The Toronto City Parks and Recreation Committee voted this week to bar from city parks any meetings conducted by hate groups. It also rejected an application by John Beattie, self-styled Canadian Nazi leader, for a permit to hold an open-air meeting in Allan Gardens, one of the principal parks here.
By a vote of five to two, the committee approved a recent City Council resolution, declaring it a violation of the law for any speaker in a public park to “use language or conduct likely to stir up hatred against religious, racial or national and ethnic groups.” The committee also recommended that the City Parks Commissioner need not obtain City Council approval for rejecting a meeting application “if he believes that the issuance of such a permit may lead to a disturbance in the park. “
The committee held a series of public hearings on the issue. The banning of hate meetings in public parks was advocated strongly by the Canadian Jewish Congress, which was represented at the hearings by Louis Herman, Louis Ronson, Myer Sharzer and Ben Kayfetz. Controller William Archer also favored the ban.
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