U of G report suggests Ontario’s Safe Streets Act is only criminalizing homeless citizens

A homeless person panhandles for money during an extreme cold weather alert for the City of Toronto last Dec. 13. Homeless citizens victimized A homeless person panhandles for money during an extreme cold weather alert for the City of Toronto last Dec. 13.

GUELPH — A report by the University of Guelph and York University suggested Ontario’s Safe Streets Act is contributing significantly to the “criminalization of homelessness” and should be repealed.

The study, based on information gained through the Freedom of Information Act, found that the number of tickets issued to homeless people in Toronto for panhandling and related activities increased by more than 2000 per cent between 2000 and 2010.

This was despite a decline from 29 per cent to 3 per cent in the number of street youth who cited panhandling and squeegeeing as their main source of income over a similar period.

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A copy of the report can be read here. Tom

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