By Rowan Lomas
Prominent social activist Jane Scharf is fighting for the removal of the “no-panhandling” signs posted by the Shepherds of Good Hope late last summer.
She says the signs are detrimental to the very people the Shepherds of Good Hope—an organization that provides food, clothing and shelter to those in need—is claiming to help.
“Shepherds is getting more conservative and punitive in their view of the poor,” says Scharf, who says it’s not the organization’s mandate to police the streets.
Shepherds spokesman Rob Eady says requests from the community and former city councillor Madeleine Meilleur led to the decision.
There are safety issues, Eady adds: “We’ve had a few accidents involving panhandlers and motorists. We had one gentleman on a motorcycle wipe out trying to avoid one of our clients.”
But Scharf argues that the intersection is relatively safe for panhandlers because of the wide median. It’s certainly no more dangerous than the busy intersections outside of the Mission shelter on Waller Street, or the Salvation Army shelter on George Street, which don’t have such signs, she says. The Shepherds’ rationale is at least in part economic, she adds.
“They are raising money for the poor, and quite aggressively, so it seems like they think the panhandlers are cutting their grass,” says Scharf.
The problem, according to Eady, is that when people give to panhandlers outside the shelter, they believe they are donating to the organization. The organization is not opposed to panhandling elsewhere, Eady says, stressing that nobody will be denied services for doing so.
“We provide services to people who are barred at a lot of other places,” says Eady, “so we definitely look after all the clients.”
While panhandlers figure prominently in the Byward Market, the practice seems to be waning in Centretown. According to Kerry Kaiser, co-ordinator of the Centretown churches’ Emergency Food Centre, poverty in the area continues to exist.
In 2003 the centre served 9,097 clients. And the local drop-in centre, Centre 507, provides food, clothing and support services. for thousands of clients each year.
Kaiser says that there used to be more panhandlers in Centretown. She says, for example, that in previous years there would be three people on each corner of the intersection in front of Hartman’s Your Independent Grocer, “and they would be some of the more hardcore street people.” Now, she says, the majority seem to have moved to the market.
She says that the community spirit of stores like Hartman’s, which gives the centre boxes of food donated by customers, helps her cause. Kaiser adds that Hartman’s hires many of the centre’s clients.
Hartman’s would not comment on the suggestion it hires Kaiser’s clients.
Kaiser says the Emergency Food Centre hasn’t posted “no-panhandling” signs at its Bank Street location.
But she adds, “the Shepherds are really good, and if they’ve done it, I’m sure they have their reasons.”
Scharf argues the Shepherds’ reasons aren’t good enough. She wrote a letter to the organization saying she would take action unless the signs are removed by Feb. 6.
Eady says there are currently no plans to remove the signs.
Scharf has organized a campaign to have people register their complaints about the signs with the Shepherds of Good Hope. She also plans to hold a protest on March 1, during which she will panhandle at the intersection of King Edward and Murray Streets.
Scharf is a well-known local activist. In 2002 she went on a 42-day hunger strike to protest what she called the improper use of child restraints in group homes. Last year she spent four months on the streets of Ottawa in protest of the Safe Streets Act, which was passed in 1999 and focuses on tempering aggressive and dangerous panhandling.