Ottawa Panhandler’s Union organizer Andrew Nellis says the kindness meters are insulting because they rob panhandlers of their right to ask for money.
The Ottawa Panhandler’s Union wants to use donations collected from the kindness meters in the Byward Market and Rideau Street, but city council will not be granting the request.
In December, Mayor Larry O’Brien turned six former parking meters into charity meters where the public could donate money to help the city's homeless community.
O’Brien said he wanted the public to no longer give to panhandlers on the street, but to “park their cash in these meters” to fund organizations that help the homeless.
However, many homeless advocates are upset with the kindness meters, and say they do more harm than good for panhandlers.
“By telling people ‘don’t give money to panhandlers’ you are stigmatizing them,” said Jane Scharf, a homeless awareness activist. “You are telling them that all street people are bad and unworthy.”
“It is an act of defamation against these individuals. It is painting everybody with the same brush, and it is a negative brush at that.”
Andrew Nellis, an organizer with the union, agrees that the kindness meters are an insult and said they rob panhandlers of their right to ask for money.
In late January, the union sent a letter to city hall requesting half of the $1,000 that was collected from the kindness meters a month after they were installed.
Nellis said the union would like to distribute this money to the panhandlers directly.
“If these meters are supposedly for the benefit of the panhandlers, the city should have no problem with that,” said Nellis.
“Of course, we are expecting that they are going to refuse because it really has nothing to do with providing help for the panhandlers.”
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Georges Bédard said he was unaware of the letter, but it would be a bad idea to approve such a request.
“It wouldn’t be very smart for us to collect money and then to give it back to people who are going to be using it for drugs,” said Bédard.
“What we are going to do is give it to the agencies that are going to help the panhandlers. That is the proper route.”
Bédard said the city is letting the donations accumulate, and then will consult the Downtown Ottawa Coalition for a Safe Community to determine which homeless programs will receive the surplus funds.
A variety of groups could receive the money, such as Operation Go Home or the Ottawa Mission, depending on the amount of money raised.
In addition to the kindness meters, the union is presently in a dispute with the city over the fence built around the Colonel By underpass to stop street youth from gathering there.
Nellis said the union is also seeking a court injunction as well as a Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint to get rid of the fence.
Matthew Murray, an in-house social worker for the panhandler’s union, said the kindness meters and the fence at the Colonel By underpass are part of the city’s process to make homeless people so vulnerable that they will have no other option, but to comply to whatever the city decides for them.
“They are stripping away their rights and trying to crush the spirit of people that already, in my eyes, have been injured by society,” said Murray.
“They are trying to make the alternative so unbearable that they are forced into some kind of institutional lifestyle.”
However, Nellis is confident that the homeless community will prevail.
“The city is going to find out that they can’t win. They are trying to take us on in the place where we have the most strength,” said Nellis. “The street is where we are strong.”