Ticket Defence Program
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Have you recently been ticketed for panhandling, squeegeeing or sleeping in a public place? A group has formed in Ottawa to fight ticketing under the Safe Streets Act, National Capital Commission bylaws (NCC), OC Transpo and City of Ottawa Bylaws which are targeted at people living on the streets. These laws are unjust. They serve to scapegoat the poor, while all levels of government continue to cut social assistance and fail to fund affordable housing.
Don't delay! Drop off your tickets as soon as possible at one of these locations and we'll fight it in court for you.
So far we have successfully had fines dropped for infractions such as illegal camping, panhandling, soliciting near taxi stand, soliciting in an aggressive manner, etc. Our caseworkers are not lawyers but we can defend you against tickets such as these in court. For more information contact ticketdefence at gmail.com.
The Ticket Defence Program started as a working group of Direct Action Casework Ottawa and Legal Support Ottawa. We are not a social agency, charity or political party. We are dedicated to struggle against a system which maintains the inequity, indignity and needless suffering of poverty.
Here is our flyer (2 per page) in english (aussi disponible en français).
This information sheet tells you what to do when you drop off a ticket and answers some other frequently asked questions.
This form gives the volunteers at Ticket Defence Program the authority to act as agents for people charged by police under the Provincial Offences Act: Authorization Form.
This is for requesting disclosure from the office of the Crown Attorney: Disclosure Request.
This is for requesting a trial date from the Provincial Offences Court office, particularly when the original ticket has been lost: Trial Request.
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and Justice For Children and Youth (JFCY) began taking up the cause of squeegeers and panhandlers as soon as the Safe Streets Act was enacted. Thirteen of these tickets were appealed on constitutional grounds; the factum for the challenge can be found here.
The convictions were appealed to the Ontario Court of Justice and upheld by by Babe J. (2001). This was immediately appealed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and eventually upheld by Dambrot J. (2005).
Finally the case was heard at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In the ruling written by Juriansz J. A. (2007) the scope of the judgement was limited strictly to s. 3(2)(f). This section - and only this section - was ruled constitutional. The ruling stated that while s. 3(2)(f) does infringe the right to free expression, the need for traffic safety is pressing and the infringement is minimal because the section only prohibits panhandling "while on a roadway". Since the roadway is defined as in the Highway Traffic Act as the part of the road intended for vehicular traffic, it is clearly not illegal to ask for spare change from drivers while standing on the sidewalk or the median.
No further ruling was made on the "aggressive panhandling", "bus stop" and "bank machine" provisions, for lack of actual cases to examine. It was decided not to appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Ottawa Police Service in recent years has begun to track enforcement statistics:
Ontario's anti-panhandling legislation, the Safe Streets Act: SSA (1999).
An amendment which makes it legal for charities to panhandle has received "royal assent": Bill 58 (2005).
The NCC uses s.38 of its traffic and property regulations relating to camping permits to keep homeless people from frightening tourists: NCC TPR.
A link to Ontario's Liquor Licence Act: LLA (1990).
When all else fails, hand out tickets for jaywalking: HTA (1990).
The most obvious solution to the problem of homelessness: TPA (1990).
Some of the City of Ottawa's bylaws are on their web-site: City of Ottawa Bylaws