Repeal ‘humiliating’ panhandling law: ex-attorney general

An Ontario law against aggressive panhandlers and socalled squeegee kids penalizes the poor and should be scrapped, says a former attorney general who admits he failed to do so when he had the chance.

Michael Bryant, who served in Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government, is leading a group of anti- poverty advocates and a current crop of provincial politicians in a renewed push for Ontario to repeal the Safe Streets Act.

“We’re wasting a lot of money putting people further behind,” Bryant said in an interview. “It’s humiliating and unjust to penalize someone for being poor.

“No middle-class Ontarian is getting these tickets.”

Bryant headlined Street Legal 2017, a conference encouraging a push for systemic change to laws that are disproportionately affecting the homeless, which took place in Ottawa on Friday.

Brought in by the Mike Harris government in 1999, the Safe Streets Act outlaws “aggressive” panhandlers and so- called squeegee kids attempting to collect money in public washrooms, at public transit stops, and from commuters in traffic. Under the act, police are able to fine panhandlers $500 for a first offence. Repeat offenders can face fines up to $1,000 or up to six months in jail.

Bryant, who called a press conference in 2014 and dumped dozens of unpaid panhandling tickets onto a table, said he failed as attor- ney general between 2003 and 2007 by not moving to repeal the act.

“I don’t have any excuses at all,” said Bryant, who now works as a defence lawyer for the homeless and indigenous. “I didn’t have all the information that I have now.”

Between 2000 and 2010, Toronto police issued 67,000 tickets worth $ 4 million under the law, according to a report co-authored by York University professor Stephen Gaetz.

The study estimates Toronto police spent nearly $ 950,000 enforcing the act, while Bryant said an additional $3 to $5 million went to court costs. Fines for 99 per cent of tickets were not collected.

The president of the Police Association of Ontario says if the law is repealed, public safety will be put at risk. “This is a tool that should not be taken away from police,” Bruce Chapman said. “We’re losing focus on whether a fine is paid or not on the safety and the security of our citizens.”