Encampment Update

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.”

Just a Thought- How about a Caretaker for Ward 2?

On Tuesday,  Norfolk Council will consider a 41-page staff report on how to fill the Ward 2 Council vacancy.   https://www.norfolkcounty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CIC-Agenda-Feb-9.pdf

We live in a democracy so a by-election is clearly the way to go.

Some will take issue with the financial cost of such a by-election.  Not me.  The expenses are pegged at a reasonable $22,000-$33,000.

However,  as with everything else these days, the pandemic puts up significant barriers to a successful by-election. 

Staff identify these obstacles and list special procedures that could address legitimate  health and safety concerns.  Some examples: 

*The nomination process set out in provincial legislation can’t be amended.  That means that at least 25 people must sign a candidate’s nomination papers.  Since electronic signatures are not allowed a separate form for each signature is needed to reduce touch points of the mandatory forms. 

*Door to door canvassing is problematic.  Staff recommend that candidates undergo a daily health self assessment; door campaigning should take place “through the door” whenever possible and hand sanitizer should be used by all involved in campaigning.

These are all good ideas but impractical and not easily enforceable. 

Other Concerns with a By-Election

There are issues with voting methods as well ;  “complexity” concerns with internet voting, for example.  And internet access is problematic for many in Ward Two.   

Staff prefer a mail-in ballot, although the accuracy of the voter’s list is a big problem which can’t be resolved until 2024.  

One concern not mentioned is that the successful candidate won’t be sworn in and able to begin serving Ward 2 and Norfolk constituents until June 8th. As we know it takes quite a while to learn the ropes in any new job.   Municipal government presents a big learning curve for new members.  By the time the new councillor is up to speed the October 2022 municipal elections will be here.

Given all the above the appointment process might be a better approach. Here is a thought:

A Caretaker

In 2006, I was selected over 20 other applicants through a transparent community process as Ward 5 Councillor for Burlington/Halton.  That process involved a public meeting and an in-camera interview (allowed under the Municipal Act) with Council and senior staff.

What did I offer?  For six years I’d served most of that ward as Councillor before deciding to return to my old field of work.  Voters had not tossed me out and that, I’m sure, was a consideration.  

I had been off council for more than eight years but still had an understanding of how local government generally and local governments specifically worked.  What was most important though was,  in combination with my experience,  I made a commitment that I would not run in the upcoming municipal election.  As Norfolk staff correctly note in their report there is a huge advantage for incumbents in municipal elections.  It can be argued that those who have that advantage by being elected by voters deserve it.  But one who has not faced the electors certainly doesn’t.

I spent nine productive months as a caretaker councillor. I worked with constituents, brought forward some new initiatives that had been put to one side, plugged away on Official Plan updates that I had background on from my earlier term on council and other matters.  I was also quite involved in promoting civic participation through organizing and chairing an all candidates meeting and making myself available to discuss issues with those candidates.

Norfolk County

An appointment process with interviews in public and applicants’  intentions for the next election being factored in to the decision could be the way to go for Norfolk. 

As far as I’m aware, candidates in an appointment process can’t be required to commit to not contesting the next election.  In fact, I recall some who made such a promise then broke it.

My view is that Council can ask for the commitment and if it is broken then the voters can decide in 2022.  

That would be the democratic thing to do. 

What is Gentrification and What can we do about it?

(This story originally appeared in The Anvil Hamilton`s Topical News Quarterly - December 2015. House prices in the Hamilton area jumped more than any other real estate market in Canada in the past year.)

Good news for some. But on balance this development is something we should be concerned about.


Tenants living in Hamilton's downtown core are being displaced from their homes and communities as an influx of new development and investment continues to reduce the city's affordable housing stock.  Displacement affects tenants' health, access to education, and employment -- resources that tenants need to thrive.  It is called gentrification.

Geography Professor David Ley, writing in the book the Canadian City, had this to say about gentrification.


“Gentrification deserves considerably more attention than it has received in Canada, if for one significant reason.  One of the most serious policy concerns in Canadian cities over the past 15 years has been the non-availability of affordable housing (especially rental units).”

Ley wrote these words nearly thirty years ago (in 1986) regarding a trend that had already been in motion for 15 years. 


What is gentrification?

The term became popular in the 1960’s. British sociologist Ruth Glass used it to describe the phenomenon of young “bohemians” moving into a rundown part of London England.  The bohemians were taking the place of long-standing, blue-collar communities who could no longer afford to live there. Glass saw this as a problem.  However, over time the term gentrification has been replaced by a kinder word “regeneration”   Regeneration seems to suggest that communities are being improved.

We’ll call it gentrification - “the fin is above the water. Below is the rest of the shark." That is how
American writer Rebecca Solnit refers to what has happened in her hometown of San Francisco.  It is now a “hollow city” with an economy where "most of us will be poorer, a few will be far richer, and everything will be faster, more homogenous and more controlled or controllable". (Robert Bevan in the Guardian, February 27, 2014)

The City of Hamilton is somewhat unique as far as gentrification goes. Research that was released earlier this year is illustrative. (A City on the Cusp: Neighbourhood Change in Hamilton since 1970 -

Professor Richard Harris

Richard Harris Jim Dunn, Sarah Wakefield)

Most of us will be familiar with how the decline in manufacturing has impacted our city.  This research takes a look at what deindustrialization and other trends (growth of the service industry, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, etc.. ) has done to neighbourhoods.

Here is the thrust of their argument.

Historically, Hamilton has been fairly unique in that there has been relative income equality across all its neighbourhoods.  That has changed.  We now have “a marked segregation of the poor and a steady polarization of neighbourhoods.”

Using a measure of income inequality called the Gini coefficient, the authors argue that income inequality has increased in Hamilton more rapidly than any other city in Canada.  The rates of housing poverty (where households spend excessive amounts of income on housing) rival that of cities like Vancouver and Toronto where housing is much more expensive.  With downtown neighbourhoods being gentrified, residents and problems associated with income disparities are moving to Mountain neighbourhoods.

What Can be Done?

Professor Ley’s article cited above hit on some of the policy approaches that can be taken to tackle the problems caused by gentrification. 

Building more affordable housing is one approach.  Government, particularly at the federal level, has shown little interest in this strategy of late. 

Some municipalities, including Hamilton, have tried to retain existing housing through local regulations like demolition controls and restrictions on condominium conversions.   This doesn’t seem to be making much difference. 

Government programs in the seventies designed to preserve and enhance properties like the Neighbourhood Improvement Program (NIP) worked.  Neighbourhood decay may be too far advanced for such initiatives to succeed.

Right to the City (http://righttothecity.org/) and other groups in the United States have put forward the argument that gentrification violates the rights of people who are displaced because they can’t afford increased rents.  The argument is that those rights are guaranteed under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Article 25 of this Declaration asserts that everyone has a right to housing.  Other rights are spelled out.  The Declaration was ratified in 1948 before gentrification was identified.  It will be interesting to see how this human rights approach proceeds.

In addition though, Right to the City and other American groups have developed programs and toolkits for those who are trying to halt the displacement of poor and disadvantaged individuals and families.

Perhaps we can look to these approaches for solutions to the problems gentrification is creating in Hamilton.