How city hall is keeping a tenuous peace

Protest-free bubble zones' motion shows split in council

- ALYSHAH HASHAM, DAVID RIDER

A motion by Coun. Brad Bradford about "bubble zones," similar to safe access zones used by abortion providers, threatened to upset the careful detente at council about the war in Gaza. The bubble zones would allow people access to places of worship, while also allowing space for protesters.

As last month’s Toronto city council meeting stretched late into the evening, a debate began that the mayor and some of her council allies had been trying to avoid.

For months, some city councils, Queen’s Park and Parliament have seen fierce clashes over how to respond to the Israel-Hamas war, and an escalating death toll in Gaza.

Councillors and city hall insiders tell the Star there has been a focus on private, sometimes difficult conversations and behind-the-scenes advocacy over how best to deal with local issues, from the safety concerns of the city’s Jewish community to the Charter rights of pro-Palestinian protesters, with the mayor trying to stick to middle ground and avoid a blowout that would both be unhelpful to the business of city hall, and irresponsibly sow further division in an already tense city.

But the introduction of a motion to request that the province create protest-free “bubble zones” around places of worship and faith-based school and daycares at the last council session threatened to undermine the fragile detente.

The emotional council discussion pit the fears of some councillors and many Jewish Torontonians over a failure to respond to rising antisemitism in the city against the need to protect the right to protest.

Some councillors argued there was a lack of evidence to show “bubble zones” — similar to safe access zones used by abortion providers — are actually needed, and pointed to the broader implications of such legislation that could, for example, curtail the ability of workers to picket.