Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jun 2004
Source: Victoria News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004 Victoria News
Contact:  http://www.vicnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1267
Author: Scott Deveau

PANHANDLING PROBLEM OVERSTATED, CRITICS SAY

Aggressive panhandling isn't a big problem downtown, a Victoria police 
officer and a advocate for medical marijuana said following a recent 
community forum on the issue.

The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce held the forum to drum up support 
for two controversial private member's bills that target aggressive 
panhandlers and squeegee kids across the province.

While a Victoria MLA and a representative of Vancouver's business community 
noted that panhandling affects business, Phillippe Lucas of the Vancouver 
Island Compassion Society and Const. Rick Anthony of the Victoria police 
had a different take.

"The perception is that it is a lot worse than it actually is," Anthony 
said. He added that although citizens may feel unsafe walking downtown at 
night, the police's empirical evidence don't suggest that it is unsafe.

Nonetheless, some Victoria police would welcome the new laws.

Core division head, Insp. Grant Smith, who also attended the forum, said, 
"As far as I'm concerned, Mr. Mayencourt's legislation would help us out 
tremendously with those few individuals in the downtown area that are 
extremely aggressive and very difficult to handle."

The Safe Streets Act and the Trespass to Property Act, which are in their 
second reading at the legislature, would make it illegal for people to 
aggressively panhandle at bus stops, pay phones, bank machines and put an 
end to squeegee kids.

The legislation would also make it an offence to dispose of needles and 
used condoms in an unsafe manner and would afford shopkeepers the right to 
bar repeat shoplifters or undesirable customers from their premises.

"If an individual wants to kick someone off their property, it would take 
several days. Under this piece of legislation, it would take a phone call," 
said Vancouver-Burrard MLA Lorne Mayencourt, who put the bills forward in 
May. Mayencourt drafted the proposed legislation at the request of his 
constituents who saw the police crackdown in Vancouver's East End drive 
crime into the West End.

The bills mimic similar legislation implemented in Ontario in 2000, 
Mayencourt said.

"What happened in the case of Ontario... is that they used the law, but it 
really only had to be used for two or three months because people began to 
understand the perimeters and began to act accordingly," Mayencourt said.

Victoria-Beacon Hill MLA Jeff Bray said he was interested in what the 
community had to say about the proposal because he said the number one exit 
complaint for tourists coming to Victoria is about the number of panhandlers.

One of the speakers at the forum, Kathi Thompson, president of the Downtown 
Vancouver Business Improvement Association said she noticed the number of 
vacant stores in downtown Victoria.

"Once you have businesses leaving your downtown, it's very hard to get them 
to come back. Is that the type of downtown you want?" Thompson asked.

Anti-poverty groups immediately objected to the law when it passed in 
Ontario. They said it was a form of "poor-bashing" and saw their legal 
protests rise to the highest courts in the province before finally being 
overturned. Like in Ontario, not everyone agrees with the new legislation 
in B.C.

Lucas, founder and director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, 
said he thinks the bills are "a misguided way" of dealing with the real 
issues with the province's homeless - mental illness, poverty, and addiction.

"I don't see how this sort of legislation is going to address any of those 
issues," Lucas said after the forum. "My fear would be that if we allow any 
shop owner to bar anyone at their own discretion, we're going to see a high 
level of discrimination going on."

Chamber president Rebecca Grant said the legislation is just one tool for 
business owners downtown to tackle the issues of the city's poor. Grant 
said chamber members are very active in the community working with service 
providers like the United Way, Cool-Aid, the Open Door, and the YM-YWCA to 
try and tackle some of the root issues of poverty.

Bill Taylor, CEO of the Victoria YM-YWCA, said he has seen an honest 
commitment from the chamber on poverty issues, particularly in the past 
year, working "collectively and collaboratively" on issues of affordable 
housing and other programs.

Grant said, "there are a lot of misconceptions about this being poor 
bashing, or about getting these people out of our face, or about driving 
the disadvantaged out of the downtown. It's not. It's about making it a 
safer place for everyone downtown."

She reiterated that this legislation targets only those who choose to be 
aggressive.

"The person that is behaving aggressively can stop the whole process at any 
point, simply by behaving themselves," Grant said.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D