Parksville council are moving towards imposing a $50 fine for panhandling in many places throughout the city. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

clamping down

Parksville council adding teeth to panhandling bylaw enforcement

Oct 6, 2020 | 5:20 AM

PARKSVILLE — City council is moving to crack down on the growing issue of panhandling.

Councillors unanimously moved through the first three readings of a bylaw amendment Monday afternoon which would add a $50 fine for panhandling in certain areas of Parksville.

Included are soliciting money within 10 metres of banks, liquor stores, grocery stores and bus stops. The amendment also addresses panhandling at intersections.

“There just has to be a way to get people to not panhandle and we’re hoping they will take this more seriously,” Deb Tardiff, communications manager with the City of Parksville, told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Tardiff said the current bylaw lacks any teeth for city bylaw officers to discourage the practice. She said beyond telling people to move along, there’s very little they can currently do.

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The existing bylaw was implemented in late April 2019 with 69 files recorded to the end of the year. From January to July 2020, 85 cases of solicitation had been reported to city bylaw services.

“We hope to make it safer for our residents because it’s usually outside banks, liquor stores, there’s a couple of places in Parksville where panhandling occurs the most,” Tardiff said.

Oceanside RCMP Cpl. Jesse Foreman said for the most part, panhandling doesn’t fall under their enforcement umbrella unless there’s a breach of the Safe Streets Act.

A violation of the Safe Streets Act would include being aggressive, following people or soliciting in groups of two or more.

He added most calls they deal with related to soliciting usually start as a person sleeping or staying in a place they shouldn’t be and sometimes escalate to someone being abusive.

“As long as they’re doing so in an area that doesn’t disallow it and they’re not being aggressive and there’s not more than two of them, following people…there’s many rules that govern it,” Foreman said.

The amendment will come back to Parksville city council for final reading and adoption at a later date.

The City of Nanaimo has bylaws in place to tackle solicitation or harassment for money outside ATM’s, banks, bus stops, parking lots or in a way which obstructs traffic on a highway.

The penalty for any offence is $150.

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley