Now that the city of Waterloo has been granted an injunction order to crack down on unsanctioned St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, you may be wondering how this differs from previous years and what kind of legal consequences there could be.

 The injunction order, granted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, is in effect from March 14 at 12 a.m. to March 17 at 11:59 p.m. An injunction is defined as an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order, compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts.

In this case, it grants the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) the ability to arrest and/or detain anyone in the university district found attending, hosting, creating, sponsoring or allowing a nuisance party or unsanctioned street gathering, or otherwise violating the city’s nuisance bylaw. Police could also charge attendees with the criminal code offence of disobeying a court order.

If charged under the nuisance bylaw, an individual host, property owner, or attendee can face a fine of up to $25,000 for their first offence and $50,000 for subsequent offences related to a nuisance party, including obstructing the free flow of traffic. Further, the city bylaw fines may still apply. 

This includes $400 fines for the following: littering, dumping, emitting excessive amounts of smoke in public, bodily emission in public, and impeding a highway or public property. Subsequent penalties are $800. The following actions under the bylaw are $800: causing or permitting a nuisance noise at a designated time, occupying a roof, causing, permitting, sponsoring, hosting, allowing or attending a nuisance party, and failing to leave premises after having been ordered to do so. Subsequence penalties are $1,200. 

In past years, anyone found in contravention of the nuisance bylaw would only be subject to a ticket and fines, rather than criminal code offences. The nuisance bylaw is in effect all year round. 

This injunction can only be enforced where the main gatherings have taken place in past years, including Ezra Avenue and Marshall Street. The boundary covers about three square kilometres and includes the majority of the uptown neighbourhood, Northdale and MacGregor neighbourhoods, and the southern portion of the Sugarbush neighbourhood. It also includes Waterloo Park. 

In a similar incident, an injunction order was granted to the city of Hamilton in March and October 2024 in an effort to curb McMaster University’s St. Patrick’s Day and homecoming celebrations.