Mayor Alex Nuttall’s decision to sign an open letter asking the province to invoke the notwithstanding clause is getting the backing of city councillors left, right and centre.
On Thursday, Nuttall and the mayors of Brampton, Brantford, Cambridge, Chatham-Kent, Clarington, Guelph, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, St. Catharines, Sudbury and Windsor wrote a letter to the Premier Doug Ford, calling on him to invoke the notwithstanding clause to allow cities to dismantle homeless encampments.
It read: “The provincial government is requested to become an intervenor on any court case that restricts the ability of municipalities to regulate and prohibit encampments, advocating for the principle endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court. . . that courts should not be dictating homelessness policy.”
The controversial notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows Federal and Provincial parliaments to override constitutional protections. Efforts to cajole the provincial government to use the notwithstanding clause began in January, after the Ontario Superior Court found a Waterloo bylaw prohibiting overnight encampments to be unconstitutional. The court also reached a similar ruling on a Kingston bylaw in September.
In statements provided to the Barrie Compass, councillor Nigussie Nigussie and deputy mayor Robert Thomson expressed support for the mayors’ decision.
“People are tired of this and want action,” wrote Thomson, who is also the councillor for Ward 5 councillor.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” wrote Nigussie, councillor for Ward 6.
Ward 1 councillor Clare Riepma provided more tacit approval to the move. “The use of the notwithstanding clause may be necessary, but [the solution is] not necessarily the notwithstanding clause,” wrote Riepma.
According to Nigussie, a political moderate known as much for his efforts to reduce library spending as for championing the case for hiring crossing guards, Barrie’s ability to deal with encampments waned following the Ontario Superior Court’s decisions. “The safety and security of our residents is paramount, and I commend the mayor for taking proactive steps to address this critical issue that is greatly impacting our city.”
Like Nigussie, Thomson believes that the court’s rulings present serious risks to members of the public.“We are seeing a growing number of encampments in our parks and public spaces and it has become a safety issue,” wrote Thomson, a close ally of Nuttall who boasts one of the most conservative voting records on council. “Camping in our parks has resulted in several encampment fires, public drug use and needles around play structures in Barrie.”
Riepma, one of the right-leaning council’s more liberal members, believes cities are ill-equipped to deal with encampments — even if their power to dismantle them is restored. “While municipalities all over Ontario have problems with homelessness, they do not have the resources — both legal and financial — to adequately deal with the concern.”
Riepma also called on the federal and provincial governments to step up by supporting programs to prevent people from becoming homeless. “We need a lot more rent-geared-to-income housing, more addiction support and treatment facilities and better intervention strategies. . . . Collectively as a society we do need to find a better solution.”
