Mayors ask Ford to override charter rights to deal with homeless encampments in Ontario

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown wants Ontario to get rid of homeless encampments by using controversial measures that experts say go against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In an open letter, Brown and some members of Ontario’s Big City Mayors caucus have called on Premier Doug Ford to help cities and towns “with issues related to mental health, addiction, and homeless encampments.”

The mayors are asking Ford to invoke the notwithstanding clause “where necessary” despite warnings from civil rights advocates who say using the measure is “profoundly problematic.”

The request came after Ford challenged the mayors last month to directly ask the government to get involved, asking if they “have the backbone to do it if they really want the homeless situation to improve.”

The letter was signed by Brown along with the mayors of Pickering, Oakville, Barrie, Cambridge, Oshawa and others. Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish’s signature is absent from the list of demands, as is Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s.

In the letter, the mayors call on Ford’s government to intervene in court challenges that would hamstring municipalities when dealing with encampments, introduce legislation around “open and public use of drugs,” changes the Trespass to Property Act to include jail time for repeat offenders, and create a drug diversion court to take pressure off the legal system.

The mayors are also asking for the province to “strengthen the existing system” of involuntary mental health and addictions treatments – not unlike a watered-down motion that looked to ask Ontario to introduce forced treatments on a broader scale.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association called the earlier proposal “dangerous” to fundamental rights and freedoms.

Invoking the notwithstanding clause gives Canadian parliaments the power to pass legislation overriding parts of the charter for a five-year period. The province would have to use the clause to get around a 2023 decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that rejected the Region of Waterloo’s efforts to evict encampments.

Around 50 people were moved from the encampments in Brampton this June after Brampton City Councillors raised safety concerns related to residents living in tents and structures in Calvert Park.

Many of the occupants were moved to Peel Region shelters, including a motel being used to house at-risk people, but a local outreach group said many of their clients were left isolated by the move and have struggled to access services like addiction and mental health treatments.

Involuntary treatment is already an option for severe cases if someone is a danger to themselves or others in Ontario under the Mental Health Act. But Brown has said he’s in favour of expanding the program to reduce the number of overdose deaths and free up police resources.

Peel Regional Police say there were 18,000 police-attended overdoses and 328 drug fatalities between January 2022 and June 2024 in Mississauga and Brampton. Officers have spent more than 30,000 hours waiting in hospital on mental health and addictions calls since 2022, “rather than on the front lines protecting the community,” he said.

Peel Regional Council rejected a motion by Brown calling for support of mandatory treatment, instead calling on the province to commit more funding to voluntary treatment programs.

We need the tools to work through encampments that are rampant with prolific drug use and violence affecting our communities. We are asking the province to take action now toward a long-term, permanent solution to treat addictions and restore safety to our parks and streets. pic.twitter.com/8MJSw4WWb3

— Alex Nuttall (@AlexFromBarrie) October 31, 2024