If ever you wanted to create a sign and bring it to a Yellowknife City Council meeting, January 12 might be the day.
That Monday evening meeting could be the last at which you’re entitled to do so.
This week, councillors discussed rule changes that include a proposed ban on residents bringing signs to meetings inside the council chamber.
“Members of the public are not permitted to display signs at council or its committees. Pins, badges or other clothing representing the views of the members of the public are permitted,” the draft rules state.
“We’ve had several meetings this year where people have brought signs into the chamber and I’ve heard from some colleagues as a result that it was a distracting experience,” Mayor Ben Hendriksen said on Monday this week, explaining the rationale behind the change.
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“Doing some research,” he said, “it’s pretty common around the country to just ban signage in council chambers.”
Some municipalities attempting the same manoeuvre have found it difficult to pull off.
Ottawa banned signs from its city council meetings in 2019, but the city later clarified that “signs on letter or legal paper” were still allowed.
Whitehorse faced a legal challenge last year after introducing a “civility policy” at council that included a ban on signs. The Yukon capital ultimately watered down the policy, allowing smaller signs again, and the petition from the Canadian Constitution Foundation was dropped.
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Yellowknife’s proposed council chamber rules ban all signs, regardless of size (though the document doesn’t define the maximum size of a pin or badge, which may invite creative workarounds).
The mayor said residents could express themselves at meetings in other ways.
“The draft wording in there doesn’t prohibit people from wearing things like pins, T-shirts etc, because that’s part of your clothing,” Hendriksen said.
That’s not the same, he said, as “standing up as you’re sitting in council chambers with a sign in front of the person behind you’s head, so they can’t see.”
“It’s not to stop people from expressing their viewpoints, whether at the podium or by being there physically, but to also not distract from the physical, deliberative aspect of the chamber,” he continued. “And again, it’s a very common thing in other parts of the country.”
Asked by deputy mayor Rob Warburton how a ban on signs might be enforced, Hendriksen said he believed most Yellowknifers would simply comply once informed of the rule.
“Probably our first meetings where we’re having a more fiery issue, that’ll be my job, as chairperson, to remind people as they’re walking in,” he said, suggesting residents can simply prop their sign outside the chamber door.
“I think Yellowknifers are overall pretty respectful around these things,” Hendriksen concluded. “Once they’re aware, that’ll be all right.”
The broader suite of proposed new rules, which also contemplates moving the day on which meetings are held to Wednesdays, is expected back before council on January 12 for a vote.
