Ontario councillors speak out against request to use notwithstanding clause to clear encampments

Dozens of councillors from across Ontario say they're not on board with a request for Premier Doug Ford to use the notwithstanding clause to allow municipalities to clear homeless encampments. 

In a letter dated Monday, the 41 councillors call for 13 Ontario mayors to rescind their letter asking the premier to use the notwithstanding clause to override any court decision restricting municipalities from evicting people living in encampments. 

"As individual councillors in our respective municipalities, we know that Ontario municipalities are facing a humanitarian crisis that is affecting all of us. We see it every day in our communities," the letter says. 

"But no municipality should be above the law, and we are sworn to uphold democracy and human rights as councillors."

The councillors come from 23 different communities across the province, including six whose mayors co-signed the request to use the notwithstanding clause: Cambridge, Chatham-Kent, Guelph, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, and St. Thomas. 

Instead of using the notwithstanding clause, the councillors say they want "evidence-based solutions" to homelessness that respect people's human rights. 

Ford had called on Ontario mayors at the end of October to demand that he use the notwithstanding clause to pass legislation that would give them more tools to deal with homelessness.

"I have an idea: Why don't the big city mayors actually put in writing that they want the province to change the homeless program, make sure that we move the homeless along, and why don't they put in: 'Use the notwithstanding clause,' or something like that," Ford said at the time. 

"Big city mayors, you want to get it done, I need that letter."

Asked to comment Monday, Grace Lee, a spokesperson for the premier, repeated an earlier statement saying the province will explore every legal tool available to clear encampments and restore safety to public spaces, while examining additional tools to help municipalities manage ongoing challenges. 

In January 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down the Region of Waterloo's application to have tents and living spaces removed from a property it owns at 100 Victoria St. in downtown Kitchener.

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 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms due to the lack of available shelter spaces in the region.