The Toronto city council is proposing a bylaw to outlaw panhandling in tourist areas but according to a short legal outline by the Wellesley Institute, Are the poor allowed to ask for help? an anti-panhandling bylaw might not be legal. Read the Toronto Disaster Relief press release below.

Toronto Disaster Relief Press Release

Re: New bylaw proposal to prohibit panhandling in Toronto tourist areas

No economic apartheid zones in Toronto!!!

Councillor Case Ootes who makes $95,000 a year as a Toronto city councillor is trying to get a bylaw passed which would prohibit poor people from asking for economic help in “tourist areas”.
If this discriminatory bylaw is passed at committee it will then be voted on at City Council by a large group of $95,000 a year councillors and a $160,000 mayor.

“If it passed at Council this bylaw would certainly be met by a Charter challenge,” said Beric German of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee. “As well, a huge political battle would ensue and tourists and many others would get to see that Torontonians don’t take attacks on poor people lightly.”

“It should be noted that councillors get a portion of their hefty salaries from taxes emanating from the tourist trade. Are they now going to be asked to make a decision as to whether the poorest of the poor can ask a tourist to top up their meagre or non-existent income?” asked German.

“Is Councillor Ootes trying to make Toronto one of the most shameful cities in the industrialized world?” asked Cathy Crowe of the TDRC.

For information: Cathy Crowe / Beric German - 416-599-8372