At its meeting on Monday night (April 8), Peterborough city council voted to approve an amendment to the city’s parks and facilities by-law with the intention of allowing Foods Not Bombs to continue serving free meals to those in need at Confederation Square without requiring a permit.
The volunteer group, which has been serving free meals for almost 19 years, began receiving trespass notices and compliance orders from the city in March because they were not in compliance with two sections of the by-law that require permits, including offering food or drink and erecting or being within a structure, hut, or tent.
The previous city council passed the parks and facilities by-law in August 2019 to help prevent homeless tent encampments in city parks.
The amendment to the by-law would allow a manager with delegated authority to grant an exemption to any part of the by-law for activities within Confederation Square. The intention would be to provide Foods Not Bombs with an exemption to allow them to continue to serve food in the park.
However, the amended by-law would also allow the city to apply administrative penalties of up to $275 per day for contravening the by-law and up to $750 per day for undertaking activities that require a permit. If an administrative penalty is applied to a by-law violation, this would replace a fine of between $200 and $10,000 per day upon conviction for an offence.
There was no discussion during the council meeting on why the administrative penalty change to the by-law was being included.
Ben Rempel, representing Foods Not Bombs (FNB), made a delegation to council at Monday night’s meeting to present the following statement on behalf of the collective.
“As you are likely aware, Food Not Bombs has continued to serve a nutritious community meal every Monday year-round since 2005,” Rempel said, reading the statement from his phone. “Our sharing of food is an act of protest against unjust civic priorities and, as we have been assured by the city, protests in Peterborough do not require permits.”
“Recently, the City of Peterborough has informed us we are in contravention of the 2019 parks and facilities by-law, a by-law regarding which — council may remember directly promising us — was to be explicitly complaint-driven, meaning that unless somebody makes a complaint, there will be no policy to enforce the by-law.”
“During the ongoing dialogue between FNB and the City of Peterborough, it has been established that neither party is aware of any complaints against the protest operations of Food Not Bombs in Confederation Square. The city’s use of the contracted security patrols by Garda, with city orders to take direct action against Food Not Bombs, would show the current city government has recently chosen to take a different stance on the enforcement of parks and facilities by-law.”
“The City of Peterborough has framed their concerns as an issue of insurance and liability,” Rempel continued. “However, the Ontario Donation of Food Act prevents anyone from holding FNB, or the Corporation of the City of Peterborough, liable for spoiled food.”
“Food Not Bombs has graciously been granted access to a commercial kitchen, where we prepare our community feast. We abide by commercial food safety rules, including erecting a tent to cover food served outdoors, and we maintain a strong and transparent relationship with the Peterborough health unit. We invite anyone from city administration to visit our kitchen and inspect our tent if they have any concerns. In all our years of protest operation, we have never caused a known detriment to public health or safety — and we all eat the food we cook, too.”
“With all these protections in place, we ask where is the real danger? In a city where residents are overwhelmingly at higher risk of losing their job, becoming food insecure, losing their housing, and becoming isolated from their supports than they are of being injured by our tent, the danger is in groups like FNB not existing. The danger comes when the Corporation of the City of Peterborough is cutting and attacking food programs despite the increased risk this (poses) to the public, because risk does not equal liability.”
“If this (proposed by-law amendment) intends to switch infractions from being provincial offences to administrative penalties, it is an outright attack on democracy,” Rempel said. “When a ticket is received it can be challenged in a court at no cost, but an administrative penalty cannot be challenged without a judicial review, which costs time and money which those most likely affected could never hope to raise.”
“This does nothing to protect Food Not Bombs, and we will not be used as a smokescreen for a motion which limits citizens’ ability to stand up for their rights and challenge unfair laws. It is within the power and jurisdiction of city hall to amend the parks and facilities by-law in a way which returns public space to the public and which protects the constitutional rights of the citizens of Peterborough. We all want our shared spaces to be safe, inviting, and communal.”
“The best way to achieve this is by facilitating active use of public space, not by necessitating permits. We believe the will exists within city administration to enact this, and we look forward to watching our city’s representation and staff working on the public’s behalf to make this happen.”
Responding to the statement, councillor Joy Lachica asked Rempel to confirm that Foods Not Bombs would prefer to have the parts of the proposed by-law amendment that refer to administrative fines removed., which Rempel confirmed.
Given the late hour in which the proposed amendment came before council, councillor Bierk put forward a motion to defer the item until the next cycle of meetings, which lost, with only Bierk and Mayor Leal voting in favour of the deferral.
Councillor Lachica spoke against proceeding with the proposed amendment, suggesting that problematic sections of the entire by-law be reviewed and that further consultation be held with Food Not Bombs to understand their concerns with the amendment.
“We’re actually disabling an organization from the ability to appeal at ticket if there was something put forward,” she said. “We’re not giving them that flexibility when we are charging them a fee. It doesn’t sit right with me the way it is, so I’m not going to be able to support this motion.”
Councillors Matt Crowley, Kevin Duguay, and Dave Haacke spoke in support of the proposed by-law amendment.
“If we need to tweak the by-law, let’s work with Commissioner Potts and Legislative Services and councillor Lachica and I and tweak it, but in the meantime, pass this stupid thing so that we can get going with the real business of the city and help out Food Not Bombs in the meantime, because they’re doing good work and they need to continue to do it,” he said. “But this is just wasting time, is all this is doing — us discussing this right now — because this helps them and it needs to happen.”
The proposed by-law amendment was approved by a vote of 9 to 2, with only councillors Lachica and Bierk voting against it.
