Publication title: Vue Weekly
Publication date: June 21, 2001
Document type: Article
Article author: Dave Johnston
Transcribed by: MW
This Sunday, the rave community in Edmonton is making its boldest move yet to combat the prejudice and hostility it has been subjected to over the past couple of years. The Edmonton Right to Dance Coalition is presenting a free dance and rally on the steps of City Hall on June 24, starting at 3 a.m., and they're inviting anyone interested in the issue to attend. The rally is modelled after a similar protest staged by the Toronto rave community last year on the steps of their City Hall, which attracted more than 20,000 people.
Among those scheduled to appear at the rally are British artists DI Rap and Chris Liberator, Toronto DJ Tommy Illfingas and local stalwarts like Tryptomene, Ariel & Roel, Spilt Milk and Neal K. There will also be speakers who will address the crowd between the sets, touching upon the myriad of issues the rave community feels must be heard before city council decides to vote on Bylaw 12610 on Tuesday. If it's passed, all commercial dance events must end at 3 a.m. and anyone under the age of 18 must vacate the venue of these events by midnight. This includes not only raves and after-hours clubs, but also all-ages rock concerts and festivals.
Terry Wickham believes that if city council passes Bylaw 12610 with these amendments on Tuesday, it will make our city the "laughingstock of the country." The Edmonton Folk Festival producer wants to express his views to council on Tuesday not on behalf of the annual music event, but as a concerned citizen and parent. "The bylaw doesn't address the problems," he says. "It just skirts around them, not to mention the fact that it’s totally unworkable.”
Wickham understands the concerns of Mayer Smith and the rest of council, but he doesn't believe they've taken the most productive approach to deal with it. "It's pretty clear that the raving and club community in this city are in favour of regulations," he says, "but you can't enforce a curfew on people. You can't outlaw dancing for a certain group of people. If there is a drug problem, then we should be tackling it together. As far as parents are concerned, they should be aware of what their kids are doing and where they're going—not leaving it up to the city to do it for them."
Wickham points to the Folk Fest as an example of how rave events should be handled. "We just don't go down there and set up tents," he explains. "We have to bring the health inspectors down for the food and safety inspectors to make sure the speaker stacks don't fall over. Everything we set up has to adhere to regulations of some kind."
Wickham figures that city council needs to return to the drawing board to come up with a workable bylaw, one more in line with the model created by Toronto over the past year. “I can't see why we have to reinvent the wheel here," he says. "The people in Toronto already went through this argument, and they found an answer, so why not take what they did and apply it to our situation? The council has good intentions, but what they've come up with isn't going to work. They're going around the situation in a roundabout way. This is the west—I thought we were supposed to be a bit more free of bureaucracy."
Down in Calgary, the city council adapted the Toronto model for dealing with raves, and so far it's worked, according to Def Star director Keith Rubuliak. Since he moved to Calgary fast year, Rubuliak has enjoyed success in a thriving club scene thanks to a strong line of communication between the city administrators and the rave community. "That's what Edmonton really needs," Rubuliak says. "There has to be regular dialogue between the two camps, not the occasional sit-down every six months. It's pretty clear from where I'm sitting that there has been a breakdown in communication in Edmonton—to the point that neither side really understands where the other one is coming from."
Rubuliak would like to see Edmonton's Right to Dance Coalition continuing to be active after the bylaw's fate is resolved. In Calgary, a similar group called C.O.R.E. has been building a bridge between the two sides of the community and maintaining that relationship ever since they played an integral part in drafting Calgary's rave bylaw.
"Edmonton should have a strong coalition and they shouldn't stop, no matter what happens," Rubuliak says. "I'd like to see more impartial members get involved on both sides, so rational decisions can be made."
As it stands now, Calgary's bylaw requires rave promoters to apply for an extended dance license at least six weeks prior to their planned event. The permit will be granted if the submitted report is approved by Emergency Medical Services, the police department and the fire marshal. Any violation of the conditions set down by the permit, such as lack of running water or blockage of fire exits, can incur stiff penalties or suspension.
Rubuliak points out that Def Star was the first company to pass successfully through the process. To him, the bylaw has had a positive effect on Calgary's scene. "It doesn't try to deal with the after-hours clubs," he says. "They have a separate bylaw for those businesses. Yet since the bylaw passed, the scene has moved into the clubs, which is so much better than the hassle of running a rave. At least in a club everything works inside a proven, controlled environment. It's made my business much easier to run."
Rubuliak feels that the city would solve a lot of problems if they found a way for established licensed nightclubs to stay open until 5 am, like they do in major urban centres like Montreal and Toronto. "You have people staying in a controlled environment, protected by trained security, rather than having them running around looking for underground after-hours clubs. Besides, you don't have an age issue, because everyone there is already an adult."
Rubuliak doesn't feel that closing down raves or legal clubs at 3 a.m. will end anyone's problems. "We're dealing with two very different worlds," he says, "and all they have to do is listen to each other. There's a lot to be gained in that."
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