Many people who depend on Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support live in deep poverty. They may rely on panhandling to make ends meet, because their income assistance is inadequate to survive. However, for over two decades the Safe Streets Act has restricted the ability of people who live in poverty to ask for help, and has punished individuals with fines and imprisonment where they violated the Act. The Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) intervened in a Charter challenge of the Safe Streets Act because of its concern that these restrictions on panhandling negatively impacted social assistance recipients and were unconstitutional.
On April 2, 2024, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down some provisions of the Safe Streets Act that prohibit panhandling in certain circumstances. The court ruled that the panhandling ban in public places, including near ATMs, bus shelters, and taxi stands, unjustifiably violated freedom of expression. Panhandling is an important form of social interaction with community members. The decision recognized that panhandling may be the only form of expression available to make a personal appeal for help.
Further, the Court recognized that the mere presence of individuals asking for help does not pose a danger to public safety, and struck down provisions that deemed various behaviors – such as panhandling while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs – to be “aggressive” solicitation. Simply seeing a person panhandling while intoxicated would not likely cause a reasonable person to be concerned for their safety as they walked by.
The Court did not accept ISAC’s arguments that the Safe Streets Act violated panhandlers’ right to substantive equality and security of the person under the Charter. However, the Court confirmed that an intersectional lens may be appropriate because people may experience many different types of inequality that work together to limit opportunities and increase disadvantage. The Court reaffirmed that receipt of social assistance is a personal characteristic analogous to a ground protected by section 15 of the Charter.
Read the decision here.