By Matthew Harrison
Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police are seeing fewer squeegee kids working in busy intersections around Ottawa since new provincial legislation took effect Feb. 1.
“So far, we are finding that the legislation has helped solve the problem, although there are still a number of squeegee kids defying the ban,” says Staff Sgt. Andrew Avery.
Police say squeegee kids, who solicit money for washing the windows of stopped vehicles, have been seen as a problem for awhile. But the new legislation appears to be scaring off many of them.
The anti-squeegee legislation, an amendment to the Highway Traffic Act, allows police to give fines up to $500 for first offenses and $1,000 or six months in jail for repeat offenders who approach vehicles on the street.
Veronica, 17, is still squeegeeing, despite the new legislation. She says she was recently picked up by the police but was never charged. Instead, she says the cops were just looking for drugs.
Veronica relies on the money from squeegeeing to supplement her job.
“I am always polite when I approach cars, I always ask them first whether they want me to clean their windows or not,” she says, noting she isn’t aggressively pursuing customers — something the new legislation is intended to stop.
John Clarke, head of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, argues the legislation is designed to reduce the visible poor from Ontario’s city streets.
“Increasing tourism and the attractiveness of the city means eliminating the poor from the streets,” says Clarke. “This legislation attacks the poor and their means of surviving. It does nothing to solve the problem of poverty.”
Richard Patten, Liberal MPP for Ottawa Centre, agrees.
“Tourism was definitely a factor,” he says. “People from the suburbs were horrified by the number of poor they saw on the city streets, it was something they didn’t see in their own communities.”
While, the legislation may temporarily discourage squeegee kids, Patten wonders whether the ban will solve the problem. He suggests job training, improving city shelters, increasing the number of street workers, and alleviating the housing shortage as alternatives to the law.
Patten fears the squeegee kids will continue to defy the ban, forcing the police to get tougher and the squeegee kids to turn to more serious crime.
But Veronica, for one, isn’t scared by the legislation. She says she’ll continue to make her living this way.
“I work in the morning and have nothing to do in the afternoon. Besides, this is real good money,” Veronica says.