Agencies protest anti-panhandling posters’ message
CALGARY, AB—People who work directly with Calgary's homeless population are shaking their heads at an anti-panhandling campaign launched by the Calgary Downtown Association.
The association has placed 115 posters inside C-Train cars and downtown restaurants depicting panhandlers using the spare change they receive to shoot up or drink. Each ad suggests it's better to give money to agencies that will feed and clothe the homeless.
However, at least three downtown agencies have asked to be removed from the downtown association's website to protest the unfair portrayal of homeless people.
"We agree—it's a wise decision to support agencies. But the posters seem offensive. You can't just give everyone the same label," says Diana Schwenk, director of development for The Mustard Seed, one of the agencies protesting the campaign.
"If people are believing what they're seeing, they may decide to give to an agency instead of a panhandler. But we still need to dispel the myth that all homeless people are drug addicts," continues Schwenk.
"Homeless people are just like you and me, only when things get bad, we can go home, go to bed and curl up in a ball. They can't."
Rob Laird, intake coordinator at The Calgary Dream Centre, is on the street every day talking to the homeless. He dislikes the posters, and wonders if it's just a scare tactic to get the homeless away from the front doors of fancy stores and office buildings.
But Laird does agree that panhandlers are most often looking for money for drugs and alcohol.
"Panhandling is not food-driven. It's not a food issue. It's a drug and alcohol issue," says Laird. "There is no reason for anyone to go hungry in downtown Calgary. There's food available everywhere.
"If a panhandler is asking for food, and they look skinny, it's fueled by drug use, not lack of food. The pictures on those posters are realistic, but I wonder what they're really trying to do with them. I think they just want to clean [downtown] up."
Richard White, executive director of the Downtown Association, says whenever they try campaigns encouraging people to give to agencies instead of directly to panhandlers, they meet with opposition.
"A couple of years ago we did a softer campaign, with the slogan 'Make real change with your spare change,'" says White. "We got the same response. But some said they appreciated the reminder."
Agencies opposed to the campaign say the ads perpetuate public fear that homeless people are dangerous and that the posters take the complexity out of homelessness in the downtown core.
A community action committee is working on strategies to put out a more accurate message about the issues facing addicts and the homeless in Calgary.
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