The City of Niagara Falls has declared war—not on poverty, but on the people enduring it. With every bylaw passed and public statement issued, Niagara Falls makes one thing painfully clear: if you’re poor, “You’re Not Welcome!” And leading this grotesque campaign is none other than millionaire Mayor Jim Diodati—a charlatan in the finest form and fashion—who has spent an alarming amount of his time trying to criminalize those he can’t even be bothered to empathize with.

Jimmy hates ‘The Poors’

Rather than invest in meaningful supports or policy rooted in compassion and evidence, the City of Niagara Falls continues to chip away at an already vulnerable population. First, it is the euphemistic “discouraging panhandling,” and soon they will be moving toward outlawing it altogether. Yes, the City that built its economy off gaudy hotels, grotesque tourist traps, and overpriced novelty attractions now wants to ban the very people it abandoned. If you can’t afford the $9 hot dog or $400-a-night motel room, you’re not part of “their Niagara” You’ll be taxed if you can pay and jailed—or driven out of town—if you can’t.

Courts in the U.S. have long held that ‘asking for help‘ is a protected form of speech. It’s known as a “charitable request for alms,” and while U.S. rulings aren’t binding here, Canadian courts have often found their reasoning persuasive. Our Supreme Court would likely affirm the same principle: that the right to ask for assistance—especially in public spaces—is a constitutional freedom. It is not a crime to ask for help. It is a cry for survival.

These aren’t criminals. These are people who have been systematically failed. Failed by every level of government. Failed by a cruel and indifferent social safety net. Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) remains criminally low, so people turn to the streets—not because they want to—but because society has given them no alternative. They risk their health, their safety, and their dignity to survive, and now we threaten them with tickets, harassment, or worse. All because it makes tourists uncomfortable?

And if Jim Diodati ‘doesn’t like the poor,‘ he can keep doing what he’s always done: roll up the tinted window of his bougie, finely-polished imported ride, blast Yanni’s Greatest Hits, and scurry off to his next handshake photo op-or envelope pick up-leaving behind the very people his policies harm.

As for me? You better believe I’ll be challenging these rules—loudly, publicly, and in my customary over-the-top fashion. And I strongly suggest that you do not support organizations like Project Share and the Niagara Falls Soup Kitchen—groups that have, time and again, bent over backwards to appease the City while turning a blind eye to the increasingly cruel treatment of the unhoused.

We need to stand up now—before basic survival becomes illegal in Niagara Falls. Poverty is not a crime. But ignoring it sure as hell should be.

Post Script: In the United States, a homeless advocate has travelled extensively in Florida, Georgia, and other states protesting panhandling bylaws catching tickets and easily defeating them in court-as they are unconstitutional. Jeff does amazing work and I plan to continue that type of advocacy here in the Niagara region.