The court docket did go away in place some restrictions, nonetheless. Pictured: Ontario Superior Court docket of Justice. Picture Credit score: Wikimedia Commons.
An Ontario Superior Court docket of Justice resolution has decided that the Metropolis of Hamilton has the proper to clear homeless encampments, albeit with sure restrictions.
The choice, made by Justice James Ramsay in Heegsma v. Hamilton (Metropolis), 2024 ONSC 7154, got here after 14 homeless people argued by legal professionals that the Metropolis of Hamilton’s enforcement of its parks by-law enforced between August 2021 and August 2023 breached their proper beneath the Constitution to life, liberty and safety and to equal good thing about the legislation.
The candidates have been evicted from encampments throughout that point interval.
The choice was simply launched on Dec. 23, 2024.
Whereas Ramsay’s resolution signifies that the Metropolis of Hamilton can take away daytime encampments, if the Metropolis had prevented the candidates from staying in a single day he says the Metropolis “might have been in breach of s.7 of the Charter according to British Columbia jurisprudence (Victoria (City) v. Adams, 2009 BCCA 563).”
It seems that any case involving the removing of individuals staying in a single day in encampments would require a separate resolution which might closely depend upon if an satisfactory variety of emergency shelter beds can be found.
Nevertheless, Ramsay added that on this particular case the candidates “were not prevented from staying overnight.”
He added, “The City has not prohibited anyone from erecting temporary, overnight shelter.”
The choice continues, “I am asked to extend the right to stay in encampments to public parks in the daytime, that is, not to have to tear down and move every day.”
The candidates additionally needed Ramsay to declare that homeless individuals be permitted to remain in encampments through the day no matter whether or not there may be shelter house out there since they are saying not all shelter house is “accessible.”
It was instructed that some individuals have accessibility points if a shelter doesn’t permit animals, whereas some have a difficulty if a shelter does permit animals, some need shelters to permit {couples} whereas others have a difficulty with shelters that solely permit {couples}, and a few have a difficulty if a shelter doesn’t allow substance use.
That argument was accepted in a Waterloo court docket case (Waterloo (Regional Municipality) v. Individuals Unknown, 2023 ONSC 670).
Within the Waterloo case, Justice Michael Valente decided that the Area couldn’t forestall an in a single day momentary construction until there was sufficient shelter house and that the shelter house was “truly accessible in that it met the needs of the homeless population.”
Quite the opposite, within the Metropolis of Hamilton resolution, Ramsay declares that the accessibility situation is “impossible” to accommodate and “arbitrary.”
“Some people will not stay in a shelter whether it is available or not,” he said.
In his remaining paragraphs on the matter, Ramsay concludes that “the life, liberty and security of the applicants are not put at risk by enforcement of the by-law. They are put at risk by homelessness. Encampments contribute to this risk. They are lawless, dangerous, and unsanitary.”
He additionally writes that “the most vulnerable includes not only the homeless but also the elderly person and the child who want to use a sidewalk or a city park without tiptoeing through used needles and human feces.”
His conclusion is that the Metropolis “is trying to find a solution to homelessness” and “has attempted to address the problem,” however “has limited resources and a duty to its housed constituency.”
Ramsay says that he’s “well advised” to let the Metropolis resolve greatest tips on how to cope with encampments.
“Micro-management by judges will not be productive,” he posits.
Because of the ruling, it seems as if Hamilton Metropolis Council has the freedom to clear everlasting encampments, notably if offering an satisfactory variety of shelter areas.
The choice in favour of the Metropolis has led to requires Hamilton’s Encampment Protocol to be amended to ban encampments in parks, whereas others have known as for an finish to encampments in any and all areas of the Metropolis.
Primarily based in Hamilton, he reaches a whole lot of 1000’s of individuals month-to-month on Fb, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been printed in The Ontario Chronicle, Stoney Creek Information, and Bay Observer. He has additionally been a section host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he acquired the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the College of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has additionally acquired the Governor Normal’s Educational Medal. He previously labored in a non-partisan position on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
