immigrantscanada.com

Independent topical source of current affairs, opinion and issues, featuring stories making news in Canada from immigrants, newcomers, minorities & ethnic communities' point of view and interests.

Colin Mcconnell: Court System and Streets Act

colin mcconnell: Queen's Park should repeal the law, which criminalizes the poor for being poor, compounding inequality, clogging up the already overburdened court system and draining public coffers in the process, according to Toronto Star. This law is truly an ass. Colin McConnell By Star Editorial Board Sun., June 25, 2017 The legal clinic that launched a constitutional challenge last week to the Safe Streets Act, a heartless piece of legislation adopted in 1999 by the Mike Harris government, should be spared the trouble. Passed amid a moral panic about the rise of so-called squeegee kids, the act bans aggressive panhandling undertaken in a manner that is likely to cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety and security. After all, we know that there is often a yawning chasm between what causes ostensibly reasonable people to fear and what poses an actual threat. It should come as no surprise that this vaguely worded prohibition has been enforced more and more frequently even as instances of panhandling have steadily declined. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.