Members of a city committee have voted to make minor changes to a controversial municipal bylaw as groups that advocate for homeless people in Edmonton say the rules continue to hurt vulnerable communities.
In a one-year review of the public spaces bylaw at city hall on Monday, city managers said it’s generally been used as anticipated, with warnings for offences like setting up shelters and panhandling being issued more often than tickets.
The city’s public spaces bylaw took effect in May 2025 and was intended to “simplify public space regulations” and to regulate behaviour while avoiding “hard or unintended consequences to vulnerable Edmontonians,” a new city report says.
The report was presented to the city’s community and public services committee Monday. At the meeting, several people associated with non-profit and advocacy groups argued that the bylaw infringes on human rights.
During the meeting, Coun. Erin Rutherford put forward a motion suggesting the section of the bylaw that prohibits people from loitering in public transit spaces be suspended when the city experiences extreme cold or heat.
“I agree that transit stations are not meant for shelter,” Rutherford said, but also noted the number of people getting frostbite and requiring amputations in Edmonton has gone up and that she believes removing people from transit spaces during extreme weather isn’t helping.
“What else can we be doing in this situation to address those harms but also to make sure that we’re not using enforcement as a tool when people are just trying to survive?”
Councillors Jon Morgan and Jo-Anne Wright and Mayor Andrew Knack voted in favour of the motion, and Coun. Karen Principe voted against it.
Daniel Johnstone, executive director of the Can Man Dan Foundation, a charitable organization that specializes in poverty relief, was among the people that addressed the committee.
“It penalizes people … [living in] extreme poverty conditions and it only makes life harder for them,” he said of the bylaw while speaking to CBC News.
Johnstone pointed to the section of the bylaw that prohibits temporary shelters and requires peace officers to tear down tents.
“So you’re punishing somebody for not having funds and money and places to go and a shelter space,” Johnstone said in an interview with CBC News.
The Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition (ERVCC) is another community group that argues the section of the bylaw is inhumane and asked the city to amend it.
Kristine Kowalchuk, chair of the ERVCC, said vulnerable people lose their belongings, blankets, tents and prescription medication when peace officers take down their shelters.
“Rather than criminalizing them, we urge the city to establish a few areas where camping is supported with clean drinking water, washrooms, garbage cans and safe needle disposal to start,” Kowalchuk said to the committee.
Morgan asked city staff whether Edmonton has considered establishing designated encampment spots for people, which has been done in other jurisdictions.
David Jones, branch manager of community standards for the city, said the encampment strategy is in effect every day.
“Our encampment strategy is designed to prevent some of that kind of supercamp where we do have the knock-on effects of gang activity, violence, et cetera,” he said.
“So … without having a sanctioned encampment, we still have encampments,” Morgan remarked.
Hani Quan, the city’s director of affordable housing and homelessness, said Edmonton has looked at operating sanctioned camps and concluded money could be better used for preventive initiatives like supportive and affordable housing and shelters.
Morgan asked city administration to consult external groups and conduct a comprehensive review of the bylaw to explore its unintended impacts. That review is due next fall.
More warnings than tickets
Fines under the bylaw range from $250 for offences like consuming alcohol in public to $3,000 for a dog attack.
Infractions such as setting up temporary shelters, visible drug use and panhandling fetch a $25 fine.
In the report on the bylaw, Jones noted peace officers gave out more warnings than tickets for infractions. He said in only 10 per cent of incidents or less were tickets given to people for offences covered by the bylaw.
“We are doing the education, we are doing the warnings,” Jones said.
The report notes the number of tickets and warnings handed to people found in transit spaces when they weren’t actually taking public transit have increased since the bylaw took effect.
The number of warnings issued for using transit spaces for unrelated purposes went up from 4,079 between May 2024 and May 2025 to 18,435 in the year after the bylaw took effect while tickets related to those offences went up from 223 to 563 during the same time frame.
Draft changes
City managers recommended the bylaw be amended in a few areas, mainly to clarify language and definitions in some categories.
They proposed clarifying the definition of use of a controlled substance in public to make it clear that people with valid prescriptions or authorization are not included in the prohibition.
They also suggested prohibiting the use of sound-amplification devices like speakers and megaphones within 10 metres of a doorway or bus stop and banning the use of such devices in transit facilities.
Councillors on the committee voted in favour of those recommendations and they will be brought forward to city council next month.