Partnership could help the hungry and homeless

A counterculture organization that has handed out free meals downtown for nearly 20 years and the City of Peterborough have backed each other into an unfortunate standoff.

If the notion of two groups each forcing the other backward seems odd, well, this is an odd, and mostly friendly, impasse.

Food Not Bombs prepares meals every Monday night for whoever shows up to take them. Many of their regulars are homeless.

For years, the low-profile kitchen ran from the foyer of city hall. They chose Monday because that’s when city council meets. Anyone attending was reminded there are people out there without enough to eat.

Eventually the fire marshal decided the foyer needed to be uncluttered during public events, so FNB moved across the street to a tent set up in Confederation Square.

Now the city has decided to enforce a five-year-old bylaw that requires a permit to erect a tent or cook or serve food in a park.

Mayor Jeff Leal has taken a conciliatory approach. Leal said his office will cover FNB’s cost of getting permits and insurance while the two sides work on an arrangement to let the pop-up kitchen continue.

However, a spokesperson for the group says playing by the rules of the ruling class isn’t what they’re about.

Food Not Bombs groups have been providing food in cities across North America for four decades. Local member Myles Connor doesn’t believe any have ever applied for a permit.

The point is to remind people that an unfair system persecutes people in need, he said: “It would be like, this is no longer Food Not Bombs. This is now Shut Up, It’s Dinner.”

However, Connor said the group might “acquiesce” rather than face an order shutting them down.

There is a simple solution to this dilemma, one built into the wording of the parks bylaw.

The interpretation section states: “This bylaw does not restrict any activity by or on behalf of the city.”

Here’s what Leal had to say about FNB’s food kitchen: “Look, this is a very important service that is provided by the Food Not Bombs group. (FNB is) providing meals to people that are experiencing homelessness, people that are marginalized, people who are in severe poverty circumstances. We certainly want that to continue.”

City hall underwrites several non-profit organizations that supply community services, letting the city off the hook for doing the work itself. FNB could be added to the list for a lot less money than, say, the nearly $140,000 paid to Showplace theatre every year.

Would FNB agree to become a surrogate for city hall? It’s not in keeping with the stick-it-to-the-man-don’t-shake-his-hand vibe the group holds too, but not far off the old days of setting up shop at the literal city hall.

It would be a much more certain path than asking a court to strike down the restrictive bylaw sections.

The current parks bylaw was passed in 2019 during the homeless tent city controversy. Its main aim was to make camping illegal.

The bylaw was amended to take into account court decisions around tent encampments, and a judge would likely find it is enforceable.

The city could follow through on Leal’s vision by making Food Not Bombs a partner organization; FNB could save itself a lot of angst and continue its service to those in need by signing on.

Rewording the parks bylaw might also work, but we like the simpler, friendlier approach to standing down a standoff that doesn’t need to be.

The city could follow through on Mayor Leal’s vision by making Food Not Bombs a partner organization; FNB could save itself a lot of angst and continue its service to those in need by signing on