Like a game of political tennis, Premier Doug Ford challenged Ontario's big city mayors to "have the backbone" to ask the province to use the notwithstanding clause to help them clear homeless encampments from their cities. Last Thursday, Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall joined other Ontario mayors and fired back with an open letter to the premier that asked him to act on his words.
"I have an idea -- why don't the big city mayors actually put in writing that they want the province to change the homeless program, make sure we move the homeless along, and why don't they put in 'use the notwithstanding clause,' or something like that," Ford said at an unrelated news conference last Monday. "Let's see if they have the backbone to do it."
The clause the premier referenced - Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms - can grant provincial legislatures the ability, through the passage of a law, to override certain parts of the charter for five years.
Whether Ford meant his comments to be a challenge to Ontario's mayors or not, he got a response.
Nuttall and the mayors of Clarington, Oakville, Chatham-Kent, Windsor, Brampton, St. Catharines, Pickering, Sudbury, Brantford, Oshawa and Brampton sent a letter to the premier asking him to enact the clause.
"We request that your government consider the following measures, and where necessary use the Notwithstanding Clause to ensure these measures are implemented in a timely and effective way," the letter stated.
The letter makes the following requests of the province:
- The provincial government to become an intervenor in any court case restricting municipalities' ability to prohibit encampments
- strengthen the existing system of mandatory community-based and residential mental health care and to expand service to treat those who have severe and debilitating addictions
- implement a drug and diversion court system across the province and ensure that there are necessary resources to allow a focus on rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration
- to amend the Trespass to Property Act to include a separate provision for repetitive acts of trespass, the penalty for which should include incarceration, and to permit a police officer to arrest a person who commits repetitive acts of trespass after being told by police not to engage in such activity. These amendments should also include an option for referral to a diversion court for charges of repetitive trespass
- enact legislation providing guidance on the open and public use of drugs being prohibited in the same manner that open consumption of alcohol is banned
Municipalities that are trying to tackle the growth of homeless encampments feel their hands have been tied by a January 2023 ruling by an Ontario Superior Court judge who ruled that Waterloo Region could not use a municipal bylaw to evict people living in an encampment because it violated their rights. Cities and towns were told that unless they had available space in shelters, encampments could remain where they were located.
In September, the City of Barrie removed an encampment from Berczy Park near downtown. At the time, according to Sara Peddle, Busby Centre executive director, the County of Simcoe, which is responsible for social services including the shelter system in Barrie reached out to them to let them know they wanted to increase capacity in the system by adding 20 additional shelter beds. Peddle noted the beds were to be temporary and all of them were in Barrie.
Nuttall has previously confirmed to Barrie 360 that the city sought legal advice before removing the Berczy Park encampment but he did not disclose details.
In September, the mayor was asked what prompted the city to remove the Berczy Park encampment, which according to Nuttall, had been there for several months.
"From the city's perspective, we have a return to school and an encampment down the street from that school. We have a park kids walk through to get to the school being turned into an encampment."
"I think overall as I look around the city, mayors are at a point, communities are at a point where the encampments just can't be left untouched, specifically those that are in proximity to schools and daycares," Nuttall added. "I think you will see more and more action on this file."
On the mayor's Facebook page several days ago, Nuttall posted the letter he and the other mayors sent to the premier.
"We need the tools to work through encampments that are rampant with prolific drug use and violence affecting our communities. We are asking the province to take action now toward a long-term, permanent solution to treat addictions and restore safety to our parks and streets," the mayor wrote on his Facebook page.
With files from The Canadian Press
