Why Cambridge's mayor wants Ford to use notwithstanding clause for encampment action

Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett believes Ontario Premier Doug Ford has no choice but to use the notwithstanding clause if he wants to help municipalities deal with the issue of homeless encampments.

Liggett was one of 13 Ontario city mayors who wrote to the premier on Oct. 31 asking him to use the notwithstanding clause to override a court decision preventing municipalities from clearing homeless encampments if their shelters are full.

"I see the notwithstanding clause as a part of the original motion where we ask for all of the other things — they all go hand-in-hand," Liggett said on CBC Radio's The Morning Edition.

"But I don't think that the premier can help us with the encampments unless he uses the notwithstanding clause."

The notwithstanding clause is needed because of a decision in January 2023 by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Justice M.J. Valente ruled that Waterloo region could not use a municipal bylaw to evict people living in an encampment in Kitchener because that bylaw was deemed to be in violation of Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The judge said a lack of shelter spaces means the bylaw infringed upon Charter rights.

The mayors want the province to use the notwithstanding clause to intervene in court cases that would prevent municipalities from evicting encampments.

Mayors' request 'egregious,' harm reduction worker says

Diana Chan McNally, a harm reduction worker in Toronto, said the mayors want decisions like the one made by Valente "to not actually mean anything anymore, which is to say that they want to take away their own responsibility for homelessness, to provide things like shelter, affordable housing, services for homeless people automatically in the case of clearing encampments." 

McNally described the mayors' request as "egregious." 

According to McNally, the reason for the January 2023 Ontario Superior Court ruling in the first place "is that we understood that evicting an encampment without shelter violated people's right to life. So, what we're trying to do is essentially take away that very fundamental Charter right, the right to life, just so we can move people along without having to provide resources."

McNally said mayors and other elected officials have a responsibility to solve the housing crisis. 

"This is why we elect our officials, including the premier. What I don't want to see is that we start basically taking away people's essential charter rights because we don't actually want to solve the housing crisis for those most impacted by it," she said. 

"I question what is the point of evicting people if you don't have anywhere for them to go. They will just end up in another park and it won't actually solve the problem."

Meanwhile, Liggett said the mayors also used their letter to ask for "funds for supportive housing," and "community based mental health care," that would also encompass the Mental Health Consent Act.

"A lot of this is happening because the Mental Health Consent Act was done so long ago that they didn't foresee this," she said. 

"It's the same with the notwithstanding clause. When that was put in, people weren't thinking about this crisis that we're in today, but the premiers at the time … insisted on that being part of it."

'We are crippled right now': Liggett

According to Liggett, under the current system of dealing with encampments, the City of Cambridge sends outreach workers and bylaw officers who work with people and try to get them all the assistance and the help that they need. 

"But a lot of them have no desire to leave those encampments, so it's not so much those types of people that are in the encampments that we really drastically need to help," she said.

"In amongst all of these encampments, there are also criminals who prey on the other people in the encampments, prey on the neighbouring communities."

Liggett said she would like to see the province put funds in the budget to assist big city mayors in dealing with encampments.

"We are crippled right now. We have municipalities who are not able to go to court because everybody's afraid of spending the money. They're afraid that they will lose and that will add one more to that list of municipalities who have lost in court," she said.

"So, by having the province stand behind us, put the money and the legal expertise behind us, and if necessary, use the notwithstanding clause, we're saying if necessary, use it, but come to our aid ahead of time. Give us the funds ahead of time before you go that route."

Council to discuss motion on bylaw around encampments

Cambridge city council is scheduled to meet Tuesday night and on the agenda is a motion on whether to pass a bylaw around encampments.

The motion notes chronic homelessness, mental health, safety and addictions crisis continues to escalate, with homeless encampments putting unsustainable pressure on municipalities and public spaces, creating a humanitarian crisis.

Sanguen Health Centre wrote to council members expressing "deep concerns" regarding the proposed motion going forward.

"While we recognize the challenges surrounding homelessness and substance use, we know from the evidence that this approach will not yield effective or humane solutions. Instead, it is likely to exacerbate harm and prevent meaningful or
sustained recovery," the open letter reads.

The letter urged council to reconsider the motion and shift focus toward accessible, voluntary services that respect individual choice and support effective recovery.

"Forced treatment is not the answer. A compassionate, evidence-based approach that addresses systemic barriers will
lead to better outcomes for individuals and our community as a whole," the letter continued.

Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie has also been speaking about his decision to join fellow Ontario big city mayors "to request stronger measures from the province to address the current mental health and addiction crisis hurting our communities."

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Guthrie said "our public spaces should be safe and welcome for all."

The letter was signed by:

• Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall.
• Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown.
• Brantford Mayor Ken Davis.
• Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett.
• Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff.
• Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster.
• Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie.
• Oakville Mayor Rob Burton.
• Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter.
• Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe.
• St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe.
• Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre.
• Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.