Festival season means more homeless in Montreal jails

As Montreal's summer festival scene kicks into full gear, businesses have been pressuring the city to clear homeless people from the streets— and police have been handing out tickets for loitering, sleeping outside and panhandling.

Because the homeless can't pay the fines, many end up in jail.

On average, about 30 homeless people are jailed every day, according to a study by the University of Montreal that wascommissioned by RAPSIM, an advocacy group for the homeless.

"Yesterday, I got a ticket for panning money," Melanie Bernard, who is among the homeless,told CBC News on Tuesday.

Bernard was sitting outside a Montreal metro station with other homeless young people. She says she recently spent two months in jail because she wasn't able to pay $10,000 in fines.

She says she panhandles all day, but she won't be using that money to pay the penalties.

"I need to eat. I need a place to sleep."

Tickets won't give people homes: RAPSIM

But the director of RAPSIM (Réseau d'aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal) said handing out tickets is not going to solve the problem of homelessness.

"In three-quarters of the time, the people who receive tickets, because they are homeless, they will end [up in] jail because they won't pay these tickets," said Pierre Gaudreau of RAPSIM.

"They are either without any money or on welfare. They don't have the money to pay these tickets. And we are talking about big amounts. Many times, it's thousands of dollars."

The study, released last year, found that sending homeless people to jail for unpaidfinescost a lot more that the tickets were worth.

The study found that for $7 million in unpaid tickets, over a 10-year period, taxpayers paid $48 million to keep those who didn't pay the fines in jail.

At the request of RAPSIM, the Quebec Human Rights Commission has been studying the problem for more than two years, but has yet to come up with any solutions.