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Street level fundraising bylaw nixed by council – Metro US

Street level fundraising bylaw nixed by council

Council has decided against a bylaw allowing fundraising on streets.

Charities such as Dalhousie’s annual Shinerama campaign had hoped a bylaw would allow them to collect money from motorists stopped at red lights.

They used to be able to, but a recent provincial law banned collecting money on roadways. The law was supposed to target panhandlers, and it offered a loophole to municipalities where they use a bylaw to exempt charities.

But that won’t happen in Halifax. Staff recommended doing so could make the city liable for injuries as well as open it up to discrimination lawsuits from poverty activists.

But Preston-Lawrencetown-Chezzetcook Coun. David Hendsbee said the charities are unofficially allowed to collect money on the street because the city turns a blind eye. He said formalizing the process with a bylaw would have raised the legal issues.