Two reports released last week indicate that the Safe Streets Bylaw has not been the education tool that Mayor Hall and some councillors indicated it would be. Instead, unhoused people are being shooed to the next street by bylaw officers who were trained to write parking tickets and not deal with the complex needs of people struggling with addictions and mental health issues.
Many people in Prince George were left scratching their head as to how a $100 dollar fine is going to stop an unhoused person from consuming drugs. It was then suggested that ticketing would identify problem offenders who would inevitably receive so many tickets that would result in problem offenders going to jail. Aside from the issues of overcrowding that would require another correction centre and the $100,000 it probably costs taxpayers to house a single inmate each year, city bylaw officers haven't been issuing tickets, according to one of the reports findings over a 99-day period following implementation.
If memory serves me correctly, some council members were critical of the RCMP for not handing out tickets or charging people after council approved funding for additional RCMP officers for downtown. Now we have four additional bylaw officers supposedly hired to enforce the safe streets bylaw but are not enforcing the bylaw by ticketing.
This past summer, I read an opinion piece by Neil Godbout that said the Safe Streets Bylaw was likely to take people’s attention off the parkade fiasco. He was right but if the mayor and some council members continue to hire more RCMP officers and bylaw officers to enforce laws that are ineffective at combating drug addiction and mental health issues, it may not only waste millions more than the parkade but most importantly squander an opportunity to save lives.
There is a billboard when you’re driving east towards Prince George that reminds us that the people you see on the streets suffering from addiction were once children loved by someone. We need a mayor and council that recognize that some of the people living on the street were not always addicted to drugs.
Secure housing, access to voluntary addictions and mental health supports and safe drug supplies are key areas that will achieve what the Safe Street Bylaw cannot. Council needs to scrap the Safe Streets Bylaw and join city councils across B.C. calling for meaningful drug reform.
Richard Parks
Prince George
