Hamilton may join a number of other municipalities that have bylaws regulating flyers with graphic imagery unless fully concealed in an envelope with a warning label.
The motion from Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson, unanimously passed in a committee meeting Tuesday, is requesting a staff report on the feasibility of adopting and enforcing legislation targeting the delivery of questionable images across the city.
Delegate Katie Dean, co‐founder of the Viewer Discretion Legislation Coalition, based out of London, Ont., started a campaign to fight such flyers after receiving one following her termination of a pregnancy in 2004.
Dean said the difficult choice stemmed from news from specialists that her pregnancy was not developing properly, with the viability of a normal life for her child unknown.
Not long after the decision to end her pregnancy, she received a mailer with anti-abortion imagery that “shocked” and “triggered” a traumatic response.
“The grief and memories came right back. It was tough, really tough. I went into a depression. My mental health was adversely affected by the images left in my mailbox,” Dean said.
The bylaw Wilson seeks would require any such graphic imagery to be inside a sealed envelope that warns of its contents.
Staff will also look at ways to regulate or prohibit the same imagery being displayed in public spaces as well as requiring the name and address of the organization or persons responsible for the delivery of the graphic image.
Wilson echoed Dean’s plight, characterizing an encounter with such media as a “trigger” causing harm.
“When these images are encountered for children who are asked as part of their task as a family member or a household member to gather the mail … it causes harm to people who have had to either make the decision or was not their decision,” Wilson said.
London, Woodstock and St. Catharines are other Ontario municipalities that already have graphic image bylaws for flyers, posters and billboards being displayed around the cities.
Toronto, which had similar complaints from residents in 2017, has sent proposed legislation back to staff for a review.
Meanwhile, a private member’s bill is still sitting at Queen’s Park awaiting a second reading.
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