By Jeremy Sandler
Standing at intersections and off-ramps in cities all around Ontario, squeegee people wait for cars to roll up to their mobile window-washing stands, hoping to get a few cents from the drivers.
It is hardly a surprise that Ontario’s government, led by Premier Mike Harris, targeted squeegee people in the cross-hairs of their safe streets act as part of the “common sense revolution.” They mentioned it during last spring’s provincial election campaign and again in the throne speech opening Ontario’s 37th Parliament on Oct. 21.
Introduced on Nov. 2 by Attorney General Jim Flaherty, the safe streets act includes provisions banning “aggressive” panhandling and solicitation.
Penalties for breaking the law include fines of up to $1,000 or up to six months in jail.
In the press release announcing the bill, Flaherty says “I believe this bill would help to ensure Ontario’s families stay safe.” But some people don’t believe squeegeeing is a major problem in the first place.
Marilyn Churley, NDP critic for Community and Social Services, thinks the government’s stance is politically motivated and short-sighted overkill.
“It’s just pushing a hot-button issue,” Churley says. “In the whole scheme of problems in our society it’s really low down there.
“There are already laws in place to deal with people harassing and intimidating people,” she says. “If there is aggression or intimidation the police should deal with it. But to sweep every squeegee kid into one category is wrong and unfair.”
Churley says that when she spoke out against the government’s planned crackdown, she expected a deluge of complaints from her constituents. But she says there were only three. She says this led her to question the government’s claim of being overwhelmed by complaints.
Brendan Crawley, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General’s office, says the law was necessary to protect the motorists.
“They feel intimidated and harassed,” he said. “They feel unless they give some people some money, something could happen.”
Sgt. Angelo Fiore of the Ottawa-Carleton regional police works out of a downtown community policing centre. He says the police will do what communities and governments want, but that his office gets a “very, very small” number of complaints about squeegee people.
“When we look at the amount of complaints that we’re getting back compared to the number of times (squeegeeing occurs), statistically it’s really not one of the main things we respond to,” he says. “The small percentage of them that have been a problem make it bad for all of them.
“We get a lot more calls for intoxicated people than we do with squeegee people.”
Fiore says there are some incidents of spitting or pounding on cars, but most of the complaints are more benign.
“Some of them (complainants) don’t like the way they look, some of them feel intimidated by them, some feel it’s a danger on the roadway,” he explains.
“Most of the ones we have found to be aggressive have been transients,” Fiore says.
John Clarke, organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, says the Safe Streets Act is part of a concerted effort by the government to marginalize the poor.
“I think basically what we’re confronting is that this government, more than any other, has been responsible for rendering more people destitute and penniless,” Clarke says. “Now it’s cracking down on its own victims a second time and in the process shoring up support among the law-and-order Tory brigade.”
He says even if the law is passed, it will not end squeegeeing.
Chris Miller, 17, lives on Ottawa’s streets and squeegees for a living.
“Even if it’s illegal people will still squeegee if you need money to feed yourself,” Miller says.
Miller and Phil Parent, 16, squeegee together at a couple of downtown locations. They are angry about the proposed law and skeptical of the government’s motives.
“They just want to have the cities clean,” Parent says. “It’s an honest living. We’re doing something for the money.”
Instead of looking for solutions to the growing problem of poverty in our streets, the act focuses on the symptoms. Issuing fines that people won’t be able to pay and putting people in jail for squeegeeing will only further the cycle of poverty and increase the likelihood of turning them into hardened criminals.
Alan Bovoroy, of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association was quoted as saying “Any genuinely harmful behaviour this bill refers to is already unlawful, so this contributes nothing. Anything else are minor irritations they are talking about turning into major illegalities.”
The majority of squeegee people don’t cause problems. For those with regular corners and the same customers rush hour after rush hour, courtesy makes good business sense.
Yet these people will be the ones getting busted time after time, while the more transient population which causes the problems will continue drifting from city to city, not being caught at all.
Trying to sweep these people under the rug and out of sight is not going to “clean up” our cities.
Ontario’s government is not waging war on poverty, but a war on the poor, attacking the most vulnerable members of society for having the audacity to try and earn a living in a way that showcases the poverty in our midst.
Instead of enacting legislation that will put many of these people in more dire straits than ever, couldn’t the government concentrate on trying to help them escape the wretched cycle of poverty?
That sounds like real common sense.