Regina's ban on panhandling

The treatment of panhandling by Regina city council, the Regina Police Service and the downtown business association is placed within the larger context of the current effort to make the poor ‘invisible’ in the metropolitan areas of North America. [...] As with welfare reform, the reform of the streets has been undertaken in the name of the public, with the express goal of making the streets safe for the public. [...] A major change in the bylaw was to allow a designate to appear in place of the mayor, chief of police and the president of the Chamber of Commerce. [...] Contained within it is the only mention ever within any city of Regina bylaw documents pertaining to the Tag Day that individual solicitation of money (panhandling) is a crime.42 The abstract of the document states: The purpose of the change in the bylaw is to allow a designate of the Mayor, Chief of Police or President of the Chamber of Commerce to appear in their place. [...] The mayor, chief of police and president of the Chamber of Commerce (or designates) no longer had to sit on the approval board, and this function was to be moved to the City of Regina Finance and Administration Committee (now bylaw 9001, but the name of the bylaw did not change).