Here’s what YK’s council thinks about shutting down online comments

“The vitriol and cruel ignorance against members of this community on social media has gone beyond the pale.”

Garett Cochrane, an openly gay city councillor in Yellowknife, gave an impassioned speech on Wednesday during a discussion at City Hall regarding a resolution to close comments on all municipal social media channels.

Cochrane described experiencing homophobia in person and online as he advocated for a restrictive commenting policy. He said residents visiting the municipality’s social media platforms for information should be protected from “severe and ugly” and “entirely unnecessary” comments.

He said it is “a pity that we got to this point,” noting a hate-motivated shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Florida took place 10 years ago this month.

“We are a free and democratic society where you can think, feel and state what you want within reason,” Cochrane said.

“What is not your right, nor is it reasonable, is to expect you can go into the city’s platforms, primarily used to inform residents of programs and upcoming events, so you can espouse your controversial opinions. Parents, kids, Elders and everyone else in between use them to figure out what the hours of the pool are, not to debate the issues of the day.”

The city has recently restricted comments on Facebook posts related to Pride Month and the renaming of Franklin Avenue to Wıìlıìdeh Avenue.

After a Pride-related post attracted homophobic and transphobic comments earlier this month, the city shared its social media terms of engagement. The municipality said it encouraged “respectful and constructive dialogue” but would remove any content that included “misinformation, discrimination, harassment, or personal attacks.”

Several commenters took umbrage at the idea that their comments could be deleted, while a couple said they did not feel the city’s response was strong enough.

Separately, RCMP said officers were investigating after people posted homophobic and transphobic comments in response to a post celebrating Pride Month and Indigenous History Month in another Facebook group.

Monitoring comments ‘isn’t good enough’

City staff said on Wednesday that Facebook is “a central gathering place” for Yellowknifers and a tool the municipality uses every day to share information and monitor other groups, in part to “take temperature on issues.”

The resolution at City Hall was introduced by Mayor Ben Hendriksen. He raised concern with “often racist, homophobic, or more broadly just hateful comments” on the city’s social media platforms in recent years, which he said had caused harm.

“I’m of the opinion that it isn’t good enough to simply monitor posts and shut them down when things go sideways,” he said.

Hendriksen said if the resolution passes, the city will continue to share information on social media and residents will still be able to share those posts and comment on them elsewhere, as well as send direct messages to the municipality.

He added there are other ways for people to speak to council, including through email and formal processes. He said it should not be up to city staff to monitor comments and decide which are acceptable.

“The proposal is not about limiting speech, I want to make that clear,” the mayor said.

“It is the current situation where we are required to act like the speech police … By shutting comments down for everyone, we get out of that policing role and our social media platforms become more of what we actually use them for, tools to push information to residents.”

The resolutions calls on the municipality to “develop and clearly communicate alternative, accessible and transparent methods for residents to provide feedback and engage with the city.” It also said city staff should report back to council within six months about the effectiveness of closing comments.

City manager Stephen Van Dine said, in his experience, Yellowknifers who want to get in touch with City Hall “know how to do it” through multiple channels. He added a number of other municipalities across Canada are dealing with similar issues.

Rob Warburton said he supported the resolution as “there’s a million ways we can talk to each other, and we don’t need comments on Facebook to do that.”

Mixed views

Several other councillors said they struggled with the resolution as they want to balance free expression – and providing ways to interact with the city – with a need not to perpetuate hate.

“I want the proper channels and opportunities for people to be able to provide us feedback, because we are literally here because some people in the community elected us – and if we don’t know what they think, then we can’t do our job,” Ryan Fequet said, adding that needs to be done “in a respectful way.”

While people used to have to visit an office in person, make a phone call or send an email to “give feedback or say something nasty to a politician,” Fequet said it’s “getting a little dangerous” due to the anonymity afforded by Facebook.

He pointed to a recent article in The Walrus that asserted 63 percent of mayors and councillors surveyed by the Canadian Municipal Barometer in 2025 reported experiencing some form of recent harassment.

“I have not experienced excessive harassment or hate speech, but I’ve seen it [happen] to other groups in our community and that’s definitely not the kind of community I want,” he said.

Cat McGurk said if council does decide to disable comments, that should be followed by “reflection on how our residents are engaging with the municipality and what we’re doing to open those avenues of communication.”

McGurk said not passing the resolution would risk “alienating some members of our community and providing a platform for hatred” while wasting staff time on moderating comments. But they said that had to be weighed against the prospect of pushing residents away from “public forums which make them feel heard” and dividing the community.

“We are also a public body and, regardless of whether we agree with certain voices, we are duty bound to hearing those in an open and transparent way,” McGurk said. “To have those conversations quietly does not serve to educate people or contribute to the social fabric of our community.”

Tom McLennan said while his thoughts were “back and forth” and he has some concerns about making sure government is easily accessible, on the whole, he supports the motion. He said people have a responsibility to learn how government works, be informed and engage through avenues other than commenting on Facebook.

Rob Foote said he was neither for nor against the resolution. He said the city needs to establish effective communication channels and establish service levels for feedback for every department before such a motion is considered.

Steve Payne said he was not opposed to the motion but was not 100-percent in support. Rather than close commenting, he suggested the city use moderation tools such as requiring approval to publish comments.

“We’re dealing with a very small group of people that take the time to put … their garbage out into the world,” he said.

“When I go through the city’s Facebook page, I see lots of good questions, I see engagement, I see community helping community. And I see the garbage as well, but there’s tools out there.”