St. Patrick's celebrations

[danbrotherston]

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.

This is not a street party, in that, the street is not closed, by the party goers. The police close the street, for public safety, they tried to keep it open last year, and the students stayed off the road, when the police felt the crowds were to big to safely contain on the sidewalk, they closed the road, this is the police choice (the right choice IMO) not the students.  So it isn't a street party.

This is not a single organized event.

Again, if this was illegal, it would be shut down, the police (contrary to Jeffsters claims) cracked down on public drinking, laying many charges.  Assembling absolutely is legal in Canada.  There is no provision that says "only for non-party purposes".

It should be an event, the city doesn't care to make it an event, because that wouldn't play to the anti-student sentiment in the city.