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Montreal adopts bylaw banning insults against police, municipal employees

28 points MC995 50 minutes ago 19 comments

clarionbell 36 minutes ago | parent

I know that speech protections are not exactly maximalist in Canada, but surely this can't be compatible with the charter?

__s 26 minutes ago | parent

> Other municipalities in the province, including Quebec City, Laval, Longueuil and Sherbrooke, already have similar bylaws.

apparently it can be

8note 24 minutes ago | parent

the other part about canada is that quebec didnt sign on to the canadian constitution, so its only the quebec charter, which is a law like any other

yieldcrv 3 minutes ago | parent

now thats news to me, I need to look into that

is there appeals to national courts there

unsupp0rted 5 minutes ago | parent

Canada only enforces the parts of its Charter the current government feels like, and actively does the opposite of its Charter when the current government feels like it.

montroser 31 minutes ago | parent

I predict this will go badly. I would not describe the good people of Montreal as a "compliant" lot. You can't legislate respect.

alistairSH 28 minutes ago | parent

Assault was already illegal. So, this is to also ban calling the police names?

Already illegal: "I'm going to kick your ass" Now illegal: "You're a poopy head"

dominotw 11 minutes ago | parent

all jobs deserve dignity.

how would you feel if ppl called you that at work.

sedawkgrep 9 minutes ago | parent

When you have masked ICE agents abducting people on the streets and making them disappear, dignity is long, long gone.

dominotw 5 minutes ago | parent

what do montreal municipal employees have to do with ice

nekusar 26 minutes ago | parent

Pigs are pigs the world around.

They only defend monied interests of the political elite and rich folk. And yet they demand 'authority', even when not at all deserved.

redanddead 25 minutes ago | parent

Unpopular distraction, elections are Oct 5th

giarc 17 minutes ago | parent

I think these are the key sentences in that article (below). This bylaw is probably targeted toward citizens that come in and berate staff because they find out they have an unpaid parking ticket from 2 years ago that they have to pay before renewing their license (for example).

>The new Montreal bylaw would ban insults, harassment, threats, abuse and intimidation, as well as offensive and aggressive behaviour.

>It also includes provisions saying city employees could refuse to provide services to someone who misbehaves. However, the bylaw doesn't define what could be construed as an insult.

cucumber3732842 13 minutes ago | parent

> This bylaw is probably targeted toward citizens that come in and berate staff because they find out they have an unpaid parking ticket from 2 years ago that they have to pay before renewing their license (for example).

That's how the (evil) people who support it will construe it. In reality that kind of stuff doesn't really bother employees all that much because it's just part of the job, they knew it going in and everyone agrees those sort of people are out of line.

What bothers employees is when they get heckled for doing (in the course of their job) stuff that just about everyone agrees is wrong, bad, stupid or heavy handed, because most of those employees know deep down they're in the wrong, and having it pointed out and having enough of the public agree with the hecklers in message if not in delivery is a real morale killer. And then your burnt out employees stop giving a shit, do a bad job, get caught on camera enforcing the "you had to lie through your teeth to defend it to begin with" policy in a way that lays bare how f-d up it is. And that's what they're trying to avoid by threatening to fine any peasant who opens their mouth.

redanddead 8 minutes ago | parent

Yup. It’s symptomatic of poor governance. Government services not working as good as they should and of course people are pissed. To be frank, the government employees are divas and aren’t effective.

You will find the same behavior across so many different government services — a culture of not taking charge, or like committee thinking. Nothing gets done.

There’s a reason people are pissed.

Idk what the solution is, my brain goes to automated government services. But that’s a goddamn mess in the USA

IncreasePosts 10 minutes ago | parent

I'm predicting the police will use it to stifle any kind of criticism.

Like: police officer does something racist. Person says "hey, you're racist!". Police officer then gives a $1000 fine to the person for insulting them

guyzero 15 minutes ago | parent

Hostie d'tabarnak, flic.

lokar 13 minutes ago | parent

This kind of thing is concerning, but I think there is a place for rules like this.

You already see this in many public businesses. Front line workers should not have to endure abuse from the public.

But, the standard for sworn officers should be much higher.

dlcarrier 4 minutes ago | parent

Is there an extra harsh punishment, if the insults aren't in French?