STUDENTS, educators and people attending faith services will soon see stronger protections that help ensure public spaces remain safe and respectful, with proposed laws extending safe-access zones at schools and establishing new ones at places of worship.
“The ability for kids to learn and the ability for everyone to pray without harassment or intimidation is fundamental to who we are as Canadians and British Columbians,” said Premier David Eby on Monday. “Unfortunately, in recent years, we’ve seen people targeting places of worship and schools with threatening and coercive behaviour. These new protections will help ensure people can attend school and gather in prayer and celebration in peace.”
Government intends to table Bill 12, the safe access to schools amendment act, and Bill 13, the safe access to places of public worship act (SAPPWA). If passed, Bill 12 would extend 2024’s Safe Access to Schools Act (SASA) to ensure students, staff, parents and caregivers continue to access learning environments without obstruction.
SAPPWA would create similar protections for people accessing places of worship, such as mosques, temples, gurdwaras, synagogues and churches.
“Children should be able to get to school, and people should be able to visit their place of worship, without facing intimidation,” said Niki Sharma, Attorney General. “These laws would help ensure students, educators and faith communities can access these spaces feeling safe, respected and welcome.”
Although the frequency of disruptions outside K-12 schools has fallen since SASA was enacted in 2024, they continue to occur. That’s why the Province is proposing to extend these protections to ensure students and educators continue to have safe, uninterrupted access to schools. The initial legislation has a sunset clause that would activate on July 1, 2026.
Since 2023, there have been more than 40 protest disruptions outside K-12 schools interrupting students’ learning. In a few cases, police were called to intervene.
“Students and staff deserve to feel safe and supported at schools,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Education and Child Care. “This legislation gives us the tools we need to ensure learning environments remain free from disruption so that students can stay focused on their education.”
SASA establishes “access zones” around schools where specified forms of harmful behaviour are prohibited. These zones include the school property itself and a 20-metre buffer around it. Under the law, police are allowed to intervene to curb disruptive behaviour within the buffer zones, not just on school grounds.
SASA includes key safeguards to ensure access zones are limited in size, targeted in scope and apply only where and when students and staff are likely to be present.
SAPPWA is part of government’s response to a rising trend of vandalism and other harmful behaviour targeting religious buildings and disrupting people’s access to and use of places of worship.
If passed, the legislation would extend similar protections as those offered by SASA to specific places of worship. Through the law, eligible places of worship would be able to post signage indicating access zones where specified disruptive or harmful behaviours would be prohibited. As with SASA, police would be able to arrest or issue tickets to anyone found impeding access, disrupting or interfering with these zones, or attempting to intimidate an individual within 20 metres (66 feet) of the property.
Both bills include sunset clauses that require reassessment from the legislature in the future to ensure they remain proportional and necessary. Bill 12 would extend SASA to July 1, 2028, and Bill 13 requires SAPPWA to be reassessed in 2030. SAPPWA’s protections would come into effect immediately upon receiving royal assent.
The legislation is modelled after previous legislation like the Access to Services (COVID-19) Act and the Access to Abortion Services Act. These laws reflect the Province’s ongoing commitment to keep people and communities safe and build on additional measures the provincial government is taking to protect public spaces.
Quick Facts:
* An access zone is an area where specified forms of harmful behaviour are not allowed.
* Within the access zone, it can be an offence to engage in behaviours that can harm or disrupt people.
* People can call the police to intervene if they are concerned that behaviour within an access zone may be harmful to others.
BACKGROUNDER
How the safe access to places of public worship act would work
The safe access to places of public worship act (SAPPWA) is a response to a rising trend of vandalism and other harmful behaviours targeting religious buildings and disrupting access. If the legislation is passed, it would allow for the creation of clearly defined access zones around places of public worship and would prohibit certain harmful behaviours in those zones.
If protestors engage in specified harmful behaviour within an access zone, officials at the place of worship would, under this proposed legislation, be able to call police to intervene. Police would then be empowered to make warrantless arrests and issue violation tickets. In addition, the legislation would allow the place of worship, the attorney general and others to apply for an injunction in Supreme Court to remove a protest.
Individuals would still be permitted to gather outside a place of worship to exercise their right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, as long as the activities do not amount to intimidation or interfere with access to the place of worship.
Places of worship that want these protections would be required to put up signage to notify that the access zone is in effect and that certain behaviours are prohibited. This will ensure the public has clear notice of where restrictions apply. In most cases, these access zones would include the building itself, the property on which it sits and a 20-metre buffer zone around the perimeter. Safe access zones would be limited in size and apply only if the place of worship chooses to erect the required sign.
Under this proposed law, protections would be focused on targeting harmful and disruptive behaviours, such as:
* using objects to barricade or obstruct access
* using one’s body to physically impede access
* disrupting activities like prayers or meetings occurring at the place of worship
* intimidating or threatening people trying to access the place of worship
* attempting to persuade people not to visit the place of worship
What makes a place of worship eligible under Bill 13
The proposed legislation lays out which places are covered, based on property-tax exemptions that have been used in other existing statutes like the Community Charter, the Vancouver Charter and the Taxation (Rural Area) Act to define what qualifies as a “public place of worship.”
