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Arena off-limits to Lions stag

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A long-standing tradition in Port Dover is under serious threat following a policy change at Norfolk County.

The Port Dover Lions annual Fish Fry and Stag has been a popular spring-time fixture in Port Dover for more than 60 years.

The controversial event features a fish dinner followed by a night of adult entertainment. The latter includes exotic dancers.

This week, Norfolk council put the future of the event in jeopardy when it approved modifications to its rental agreement for county facilities.

The change acknowledges that the county approved a zoning bylaw last year that imposes limits on the provision of adult entertainment.

The key consideration regarding the Fish Fry and Stag involves a minimum distance separation for any adult entertainment facility from residential areas, daycare centres, places of worship, schools, libraries, community centres, health clinics, hospitals and parkland.

Under the 2017 bylaw, adult entertainment centres and body rub parlours are forbidden within 500 metres of these uses.

“The only thing I can think at this point is to just have a fish fry and do away with the entertainment,” says John Hall, the past president of the Port Dover Lions Club.

“A lot of people come only for the supper anyway. I can’t think of anywhere else where we might have it. We’ve never really discussed changing it, but it looks like we’ll have to discuss changing it now. No doubt this will affect attendance.”

The Fish Fry and Stag is held annually the first Friday in June. Last month’s event attracted 650 people.

The event encountered turbulence 20 years ago when critics labelled it sexist, demeaning to women, and beneath the dignity of a serious service club.

The Lions’ response was defiant. At the next event, they sported buttons, T-shirts and hats that said “We batter fish, not women.”

Complicating the county’s situation are provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code which forbid discrimination on a variety of grounds, among them gender.

The name “Fish Fry and Stag” suggests it’s an all-male event. Norfolk County has received legal advice that this could be problematic.

“There’s no doubt the Lions will no longer be able to have their stag at the arena,” Port Dover Coun. John Wells said Wednesday.

“That’s contrary to the zoning bylaw. As well, they’re concerned that – if you advertise something as a `stag’ – you can’t do that either. Someone might say that’s discriminatory.

“We live in a strange world today where you can’t always do what you want. Because we are law officials, we have to abide by the law.”

Norfolk’s facilities agreement will also be updated to forbid renting to any group or individual whose position, message or event contradicts the provisions of the Ontario human rights code.

Individuals and groups wishing to use county facilities will have to sign an agreement stating that their event is code-compliant.

This provision has been added to protect the municipality in case it is named in any complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.

The tribunal is a human rights court with the power to render judgments and impose penalties on individuals and entities found in breach of the provincial rights code.

MSonnenberg@postmedia.com

 

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