A suburban mayor is defending his municipality’s proposal to make it illegal to damage or remove posters of hostages being held in Gaza since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi announced on Nov. 2 that the town council will adopt a bylaw introducing a $1,000 fine against anyone found vandalizing or tearing down such a poster in a public place. The town’s public security team, which is now on duty 24/7, will be empowered to issues tickets for the infraction.
The council is scheduled to meet Nov. 14 to pass the bylaw.
Levi said all of any fines collected would go to Israel, without specifying by what means or the destination. The penalty would also apply to posters on private property, if the owner filed a complaint, he said.
The town itself is not putting up any such posters, Levi clarified.
At least one legal expert has raised the question of whether such an infraction infringes on free speech and equality rights protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“The bylaw to be adopted was verified with outside legal counsel and does not contravene any constitutional rights,” Levi told The CJN.
Lawyer Pearl Eliadis, a Max Bell School of Public Policy associate professor at McGill University, commented to the CBC, that such a bylaw may pose fairness concerns.
“The first interesting question would be whether or not this bylaw permits different types of viewpoints—this seems to be specifically about one point of view,” she said.
Eliadis wonders what Hampstead would do if someone was caught defacing or removing a pro-Palestinian poster or one that supports Hamas.
“If those two people are treated differently, from a municipal perspective, then you have differential treatment based on political opinion and that, to me, raises important equity issues.”
To date, Levi said, there have been no reported incidents of the posters being tampered with in Hampstead, an affluent town of 7,000 with a majority Jewish population. He described Hampstead’s “extraordinary” move as “pro-active” to deter any issues surrounding the posters.
The posters, which are being circulated worldwide, are headlined “Kidnapped” and show photos, names, ages and nationalities of the more than 220 Israelis and other nationals being held by Hamas. They have yet to spark in Quebec the often heated confrontations witnessed elsewhere.
In response to Eliadis’s comments, Levi said that the bylaw is “not one-sided. It is a modification to our nuisance bylaw which makes no mention of Israel, or any other issue.
“In a nutshell, any poster, placard, banner, etc., must have Hampstead approval prior to being erected on any public property. With this modification, we are now making it an infraction to remove, vandalize, or cover up these displays on public property.
“The lawyer on the CBC report never enquired with us on the technical aspects of the bylaw and has no clue what she’s talking about – she didn’t even request a copy of the proposed draft bylaw change. It was complete rhetoric.”
As for what would be done if a pro-Palestinian poster was torn down, Levi said, “anything erected would need town authorization, as has always been the case. If a pro-Palestinian poster was erected without town authorization, the town would take it down.”
On social media, the Israeli consulate thanked Hampstead for its action. “This is what leadership looks like,” the post reads.
Hampstead has had strong ties with Israel since it twinned with the northern border town of Kiryat Shmona in 1978. Hampstead took a strong stance in support of Israel after the Hamas attack and Levi expects no opposition to the proposed bylaw from the six-member council next week.
The much larger neighbouring town of Côte Saint Luc, which also has a majority Jewish population, has not taken any similar measures regarding posters. It has called on the City of Montreal to “follow the lead of Lyon, Berlin and other cities around the world that have denounced and curtailed hate speech and the glorification of violence at demonstrations in support of the mass terrorism attack” of Oct. 7.
“The City of Côte Saint-Luc supports free speech, but not hate speech,” Mayor Mitchell Brownstein stated. “Demonstrations celebrating the kidnapping and slaughtering of civilians are reprehensible and grotesque. We ask the City of Montreal and the Montreal police department to impose clear conditions on any future demonstrations.”
According to the city, these conditions must stipulate that demonstrations be peaceful; that no flags of terrorist organizations or signs advocating the destruction of United Nations member countries be displayed, and that speakers not incite violence or hatred, or glorify the slaughter and kidnapping of innocent civilians.”
Côte Saint Luc and Hampstead are served by the Montreal police force.
