City's new anti-harassment bylaw won't stop attacks, advocates say

Edmonton's new anti-harassment bylaw is well-intentioned but won't be enough to stop hate crimes, advocates and police say.

Community groups have been calling for action amid an apparent increase in hate-motivated harassment and attacks in the Edmonton area. At least eight people, all Black and or Muslim, have been attacked since December 2020.

In response, Edmonton city council passed an amendment to the public places bylaw on Monday, adding harassment based on race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation, among other identifiers, to the list of punishable behaviours. Those caught will be fined $250 and the fine will double for repeat offences.

But Jibril Ibrahim, president of the Somali Canadian Cultural Centre of Edmonton, said the bylaw won't fix the problem.

“I know the city is trying its best, at least it's better than the provincial and federal (governments) so far ... It's unfortunate that it's not going to change anything on the ground. Whoever is harassing people, they are still going to harass people,” he said.

Last month, a man with a knife knocked a Muslim woman unconscious while uttering racial slurs, and another man grabbed a Muslim woman wearing a hijab by the neck and pushed her to the sidewalk while she was walking alone in northeast Edmonton.

Ibrahim has been at the forefront of making these local attacks public, but he said the city hasn't spoken to him and other grassroots community groups about what kinds of solutions they want.

“If people are not feeling safe enough to walk in their neighbourhood to get fresh air, then we haven't done anything,” he said.

“We just threw (out) a solution without even knowing what the problem is ... the city just wants to say we have done something, but that something is not working for us.”

Ibrahim said the city needs to collect data and survey the communities on a local level, potentially mapping out where the attacks are happening to come up with a plan that works.

He adds that language barriers and discomfort in the community about speaking to police will still deter victims from coming forward.

Michael Elliott, president of the Edmonton Police Association, agrees that enforcement will be a problem.

“(Hate and harassment are) very serious, I just don't think the bylaw is going to be the mechanism to address racism in our city ... I think it's all about education, and you have to start from a ground level. This is learned behaviour.”

Coun. Scott Mckeen said he brought this motion forward after a push from the National Council of Canadian Muslims. He says the bylaw amendment will give enforcement authorities the power to hand out fines for acts that may not be serious enough for hate crime charges.

“It's really important that we make this statement and it will be enforced appropriately and smartly, I believe,” he said Monday.

“It will not restrict people's right to assembly or free speech, but it will catch some of those alarming incidents that we have seen happening in Edmonton and the Edmonton area over the last year or so, generally towards hijab-wearing Muslim women. To me this is a strong statement condemning those acts.”

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) led a rally in Edmonton in June calling for an action plan to combat Islamophobia and to protect racialized communities. In July, the organization released a report that says more Muslims have been killed in hate attacks in Canada than any other G7 country in the past five years.

Fatema Abdalla, communications co-ordinator with NCCM, said the bylaw is a positive step as the group has been calling for change for six months, recently putting forward a list of 61 recommendations for the federal, provincial and municipal governments.

One recommendation was for municipalities to create bylaws that give authorities the power to ticket and fine people who engage in street harassment.

Abdalla said there is always a lot that can be done to combat street harassment and attacks.

“However, this is a critical step forward and I don't want to reel away from that because it is a positive step and we're very thankful.”

A staff report on the amendments said the new bylaw could be difficult to enforce given how quickly these incidents can happen, and investigations can be lengthy and resource-intensive.