Anti-begging by-law violates right of expression, ethicist says.

"It is perplexing that in 21st century Canada it could be a punishable offence for one person to say to another, peacefully, in a public place, I'm in trouble and need help," says University of Manitoba ethicist Arthur Shafer. He was responding to the passage of a Winnipeg by-law on begging in public places.

Other Canadian cities are considering more stringent bylaws against panhandling. The movement has found new impetus in allegations that panhandlers in downtown Toronto killed a person.

Shafer views these efforts as a clash of social values:

* social hygiene vs. freedom of expression;

* middle-class discomfort vs. underclass economic need;

* commercial interests of downtown business owners vs. beggars' right to plead for subsistence.

"There is no justification for turning peaceful beggars into criminals." He added, "Non-aggressive begging is no more than the exercise of freedom of expression; when we criminalize beggars, we violate basic human rights."

Arthur Schafer is the Director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba. [e-mail]