B.C. proposes controversial homeless bill

Police in B.C. will be given the power to take homeless people to shelters during severe weather — but not to force them inside — under legislation introduced Thursday in the provincial legislature.

Housing Minister Rich Coleman said he tried to strike a balance with the Assistance to Shelter Act, respecting the rights and freedoms of homeless people while preventing more of them from dying on the street.

The legislation was prompted in part by the fate of a homeless woman who burned to death in downtown Vancouver in December 2008 when she used a candle to try to heat a makeshift tarpaulin tent. A police officer had earlier on the same evening tried to talk the woman into going to a shelter, but she refused.

"This is one of the toughest pieces of legislation I've worked on in the past eight or nine years," Coleman said.

Police could use 'reasonable force'

The bill will give police the power to use what the bill refers to as "reasonable force" to get the homeless to shelters whenever there's an extreme weather warning.

"That means this act would now give the tool to police to say, 'You have to go to the shelter.' The reality though is that's as far as we're taking it," Coleman said.

Once the homeless person arrives at the shelter, there will be an outreach worker to let them in from the cold. But Coleman said the homeless won't be forced inside.

"We think they will make the right decision," he said.

But B.C. NDP housing critic Shane Simpson says the proposed law could still violate civil liberties because it does not define what "reasonable force" can be used to get the homeless off the street.

Simpson had other objections to the bill.  

"I don't think it's a necessary piece of legislation. And it's also a piece of legislation that diverts us or distracts us from the real question, which is the provision of adequate shelter."

Coleman said both the RCMP and city police in Victoria endorse the bill.