It is not uncommon to roll up to an Ontario intersection and see someone asking for help, and one city is taking steps in an effort to put an end to the practice.
“It’s a dangerous situation and it’s an illegal situation,” said Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, while citing the Safe Cities Act. “You cannot be walking through canvassing in intersections.”
There was a successful court challenge to portions of the Safer Streets Act last year, but the ruling judge upheld a ban on walking onto a street to ask drivers for money.
Niagara Falls erected signs at the intersection of Morrison Street and Dorchester Road a couple of months back that ask people not to give money to panhandlers, while also including the logos of a local food bank and a local soup kitchen in the hopes that people will contribute there instead.
“If you want to help these individuals, there’s a way to help them,” the mayor said. “You do it with the food bank, the soup kitchen, or one of the other social services that we provide.
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“We are not trying to deny anybody what they need, we are trying to get them to stop breaking the law and stop endangering themselves and everybody else that’s entering that intersection.”
The signs do not appear to have put an end to the practice of people helping people just yet, according to the mayor.
“It hasn’t stopped, but if people stop giving money and giving them food there, they’re going to stop coming there,” Diodati said.
The postings are not necessarily permanent, as they are a pilot project which Diodati expects to last through the summer months.
“We’d like to have it through the summer when it’s busy and more people are out,” he explained, noting “it could last into the fall.”
“And then we’re hoping to come back to city council with a report with recommendations from our staff, our traffic engineers, on how well it’s working or not working, what we would change and any other suggestions that we would have.”
While it is uncertain what the measuring sticks are for success, Diodati said other municipalities are keen to see how effective the signs are in Niagara Falls.
“I know a number of other municipalities are watching us. They’ve asked about it, and they want to know the results because we’re the only community that is having this kind of a problem. It seems panhandling has really kicked up since the pandemic,” he said.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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