Brampton city council has unanimously voted to pass a motion to ban “nuisance demonstrations” within 100 metres of places of worship following a series of violent protests in the city earlier this month.
“(Essentially) it’s about the right to pray,” Brown said on the phone Wednesday afternoon with the Toronto Sun.
“Whether you go to a Mandir (a Hindu temple), a Gurdwara (a Sikh place of worship), a synagogue, a mosque, a church. Everyone has the right to pray free without harassment. We sought outside legal opinions to make sure it met the legal threshold and in Canada, when one right infringes another right, you can put a limit on those rights to support both. There’s a right to protest in Canada that’s constitutionally protected, but there’s also a right to religious freedom that is constitutionally and charted protected. So we feel in Brampton, we found the right balance.”
Brown said he chose to introduce his motion after protests and counter-protests occurred on Nov. 3 outside of a Hindu temple and Sikh place of worship in Brampton and Mississauga, respectively, and then two days later there was a march by 500 people.
