Safe Streets Act: Michael Bryant Wants Ontario To Scrap Panhandling Law

TORONTO - Former attorney general Michael Bryant is calling on the Ontario government to repeal the "rotten law" that targets panhandlers and so-called squeegee kids.

Bryant is among a coalition of individuals and organizations urging his former Liberal government colleagues to take the now 15-year-old Safe Streets Act off the books.

During his four years as Ontario's attorney general, Bryant says he "failed" by not repealing the act when he had the chance.

Police defend panhandling crackdown

The Toronto Police Services Board has rejected a call to soften the force’s crackdown on panhandlers.

At a board meeting at police headquarters on Friday, anti-poverty activists said that the thousands of tickets given out under the Ontario Safe Streets Act every year have effectively made it illegal to be homeless on Toronto’s streets.

Toronto considers a complete ban on panhandling

It was an issue that was bound to resurface sooner or later. After all, the two previous mayors attempted to sweep the streets clean of homeless and poor people.

So why should the Ford administration be any different?

"It creates a really nasty, harmful atmosphere in the city," said Cathy Crowe, street nurse and spokesperson for the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee. "We feel that there have been hate crimes against homeless people inspired by some of that language. And for sure less tolerance."

Some of that intolerance has led to an enormous increase in tickets handed out under the Safe Streets Act. In 2010, police laid 15,000 charges as compared with about 2,000 in 2004.

"They've done it because there's been some kind of direction or permission for them to focus their efforts on that," said Crowe. "And they know just as well as anyone that those tickets can't be paid."