CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-TORONTO:

COURT SUPPORT FOR MATTHEW RICKWOOD:

Across the country municipal authorities have responded to the increasing crisis of homelessness in Canada with an overwhelming determination to not solve the problem but to make it invisible. In Ontario the so-called "Safe Streets Act" is one such tool that is increasingly being used to try and disguise the problem, a legally sanctioned method to harass the poor and homeless and drive them from public visibility.

These legal atrocities are not going unchallenged. Here's an appeal from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) for court support for one challenge to the law. For further updates consult the OCAP website and also Homeless Nation.

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PRESS CONFERENCE/COURT SUPPORT: Stop Sweeping the Streets! Stop the Ticketing!‏:
Stop Sweeping the Streets!

Stop the Ticketing!

Press Conference and Court Support

Thursday November 20th, 2008

8:30 am

Old City Hall(Queen & Bay)

Free coffee & doughnuts

Matthew Rickwood, a young Toronto man, is appearing in court on Thursday with his lawyer, after being charged under the Safe Streets Act this summer for "encumbering of street".

In June, Matthew had just sat down on the sidewalk in Toronto's downtown east end, when he was approached by cops and served with a court summons. He had already been given multiple tickets, carrying fines he simply cannot pay. More to the point, he had done nothing wrong. Living on social assistance, after paying his rent and board each month, Matthew is left with $56 to survive.

In a letter sent to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, the Police Services Board and Mayor David Miller, Gary Magee, a lawyer from Justice for Children and Youth writes, "My view...is that the increase in Safe Streets Act charges is part of a practice of "proactive policing" of youth and the poor. The practice includes harassing this population by issuing invalid tickets for Trespass, Liquor Licence Act infractions, and bylaws such as "encumbering the street", "loitering", and"fouling the street."

OCAP is calling on the police to stop the harassment of poor people through the criminalizing and discriminatory practice of ticketing,and demanding that the City of Toronto take responsibility for the actions of Toronto police.

We agree with Justice for Children and Youth that "resources spent on charging, prosecuting, and incarcerating poor people, should be spent instead on affordable housing, parks and quality recreation and arts programming, as recommended in the recent Roots of Violence report by Mr.McMurtry and Dr. Curling." The priorities of the city have to change.

Join us in supporting Matthew, his lawyer, and others coming to the steps of Old City Hall to speak out against rampant police harassment that is sending poor people to jail for no reason, wasting resources, and depriving people of dignity and justice.

Press Conference and Court Support

Thursday November 20th, 2008

8:30 am

Old City Hall(Queen & Bay)

Free coffee & doughnuts

OCAP DEMANDS:

1. That cops stop issuing Safe Streets Act and other tickets against poor people for being poor. Last year the cops laid 10,500 Safe Streets Act tickets and thousands of other tickets for things like"encumbering the sidewalk" and other 'offences'.

2. That the mayor tell the cops to back off. David Miller must tell the police to stop laying tickets against people on the streets.

3. That the City provide legal representation for tickets. If the City's cops ticket people they should provide representation for people. Right now, people are going to jail for panhandling largely because they cannot get legal aid and have no one to represent them in court. This is a tremendous injustice and it has an easy solution: If the City is going to ticket, and prosecute people, they can provide lawyers too.