Earlier this year I wrote about a legal case pertaining to homeless encampments.
Justice M.J. Valente of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice had ruled that the Region of Waterloo couldn’t evict people living in tents from a vacant lot the Region owns. https://whenthemayorsmiles.blogspot.com/2023/03/encampment-precedent.html
At the time I understood that the ruling was precedent setting and would impact other municipalities. It seems I was overly optimistic.
According to the Advocacy Centre for Tenants of Ontario (ACTO) municipalities are responding to the needs of their residents in different ways.
Some are using enforcement and displacement as a last resort.
And some are taking a different approach. Take Cambridge, for example.
They are “focusing on clearing and forcibly removing residents, resulting in people being displaced with nowhere else to go,” claims ACTO, an Ontario specialty legal clinic.
"Some of these people were evicted three times in a matter of two months,” Ashley Schuitema, staff lawyer at Waterloo Region Community Legal Services (WRCLS) told Cambridge Today’s Joe McGinty. https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news/legal-action-in-the-cards-after-cambridge-encampment-evictions-7652134
Up North, Sault Ste Marie looked at other City’s bylaws and figured they could amend theirs. Just in time for winter they decided to protect their parks. The only Council opposition came from Ward 3’s Angela Caputo according to CBC News.
"I think it's imperative that we shift our attention to creating and advocating for a system to end homelessness rather than enacting laws to try and police our way out of it," said Ms. Caputo. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/social-services-legal-challenge-poverty-issues-1.6952421
Some cities like Kingston are in court where the arguments revolve around how much housing is available. There is always lots of debate on such numbers.
Let’s get real here. It is obvious to anyone that rental rates and availability are beyond the means of increasing numbers of people in the province.
Municipalities are spending taxpayers’ dollars on fighting our fellow citizens in courts. The Hamilton Spectator reported today that lawyers representing Hamilton tried to recover court costs from those without housing who are in an ongoing human rights battle with the city. Instead, Justice James Ramsay ruled the City should pay costs of $5,000.
The last word today goes to ACTO:
“The Charter dictates that unless and until encampment residents are provided with truly accessible accommodation, evictions should not occur. Moreover, encampment residents deserve to be consulted and involved when municipalities are attempting to find solutions for them.”
