Councillors on Edmonton’s Community and Public Services Committee are reviewing the city’s public spaces bylaw, which took effect a year and a half ago. City staff say the bylaw has created a more compassionate approach to addressing public disorder. It also sets out what is permitted on sidewalks, in parks, on transit and in other public spaces. Staff say peace officers and transit peace officers are taking a softer approach to social disorder, but advocates disagree, arguing the bylaw still allows law enforcement to unfairly target homeless people. “There needs to be changes to this bylaw because it is targeting homeless people,” Daniel Johnstone of the Can Man Dan Foundation said Monday. “It is anti-poor, and it targets my people (and) Aboriginal people as well. It makes being impoverished a crime.” Joshua Goldberg of the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness said he does not “see any evidence that the bylaw is making public spaces safer.” “What I see is that it’s contributing to life getting harder for unhoused people,” Goldberg said. Among the changes introduced when the bylaw took effect in May 2025 was a reduction in fines for several offences often associated with homelessness. The fine for building shelters, visible drug use, panhandling and loitering in transit centres was reduced from $250 to $25. The idea is that a fine should not become a pathway to jail for people who are unlikely to be able to pay it. The city says officers now use a “4E” approach to enforcement: engage, explain, encourage, then enforce. As a result, warnings for those common offences have increased significantly, while only a small percentage result in tickets. “There is a lot of good that has come out of the bylaw and a lot of good feedback that we’ve heard,” Coun. Erin Rutherford, who represents Ward Anirniq and sits on the Community and Public Services Committee, said Monday. “But there are areas where we might be disproportionately impacting vulnerable people, and we need to course-correct that.” City staff have proposed several changes to the bylaw. For example, two sections dealing with encampments, or “structures” on public property, carry different penalties. One offence carries a $25 fine, while the other carries a $250 penalty. Staff say officers are using the provisions interchangeably and recommend reducing both fines to $25. Another proposal would establish a community court program that could connect people facing bylaw offences with social services if their actions stem from homelessness, addiction or other life circumstances. Those and other proposed changes will be debated next month.
