The Democracy Fund is disturbed by the heavy-handed response from Hamilton Police to the Dominion Society of Canada's attempts to book venues in the city.
TORONTO: Hamilton Police state on their website that "the messaging associated with DomCon is divisive and exclusionary and can negatively impact the sense of safety and belonging within our community." Police "encourage venues to consider the impact this event and its messaging may have on the broader community when making decisions about hosting it" and ask people with information regarding a recent venue booking to contact Hamilton Police.
Police are reportedly visiting venues to "inform" people about the group.
Hamilton Police are aware the Dominion Club of Canada continues to seek an alternate Hamilton venue for its DomCon conference on Aug 29. Anyone with information about a recent venue booking in #HamOnt is asked to contact police at 905-546-4707. Read More: https://t.co/2EsZqa7YzG
— Hamilton Police (@HamiltonPolice) August 27, 2026
Deploying police resources against a political organization based on that police force's own political evaluation constitutes an improper use of law enforcement powers. The police should evaluate a group based on objectively reasonable concerns about public safety and criminal conduct. As reported by media sources, a police spokesperson confirmed that “At this time, the messaging associated with the event does not meet the threshold for criminal or unlawful activity.”
Police are required under the law to remain neutral as between competing political organizations provided these organizations do not engage in criminal activity or are not reasonably suspected of doing so. It is inappropriate for police to visit a business owner to discuss potential clients; this can reasonably be perceived as intimidation. Allowing police to apply their own political test before Canadians can engage in peaceful assembly and expression violates s. 2(b) and s.2(c) of the Charter. Groups with offensive, politically divisive, or dissenting beliefs are protected by the Charter.
TDF Executive Director, Mark Joseph, said: "The police are neither empowered by law nor epistemically capable of using political tests for the application of Charter rights. Whether a group holds politically unpalatable views is irrelevant to the existence and application of Charter rights. To hold otherwise would vitiate those rights and strip them from everyone. Either we have Charter rights that are universally applicable, or we are subject to the whims of police bureaucrats who get to decide when we have those rights."
About The Democracy Fund:
Founded in 2021, The Democracy Fund (TDF) is a Canadian charity dedicated to defending constitutional rights, promoting free speech and religious freedom, and opposing religious discrimination. TDF advances these principles through litigation, public education, educational initiatives, and access-to-justice programs for Canadians whose civil liberties have been infringed.