“As lower-level municipalities, we do not provide housing. That’s why we pay for the camps, we can’t provide shelter, “said the mayor of Cambridge
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on TrilliumVillage Media website for provincial politics coverage at Queen’s Park.
Ontario mayors, including Barry, took Premier Doug Ford to task. invitation asking it to enact legislation to remove homeless people from encampments and protect it from Charter issues, using the clause nonetheless.
On Thursday, the mayors of Barrie, Brampton, Brantford, Cambridge, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Guelph, Chatham-Kent, Clarington and Windsor sent letters to Ford. officially asked the province to take steps to break up the homeless encampments and force some of the people living there to undergo involuntary mental treatment.
The undersigned mayors represent more than 2.6 million Ontarians and growing https://t.co/oeSL38c3Jl
— Alex Nuttall (@AlexFromBarrie) November 1, 2024
“We hear your call for a clear call for provincial action to help municipalities address issues related to mental health, substance abuse and homeless encampments,” the mayors wrote in a letter to Ford on Thursday. “We ask for your immediate attention on this matter and look forward to working with the Ontario government to make positive changes to these very serious issues.”
The mayors are asking the legislation to include several measures aimed at eliminating encampments, all of which were proposed in a proposal reviewed earlier this month by the Ontario Major Cities Mayors (OBCM) caucus.
That initial motion failed. Instead, 29 OBCM mayors decided water it considerably and nevertheless omitted all caveats of Art.
Cambridge Mayor Janice Liggett said about it Trillium Even so, removing the clause from the OCBM proposal was the only way to reach a consensus after six hours of debate, but it left him and many other mayors feeling “not enough.”
Municipalities, the mayor said, “are left to deal with this crisis without adequate resources, legal authority or support” and are “trapped” without the ability to deal with the encampments. to satisfy the courts.
Liggett showed that 2023 Decision of the Superior Court of Ontario after finding that municipal legislation banned Waterloo Region from setting up a homeless encampment that violated residents’ Charter rights to life and human security.
The premier also warned earlier this week that the precedent set by the incident would make it harder for municipalities to crack down on encampments, but Liggett noted that it was more complicated than that.
“In this case, the judge didn’t completely close the door (to eviction of the encampment),” Liggett said, adding that the judge said that if municipalities could provide enough housing, the encampments would not be necessary.
“The problem is, as lower-tier municipalities, we don’t provide housing,” Liggett added. “Thus, we are not able to provide shelter and are being taken to pay for the camps.”
“I don’t think it will set a bad precedent. Despite this, this article is in the constitution,” he said.
Mayors in their letters one more time calls for involuntary mental health treatment for Ontarians with serious mental illness and addiction issues, although the language has been softened somewhat since the original OBCM movement.
Governors rejected calls to develop a new “mandatory … mandatory treatment program that would expand the reach and strengthen the system of mental health and addiction treatment.” This time, they simply want to “strengthen the existing system of mandatory treatment” and “expand treatment services for those suffering from severe and debilitating addictions.”
The mayors are also calling on the Progressive Conservatives to amend the Trespass to Property Act to jail people for “repeat trespassing” and to allow police officers to “apprehend repeat offenders”. previously warned to leave.
The mayors are calling on the prime minister to use an “if necessary” clause to protect the legislation from constitutional challenges that have stymied past efforts to relocate camp residents.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Union (CCLA) criticized the call for “repeat offender” provisions, saying they would “criminalize homeless people and people living in poverty.” society”.
“Nonetheless, this clause was never and should never be used to weaken or harm the legal protection of marginalized and vulnerable communities,” CCLA director Harini Sivalingam said.
The letter adds that changes to the Trespassing Act should allow arresting officers to refer cases to a new “Drug and Subversion Court System” that mayors are asking the PC government to create and implement “across the province”. approach to “enabling rehabilitation rather than incarceration”.
The province is again being asked to intervene in any lawsuits that would “restrict municipalities’ ability to regulate and ban encampments,” arguing to the court that it “must not violate homelessness policies.”
Finally, the mayors are asking the province to pass legislation that would ban public drug use “in the same way as open alcohol consumption.”
When asked if Premier Ford’s office would use the clause to pass legislation with the required measures, he said he would “explore all legal means available to the province to clean up the encampments and restore safety in public spaces.”
“We are exploring what additional tools the province can provide to municipalities to help them effectively manage these ongoing challenges,” a Ford spokeswoman said, without elaborating on what those additional tools would be.
Ford caused an uproar in 2022 when his government used a notwithstanding clause in the bill to prevent education workers from striking. Instead of using the Charter’s overriding provision to reintroduce legislation that the Court found violated Charter rights, the government used it pre-emptively before any court could weigh it. Faced with the threat of a general strike, the province overturned the legislation.
At Queen’s Park on Thursday, opposition politicians all agreed that Ford’s efforts would be better spent on building more homes, which they say is the only real solution to the camps.
“There is no shelter, so you move camps without solving the problem,” official opposition leader Marit Stiles told reporters at Queen’s Park.
Liberal housing critic Adil Shamji argued that if the government “solves the housing and homelessness crisis, the camps will be taken care of”. He called on the province to listen to other requests so far ignored by municipal leaders, including the possibility of “moving the cost of infrastructure and housing away from the cities and back into the province.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said that “taking away the constitutional rights of homeless people” would not help them find a place to live other than camps.
Correction: The 2023 lawsuit was heard by the Ontario Superior Court, not the Supreme Court. This story has also been updated to correct a quote that used the wrong gender for the judge.
