Bail Conditions, Political Protesters and Freedom of Speech

Canadian bail laws allow courts and governments to muzzle anyone who publicly objects to public policy.

Jackie Esmonde's article "Bail, Global Justice, and the Limits of Dissent," published in the Fall 2003 issue of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal (Volume 41, Numbers 2/3), examines how Canadian bail laws and pre-trial detention practices were weaponized to suppress political dissent during the early 2000’s global justice movement.

Esmonde argues that bail conditions under Canadian law, often vaguely worded to require "keeping the peace" or avoiding "non-peaceable" assemblies, effectively criminalize lawful political expression and association, undermining Charter-protected rights like freedom of assembly and speech.

This approach was originally intended to target activists engaging in “militant” civil disobedience against globalization by treating them as “threats to public order” rather than legitimate dissenters in a reasonable public policy debate.