In a dick move that defies logic, the City of Vancouver is looking to increase fines on bylaws targeting the poor to a truly staggering rate. Included in the 42 changes is a maximum fine of $10,000 for being homeless.

According to the Mainlander,

Among the changes are measures to levy $10,000 fines on low-income people for sleeping outside, jaywalking, and engaging in “illegal” street vending of recycled wares.

Good Lord! This is unbelievable! I mean, I hate having my heart broken when I see some poor soul sleeping on a sidewalk, shoes stolen at some point during the night, using his scant possessions tucked into a Overwaitea bag as a pillow as much as the next guy, but is this really addressing the root problem?

By imposing an economic punishment that is effectively impossible for a poor person to pay, is the City of Vancouver engaging in a massive bluff? Or do they truly believe that by divvying out these crippling fines they will keep Vancouver’s streets clear of riff-raff? What the fuck is going on over there on the Left Coast?

You’d expect those hippies out in Lotus Land to be beacons of social justice, what with their fair weather, beautiful mountain vistas to behold on a daily basis, and their unprecedented natural resources, but British Columbians are often cruel to the homeless. When I lived in Kelowna, the RCMP mounted a campaign to rob the homeless of their shopping carts and levy them with a fine. The rationale was that the shopping carts were “stolen property” (fair enough), but the sight of two well-fed coppers dumping the last material remnants of some poor broken woman’s life onto the side of the street one cool April evening certainly made one wonder how the punishment fit the crime.

Whether these latest amendments to Vancouver’s bylaws will hold up to public scrutiny is yet to be seen. The city has temporarily put the controversial changes on hold — not because of any scruples, but because of a court challenge by a former homeless man. So, if city council had its druthers, those folks sleeping on the sidewalk would finally be paying (a lot) for the privilege. To be continued.

The MainlanderThomas Quine/Flickr