11-28-2018, 07:09 PM
(11-28-2018, 04:57 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(11-28-2018, 03:44 PM)jamincan Wrote: I'm pretty sure the Ezra Street parties would be considered unlawful assembly under the Criminal Code, and therefore technically illegal. I'm also pretty sure that participating in a street party without a special event permit from the City of Waterloo would also contravene whatever special events by-law the City of Waterloo has. (It definitely is for the Region, but I can't track down the equivalent by-law for the City).
This is absolutely not unlawful assembly, if it was, the police would have arrested the people involved. I'm guessing you weren't there, there was no rioting, no major fights or other disturbances of the peace.
As for the street party, the police are the ones who closed the road, it was open, up until the police decided to close it for public safety, thus, it wasn't a street party.
Public drunkenness and blocking the street would both constitute disturbing the peace, as far as I understand. Obviously the police are going to act with discretion when dealing with thousands of drunk students. I'm not saying students should be arrested, but assembling for the purpose of getting drunk in a public place is definitely not legal in Canada and therefore I don't think it's unreasonable to call this an "illegal party." They're not gathering to sing songs, they're gathering to drink alcohol.
As far as I can tell, the Region of Waterloo's Special Events By-law also covers local municipalities in lieu of them not having their own by-law. This seems to be the case in Kitchener where their permits specifically reference the Region's by-law, and I therefore assume it's also true for Waterloo which doesn't seem to have a by-law covering special events.
According to the by-law, a special event includes a street party, which you would surely agree this is. The by-law further stipulates that it applies when a road needs to be closed, or where it would interfere with the normal flow of traffic. The party definitely impedes normal traffic on Ezra Street. The only thing I'm not clear on is if it only applies to Regional Roads or not. The by-law, being a regional by-law, specifically states it only applies to roads under the jurisdiction of the Region, but that would then seem to mean that there is nothing prohibiting people from blocking municipal roads. I'd be curious if someone has insight into this.