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Revision as of 03:54, 6 September 2010
Jane Scharf is a poverty activist from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada who is running for mayor of Ottawa in the 2006 municipal election. She currently resides in the Vanier neighbourhood of Ottawa.
Scharf has been active in Ottawa politics for at least two decades. She is a member of the Ottawa branch of the Industrial Workers of the World and has worked closely with homeless youth.
In the summer of 2003 Scharf was involved in a protest against the Safe Streets Act which involved Scharf sleeping under a bridge, the location where many homeless youth spend their nights. Scharf was removed in August of 2003 by Ottawa Police and falsely arrested for mischief so that the protest could be shut down. She was found not guilty of these charges after a 2.5 year prosecution with a 7 day trial.
In 2004 during another protest Tent City at city hall Scharf spent thirty-eight days in jail without bail after another false arrest used to stop the protest. She spent several days of her sentence in solitary confinement after she reported a male prison guard was sexually harassing herself and other female prisoners.[1]
Scharf supports the youth protest Kaptus Bridge Action which is trying to renamed the underpass located at the intersection of Rideau and Sussex which was the location of a death of a homeless youth in 2006. The homeless youth, Kaptus was stabbed to death in the summer of 2006. The campaign to rename the underpass the Kaptus Underpass and place a plaque in his rememberance. The campaign includes a written petition which already collected many names.
On May 1st 2006 Scharf was part of a May Day march against the Rideau Centre in downtown Ottawa. One of the other organizers was Andrew Nellis who is also on the General Members Board of the IWW and an organizer with the Panhandlers Union.
Scharf has frequently spoken on behalf of the homeless. She is frequently mentioned in the X-Press newspaper, an alternative free weekly available in Ottawa. Scharf is opposed to the Safe Streets Act and other legislation which she believes harms the poor. Scharf said in the X-Press newspaper: "I believe that panhandling is a necessity right now because of the inadequacy of social services and the Safe Streets Act is an unconstitutional piece of legislation as well."
