Mount Royal University ordered to give staff three hours' notice of anti-abortion protests

Mount Royal University must give staff at least three hours' advance notice before anti-abortion protests happen on campus, an arbitrator ruled Saturday.

The decision came after a longtime MRU employee who experienced miscarriage and fertility challenges filed a grievance in May 2024. She said encountering protesters at least 12 times over the years — confronted with large graphic images of fetuses — caused significant psychological distress. The woman first raised concerns with MRU administration in 2019.

Arbitrator James Casey determined the graphic imagery constitutes a "hazard" under occupational health and safety legislation that endangers the psychological health of employees like her. Casey ordered MRU to immediately adopt measures including giving at least three hours' advance notice of the date, time and location of future protests, plus restricting where demonstrators can gather inside the school. The affected employee must also receive separate notice at least 2½ hours before any protest through email, phone call and text.

Protests are held monthly in a second-floor foyer, typically with three to 10 demonstrators displaying large signs featuring fetuses at various stages of development. One of the most graphic images showed a bloodied fetus with the message "Abortion. 28 weeks."

MRU had argued it lacked authority to direct protesters or prohibit the images, claiming such restrictions would violate Charter rights to freedom of expression. Casey rejected that position, stating Alberta's Post-Secondary Learning Act allows MRU to develop bylaws for managing its lands and buildings. "The University also has the obligation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to eliminate or reduce hazards, to provide a safe workplace, and to ensure that employees are not subjected to harassment," he wrote. "At the time the grievance was filed, the University was well aware of the negative impact on the grievor's emotional health but failed to provide adequate protections."

The grievance did not seek to block demonstrations or prohibit the signs entirely — only to require advance notice and restrict where protesters can stand.