What some Ontario mayors are pushing for ‘exhibits a lack of expertise and full ignorance by our elected leaders,’ says organizer behind Wednesday’s protest
Protesters hope the silence will likely be deafening once they collect Wednesday to oppose authorities insurance policies coping with homelessness.
To be held at Barrie Metropolis Corridor, organizers say their gathering is to deal with the foundation reason behind homelessness — an absence of housing.
“We will gather together to make our voices heard and to hold our elected leaders accountable for their responsibility to ensure everyone in our community has a safe place to call home,” mentioned Christine Nayler, co-founder and director of Ryan’s Hope, an advocacy group for the homeless.
“Homelessness is not a crime — it is a policy choice and a policy failure,” she added.
The protest can also be about Ontario mayors, together with Barrie’s Alex Nuttall, taking Ontario Premier Doug Ford up on his invitation to maneuver individuals out of homeless encampments and shield such actions from Constitution challenges by utilizing the however clause.
A dozen mayors have despatched Ford a letter, formally asking the province to take motion aimed toward disbanding homeless encampments.
“This motion calls for forced treatment, involuntary care for people living with mental illness, increased police power to criminalize public drug use and to limit homeless people’s right to be in public spaces,” Nayler mentioned. “It does little or no to deal with the foundation reason behind homelessness, which is an absence of enough and inexpensive housing, and it seeks to punish and criminalize poverty.
“Furthermore it shows a lack of understanding and complete ignorance by our elected leaders,” she mentioned. “The whole motion is based on unfounded assumptions that all homeless people are mentally ill and are addicted to drugs.”
Nuttall has a unique tackle the matter.
“What you’re seeing here in this motion is a call for the provincial government to determine whether they need to strengthen what already exists in terms of mandatory care in this province,” he advised The Trillium, a Village Media web site masking provincial politics at Queen’s Park, final month.
The mayors are calling on the province to amend the Trespass to Property Act to permit individuals to be despatched to jail for “repetitive acts of trespass” and to permit cops “to arrest an individual who commits repetitive acts of trespass” who they beforehand warned to depart.
The mayors are additionally calling on the premier to make use of the however clause “the place essential” to guard the laws from constitutional challenges which have hampered previous efforts to evict encampment dwellers.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Affiliation has criticized the decision for the creation of recent “repetitive trespass” provisions, saying they’re meant to “criminalize unhoused individuals and other people dwelling in poverty, who’re already among the many most weak members of our society.”
Requested final week if the federal government will move laws with the mayors’ requested measures, whereas invoking the however clause, Ford’s workplace mentioned it “will discover each authorized device obtainable to the province to clear encampments and restore security to public areas.”
Nayler has mentioned the answer to fixing the homeless disaster is for elected leaders to dwell as much as their duty and begin constructing social housing once more — lease geared to revenue, non-market housing, housing to help households, accessible housing for seniors and other people with disabilities, and supportive housing for individuals dwelling with advanced wants.
“We need quick-build tiny home communities to get people out of encampments and into housing ASAP,” Nayler mentioned.
The protesters are to collect outdoors of Barrie Metropolis Corridor, at 70 Collier St., at 6:30 p.m. and make their voices heard, then transfer inside for a silent protest throughout Wednesday’s conferences.
The town’s infrastructure and neighborhood funding committee is scheduled to satisfy at 5:30 p.m., adopted by normal committee at 7 p.m.
Each conferences are open to the general public and are to happen within the Council Chamber.
— With recordsdata by The Trillium
