Just days after Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall fired off a letter to Premier Doug Ford telling him the city had reached a "breaking point" due to the growing number of homeless encampments, he is not letting the federal government off the hook.
Nuttall has sent a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney urging Ottawa to take immediate action to address what he says is the growing crisis of homelessness and unsafe encampments in Barrie.
Similar to his letter to the premier, Nuttall laid out for the prime minister a variety of concerns experienced in the city, including a double homicide, multiple fires, overdoses, assaults, open drug use, needles, and general lawlessness.
The mayor declared a state of emergency in the city on Sept. 9 in response to homeless encampments in the city.
Two days later, an encampment with more than 20 tents along Mulcaster Street near the courthouse was removed.
"Of the 44 individuals living there, 39 have accepted housing and supports," Nuttall explained in his letter to Carney.
He said compassionate intervention is needed, even if it requires using the notwithstanding clause
This is not an unfamiliar request from the mayor. Last fall, Ontario's big city mayors asked Ford to use the notwithstanding clause to override a court decision preventing municipalities from clearing homeless encampments if their shelters are full.
This was in response to a January 2023 ruling by an Ontario Superior Court judge who said Waterloo Region could not use a municipal bylaw to evict people living in a Kitchener encampment because the bylaw was a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms due to a lack of shelter spaces.
"Compassionate intervention is needed when individuals are no longer able to make decisions themselves, especially if they are engaging in substance abuse and have become a long-term threat to themselves or the community," Nuttall tells the prime minister in his letter.
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Among the requests to Carney from the mayor is to advance bail and sentencing reforms to ensure repeat offenders who pose risks in encampments are held accountable, and for the federal government to expand investments in emergency shelters, supporting housing, mental health treatment, and addiction services to give municipalities safe alternatives when encampments are removed.
According to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, there were 1,400 encampments across the province in 2023.
According to the City of Barrie, it's estimated there are more than 20 encampments with about 650 people living in them, many of whom Nuttall claims are not from Barrie or Simcoe County.
