Ottawa·NewA small claims court has ruled that the Ottawa Police Service Board violated the Charter by arbitrarily and unfairly restricting speakers critical of the police at its meetings.Small claims judge says board unfairly limited critical voices, orders $2,500 in damagesListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesRobin Browne is co-founder of 613-819 Black Hub. (Jean-Francois Poudrier/CBC)A small claims court has ruled that the Ottawa Police Service Board violated the Charter by arbitrarily and unfairly restricting speakers critical of the police at its meetings.Deputy judge Sonya Notturno awarded $1,750 to Robin Browne of 613-819 Black Hub, and $750 to Jeffrey Bradley, a PhD candidate who has delegated for the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project.Both Browne and Bradley accused the board, which oversees the Ottawa Police Service, of infringing their Charter rights, including their freedom of expression.The dispute arose after the board amended its bylaws in 2023 to require advance notice from speakers hoping to delegate at its meetings. The deadline was set at noon on the previous business day, generally a Friday for Monday meetings. Delegations were also required to submit their remarks in writing beforehand.Browne and Bradley argued that the board exercised discretion to allow speakers supportive of the police without affording them the same flexibility.As an example, Bradley was not allowed to speak in December 2023 after he’d missed the deadline, even though he submitted before the close of business on Friday. “They were being very strict with delegations that were critical of the police, but ones that were favourable to the police, they were treating with kid gloves,” Browne told CBC in an interview. Arbitrary and unfairNotturno agreed. In a decision dated last week, she wrote that the board went the “extra mile” for speakers in line with its agenda. She said it used its discretion in a way that was arbitrary, unfair and a breach of the right to freedom of expression.She also found that the board had violated the rights of the 613-819 Black Hub by not allowing another speaker to replace Browne when he was unavailable due to another commitment, though she did not award the group any additional damages over and above what she granted to Browne.Browne said his 613-819 Black Hub addresses systematic anti-Black racism in justice, education and health care. He regularly appears at police service board meetings, and was previously banned from city hall after disrupting a city council meeting in 2023 due to his opposition to the police budget, though his trespass notice was later modified.Brown told CBC on Wednesday that he hopes the decision prompts the board to reconsider the bylaw amendments on delegations.”What we want them to do is to repeal all the restrictions that they brought in at that February 2023 meeting,” he said. “We want all those gone.”Notturno did not rule on whether the bylaw changes themselves were valid, finding fault only with how they were applied. “We hope the board takes this as a lesson and goes, you know what, let’s make the police board as accountable as any other city committee and remove these restrictions,” Browne said.CBC reached out to the Ottawa Police Service Board for comment on the decision but did not receive a response.ABOUT THE AUTHORArthur White-Crummey is a reporter at CBC Ottawa. He has previously worked as a reporter in Saskatchewan covering the courts, city hall and the provincial legislature. You can reach him at arthur.white-crummey@cbc.ca.
Court rules Ottawa’s police board violated critics’ freedom of expression
