Despite growing controversy, Premier Doug Ford is promising to provide “enhanced legislative powers” to Ontario’s municipalities to address the growing number of homeless encampments across the province.
In a letter addressed to a group of 12 Ontario mayors, including Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff, Ford said new legislation will soon be introduced to provide additional provincial funding aimed at increasing capacity in homeless shelters, as well as new measures that will ensure these funds support dismantling encampments.
Ford said additional measures will include new tools and authority for police to enforce a prohibition on using illegal drugs in public. As well, new enhanced penalties will be introduced for those who deliberately and continually break the law.
The group of 12 mayors initially wrote to the premier just over a month ago calling on the government to use the notwithstanding clause to pass legislation that would help them address encampments and addiction issues in their respective communities.
While Ford does not expect that the province will need to proactively use the Notwithstanding Clause, he said the government is “fully prepared” to do so if the courts “interfere” with the province’s new legislation.
“This includes the province becoming an intervenor in any court case that restricts the ability of municipalities to regulate and prohibit encampments,” Ford said in his letter.
The initial correspondence from the mayors’ group was met with backlash from dozens of municipal leaders, including several Chatham-Kent councillors, who urged the province to instead commit the necessary resources for evidence-based solutions to address the homelessness crisis.
Earlier this week, 450 members of Ontario’s legal community also wrote to Ford, denouncing the use of the Notwithstanding Clause to strip constitutional rights from vulnerable groups, including those experiencing homelessness, mental health challenges, and substance use issues. The group called the proposal an unprecedented misuse of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and would deprive vulnerable populations of their fundamental rights, including rights to life, security of the person, and protection from discrimination.
The Ontario government has not outlined when its new legislation will be introduced.