Dharm Makwana

Compelling the homeless to take cover during extreme weather conditions could be a perilous proposition, according to Vancouver's mayor.

A government memo leaked to the B.C. Civil Liberties Association shows the province is designing legislation, which would allow police to use force in apprehending at-risk people in efforts to deliver them to shelters or jail cells.

Mayor Gregor Robertson believes the intent of the legislation is good but expressed concerns over constitutional issues and a rise in workload.

"The police inevitably end up talking to homeless people on cold nights ... so to a degree they're already doing some of this work but I'm concerned if it becomes a significant amount of frontline social work," he said.

Tom Sandborn, a BCCLA board member, said there's no proof the B.C. Liberal policy would save lives and instead could potentially upset a tenuous relationship between officers and the homeless.

"People most intent on staying out in bad weather will hide further away from the attention of the cops when they know the cops can collar them and take them in," he said.

Recruiting police for such an effort would be create enormous burden, said Vancouver coordinator of tenant assistance Judy Graves, a frontline worker since 1996.

"Police training does not produce a mental health professional," she said, "And, police training does not produce a good shelter worker."

Sandborn suggests the legislation, which could be tabled this fall, is a ploy to scrub city streets of embarrassment in time for the 2010 Olympics.

"This looks a lot more like a futile gesture to pretend that the government is doing something about homelessness rather than a real lifesaver or legislation that ought to be passed," he said.

Both Robertson and Housing Minister Rich Coleman said discussions to improve extreme weather responses have been ongoing since the death of a homeless woman known to police as Tracey died in a fire when trying to keep warm at the corner of Davie and Hornby Streets last December.