communities.

“This report discusses restrictions on speech in city council meetings, in streets and parks – even in some cases what people say online or in their own backyards,” Dehaas added. “Some of these restrictions are so absurd that you can’t help but laugh – and yet they’re still serious restrictions on our right to say what we think and participate in democracy. We hope this report will force municipal politicians to think twice before enacting speech-restricting bylaws.”