The Region of Waterloo had asked an Ontario court to find that roughly 50 people living in an encampment in Kitchener were in violation of its trespassing bylaw
An Ontario judge has denied a municipality’s request to clear a homeless encampment, building on decisions out of British Columbia that he says establish a constitutional right for a person to shelter themselves if accessible indoor spaces aren’t available.
“I am not satisfied that the Region has adequate capacity to shelter the approximately 50 encampment residents given that its shelters are not low barrier or truly accessible,” Valente wrote. In following the B.C. cases, Valente found simply counting the available spaces was not enough. The spaces, he wrote, must also be accessible to individuals they are meant to serve.Couples testified about being separated from one another when they stayed at shelters, people who use drugs noted the harm of abstinence-based policies, and others talked about the “weight of uncertainty” around available shelter space on any given night.
Encampment residents who challenged the eviction included an Indigenous woman who lost her job, was evicted from her home and had her three children apprehended by local family and children’s services; a 32-year-old survivor of physical and sexual assault; and a man who had been homeless since he was released from jail in June 2020.
The judge found the municipality’s “risk assessment,” which it used to justify disbanding the encampment, only considered the risks of the encampment and not those associated with eviction.
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