09-27-2019, 07:50 AM
(09-26-2019, 07:13 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote:(09-26-2019, 06:16 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: There is a fundamental difference between penalizing people for not carrying ID and penalizing people for not providing identification for the purpose of issuing them a ticket. The first is wrong in a free and democratic society; the second is mandatory for tickets to actually mean anything, especially to the worst scofflaws (I mean, realistically I’m not going to misidentify myself; but some guy who has figured out that if he does so he can violate the noise or dog poop bylaw as much as he wants sure will).
The bylaw amendment effectively allows the city to penalize people for not carrying ID in situations where they are not legally obligated to do so. In most cases you do not have to provide anything more than your name and date of birth to a municipal enforcement officer. Fining people for not producing an identity document for a bylaw infraction is not ok and may even breach Charter rights.
I’m not a lawyer. It may well be that the Charter has been poorly written and/or interpreted such that bylaw is effectively toothless, although I do not know.
I’m just pointing out that it is crazy if somebody who is being ticketed for an offence cannot be forced to make a choice between identifying themselves or being arrested. Imagine it’s your house that is unliveable because of somebody blasting music just outside the window (or committing some other bylaw infraction). Are you really OK with the perpetrator giving a false name, then coming back the next day secure in the knowledge that the name they gave was bogus?
Just because it’s in the Charter doesn’t necessarily mean it makes sense.