Photo credit: The Globe and Mail
The Ontario government is planning to pass new legislation to crack down on homeless encampments, and Premier Doug Ford pledged Thursday to use the notwithstanding clause if necessary.
CBC reports that Ford wrote to 12 mayors who asked him for tougher encampment laws. He said the province would provide the tools to help municipalities clear the sites and crack down on public drug use.
Homelessness and encampments have risen dramatically under Ford’s term, with tent cities popping up in municipalities in Ontario. The Association of Municipalities in Ontario says there were 1,400 encampments across the province in 2023. shelters throughout the province are full, with some 12,000 people in Toronto’s shelters alone.
Ford wrote to the mayors: “Our government shares your concerns about the need to keep our children, families, and communities safe.
“That’s why we are acting to put an end to the public disorder, drug use and trafficking and loss of public space that have resulted from the widespread growth in encampments.”
The mayors asked Ford to strengthen involuntary addiction treatment laws and have the province intervene in court cases where municipalities are looking to clear encampments. They also requested that trespass laws be strengthened to allow arrests and jail terms for those who repeatedly trespass and for legislation prohibiting open drug use.
They requested Ford to “use the notwithstanding clause to ensure these measures are implemented in a timely and effective way.”
Ford promised more accountability for shelter service managers and more funding to increase shelter space. He said the new legislation will be “explicitly and unequivocally prohibiting the use of illicit drugs in public, with new tools and authorities to help police enforce this prohibition.”
He promised that there would be more penalties for those who “deliberately and continually break the law” and new “approaches to treatment and rehabilitation.”
He said that while he does not expect to use the controversial legislative tool known as the notwithstanding clause, which would override the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms if the courts should interfere with the goals, the government will have no choice but to use the clause.
