A presentation and panel discussion was held March 12th 2026 at the House of Ancestors in downtown Prince George–Lheidli T’enneh, critiquing the city’s Safe Streets Bylaw. University of Toronto Scarborough’s Sociology Dept. Chair Dr. Joe Hermer took an interest in the subject in the bylaw after he was contacted by the BCAFN in 2021. At the event, he summarized his publicly available report, The Complaint is the Crime for the assembled crowd. He primarily spoke to five aspects of the research which included recommending an immediate moratorium on the enforcement of the bylaw’s open drug use section, identifying dubious criteria for enforcing various aspects of the bylaw, and encouraging better communication between bylaw enforcement and assorted outreach services or agencies during encounters.
Notably, a number of outreach, social-service, frontline, and municipal workers were in attendance alongside some elected municipal officials. CFURadio separately caught up with Dr. Hermer, Mayor Simon Yu, and Councillor Trudy Klassen for comment after the presentation, whereupon Dr. Hermer issued plainly:
The city has to start being honest or more frank. This is enforcement. It has impacts. It is a real law. It has to be followed lawfully. Let’s not get into vague sort of discussions around being education. Let’s take it for what it is. That’s law enforcement, and it has impacts. Let’s start the conversation there, instead of pretending it’s something else to obscure, potentially, a real critical discussion.