Councillors endorse changes to public spaces bylaw

Edmonton city councillors have voted to suspend the part of the public spaces bylaw that prohibits loitering in transit spaces during extreme weather. City administration already has authority to suspend some bylaws during extreme weather events, but at a community and public services committee meeting on Sept. 28, councillors voted 4-1 to formally direct administration to do so. Coun. Karen Principe voted against the direction and questioned whether transit spaces were a safe space to shelter from the cold.

The motion came during an update one year after several bylaws were consolidated to create the public spaces bylaw. The report said transit and downtown peace officers issued 29% more warnings and issued 9% more tickets in the bylaw's first year. The majority of warnings were related to proof of payment, controlled substances, inappropriate behaviours, and using transit spaces for non-transit purposes. At the same time, the Community Outreach Transit Team, known as COTT, recorded a 59% increase in engagements and interactions, which it attributed to enhanced operational alignment between transit peace officers and outreach teams, as well as increased community awareness following the opening of the Wa'awiyagabi Welcome Space at Central LRT Station.

Administration recommended that $25 fines remain in place for select offences linked to poverty and social vulnerability, and that council review the fines if a community court program is established in the future. Calgary introduced a community court program in summer 2024. Parveen Parmar, director of advocacy at the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, told councillors that they shouldn't wait to reduce or remove fines for survival-related conduct. More than 80% of tickets for loitering in a transit space went to people with no fixed address, and nearly 90% of warnings were related to daily survival activities such as unpaid transit fares and sheltering in transit spaces, Parmar said. The centre has been conducting interviews with people facing bylaw fines across Alberta. It found that they are accumulating debt and hitting barriers in accessing justice and basic services, with some ending up incarcerated, despite the intention to prevent fines from being a pathway to jail.