Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

“A Call for Action” builds on the author’s previous work on s.2(c) for the Rouleau Commission (“Freedom of Assembly and Section 2(c) of the Charter”; available on SSRN and Osgoode Digital Commons). There is no framework of legality under the Charter for the scope and limits of peaceful assembly, and this follow-up paper begins the task of filling that gap. It addresses the relationship between s.2(b) and s.2(c), critiquing the “factual matrix principle” for subsuming issues freedom of assembly into freedom of expression, and explaining that assembly is a distinctive collective entitlement that is spatial and performative in nature. A definition of “peaceful” that protects assemblies that are disruptive and access to space are the two critical variables in determining the scope of entitlement. Under s.2(c)’s conception of “peaceful”, gatherings are protected up to the point of violence, leaving the question of justifiable limits on relative degrees of disruption to section 1. In addition, access to public space, for purposes of engaging in peaceful assembly, is part of the entitlement. By definition, an assembly is spatial and s.2(c) therefore must protect access to space. Those two elements ground a robust conception of peaceful assembly. The paper closes by discussing the principles that guide the s.1 analysis when s.2(c) is at stake.

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