[homeles_ot-l] Homeless Protest Matter

[John Dunn]

I wanted to provide the following quotes from Stg. Malone of the Ottawa Police to anyone who may be involved in a homeless protest in the future so that they can ask the police if the same rules would apply to a group of homeless people who wanted to conduct a similar protest as what the Bus Drivers are doing, which is blocking traffic at City Hall and causing traffic delays on the roadway -- whether the Police would also have their hands tied from doing anything, or if instead arrests would be laid either shortly after the homeless persons started protesting, or if they would have been prepared to prevent them from showing up before hand.

Honestly keep this as it might help in court to demostrate descrimination against the homeless in that they will be treated worse than the "highly respected, comfortably housed bus drivers".

Could be used in a Human Rights trial as well.

Read on from CBC on December 17, 2008 below:


Sgt. Pat Malone, an Ottawa police officer who has been patrolling the picket lines, said there is not much police can do about the picket lines and the resulting traffic backups.

"But the days of pushing picketers off the line [are] over," he said. "The fact of the matter is our hands are basically tied.… The public needs to understand that the police cannot force these lines open to allow the traffic to flow."

Malone said pickets are allowed to delay traffic and pedestrians as long as they eventually allow them to keep moving.

"Our role is to maintain peace and order," said Malone, of the force's labour relations office. "But we want to remain neutral between the two parties.… It's a civil matter between the union and the employer, and we let them try and sort it out themselves."

The only time police intervene, he said, is if a criminal offence takes place that needs to be investigated or if traffic is backed up far enough to threaten public safety.

Malone, dressed in civilian clothing so as not to look intimidating, said people may remember a time when police took a more hands-on approach to policing picket lines, and have been asking police why they aren't doing something about picketers who are stopping traffic for minutes at a time as they enter city parking lots.

"He can't stand in front of my vehicle," Zwicker said, gesturing at a picket captain.

"Yeah, he can," Malone responded. "Ma'am, I'm just going to ask you to be patient. They're going to let people in. It's three cars every three minutes."

Speaking to CBC News a few minutes later, Zwicker said she thinks police could do more about the picket lines, which kept her out of the parking lot for more than an hour and helped bring her total morning commute to three hours on Tuesday.
 
 





Sincerely

John Dunn 

Executive Director

The Foster Care Council of Canada 
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

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