Montreal council votes next week on bylaw fining residents up to $2,000 for insulting municipal staff

Montreal city council will vote as early as next Monday or Tuesday on a bylaw that would prohibit insults, harassment, threats and abusive behavior toward any municipal employee on duty. First offences would draw fines of $350 to $1,000; subsequent violations could cost up to $2,000.

The proposal came after a video circulated on social media showing a young motorist being particularly aggressive toward Montreal Police officers. The city said it prompted municipal administration to take action.

But two civil liberties organizations warned the bylaw would create serious problems. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said allowing SPVM officers to impose fines for comments they deem offensive — but not threatening — "significantly accentuates the power imbalance between law enforcement and the public. This new power risks leading to arbitrary, even discriminatory, measures against people who are already subject to excessive police surveillance and racial profiling, particularly Black, Indigenous and Arab communities."

The League of Rights and Freedoms called it "appalling" that the city was "proposing to adopt a new bylaw that unjustifiably infringes on freedom of expression." Both groups flagged the same core concern: the lack of clear definition around what counts as an insult or offensive behavior leaves room for subjective, potentially discriminatory interpretation by SPVM officers.

Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada announced in August that Montreal intended to adopt such a bylaw, noting that threats, obstruction and genuine disturbances were already prohibited under existing rules.