Dozens of councillors from throughout Ontario say they are not on board with a request for Premier Doug Ford to make use of the however clause to permit municipalities to clear homeless encampments.
In a letter dated Monday, the 41 councillors name for 13 Ontario mayors to rescind their letter asking the premier to make use of the however clause to override any court docket resolution proscribing municipalities from evicting individuals dwelling in encampments.
“As particular person councillors in our respective municipalities, we all know that Ontario municipalities are dealing with a humanitarian disaster that has effects on all of us. We see it every single day in our communities,” the letter says.
“However no municipality must be above the legislation, and we’re sworn to uphold democracy and human rights as councillors.”
The councillors come from 23 totally different communities throughout the province, together with six whose mayors co-signed the request to make use of the however clause: Cambridge, Chatham-Kent, Guelph, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, and St. Thomas.
As an alternative of utilizing the however clause, the councillors say they need “evidence-based options” to homelessness that respect individuals’s human rights.
Ford had known as on Ontario mayors on the finish of October to demand that he use the however clause to go laws that may give them extra instruments to take care of homelessness.
“I’ve an thought: Why do not the large metropolis mayors truly put in writing that they need the province to vary the homeless program, ensure that we transfer the homeless alongside, and why do not they put in: ‘Use the however clause,’ or one thing like that,” Ford mentioned on the time.
“Large metropolis mayors, you need to get it performed, I want that letter.”
Requested to remark Monday, Grace Lee, a spokesperson for the premier, repeated an earlier assertion saying the province will discover each authorized software out there to clear encampments and restore security to public areas, whereas analyzing extra instruments to assist municipalities handle ongoing challenges.
In January 2023, the Ontario Superior Courtroom of Justice struck down the Area of Waterloo’s software to have tents and dwelling areas faraway from a property it owns at 100 Victoria St. in downtown Kitchener.
Justice M.J. Valente dominated that Waterloo Area couldn’t use a municipal bylaw to evict individuals dwelling in an encampment in Kitchener as a result of that bylaw was deemed to be in violation of Canadian Constitution of Rights and Freedoms as a result of lack of obtainable shelter areas within the area.
