Owen Sound City Council heard a deputation this week from resident Tamara Sargent, who raised concerns about her experience circulating a petition at a public festival in downtown Owen Sound.
Sargent explained that on Saturday, July 13, she attended a local Music Festival to peacefully gather signatures for a petition calling on Canada to implement a two-way arms embargo with Israel. The petition has since collected 542 signatures and was delivered to MP Alex Ruff’s Owen Sound office earlier this month. According to Sargent, Ruff’s office confirmed the petition is en route to Ottawa to be submitted to the clerk of petitions.
“This is our second petition submitted to MP Ruff,” Sargent told council. She noted that the first petition, which collected over 300 signatures, could not be submitted due to wording issues. She praised Ruff for facilitating the submission of the current petition, which was confirmed in advance with the clerk of petitions.
Sargent’s deputation focused on an incident at the festival in which she claimed event organizers attempted to prevent her from circulating the petition. She described being approached by organizers from the United Way and told petitioning was not permitted, with the threat of being asked to leave if she continued. Sargent maintained that she was exercising her Charter-protected right to peaceful expression and that she was neither obstructing walkways nor disrupting performances.
“Peaceful petitioning is a constitutionally protected form of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Sargent said. “It is a core democratic tradition, and public events held in shared civic spaces must not become zones where political expression is selectively policed or discouraged.”
She urged council to review policies and agreements related to public spaces used for community events, clarify the rights of individuals to engage in peaceful political expression during public gatherings, and provide guidance or training to event organizers to ensure Charter rights are understood and respected.
Sargent’s deputation highlighted ongoing questions about equity, accountability, and access to public life in civic spaces, as well as the responsibilities of event organizers to respect constitutionally protected freedoms.
