More Chatham-Kent councillors are lending their voice to a growing chorus of municipal officials standing against heavy-handed measures to clear homeless encampments.
A coalition of municipal leaders is speaking out against more than a dozen Ontario mayors, including Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff, who issued a letter to Premier Doug Ford urging the government to use the notwithstanding clause to pass legislation to help them handle encampments and addiction issues in their respective communities.
The group of 41 councillors opposed to the measure has now grown to 72, with Chatham-Kent councillors Michael Bondy and Rhonda Jubenville among those joining the ranks.
Councillor Alysson Storey was part of the original group of councillors, who have now re-issued a news release calling on the province to commit the necessary resources for evidence-based solutions to the homelessness crisis in Ontario.
“Democracies are under threat around the world. Let’s not add Ontario to the list,” said Storey in a news release. “I understand and share the frustrations of these Mayors that we need more tools to address the humanitarian crisis that is the encampment issue. But bypassing duly elected local Councillors and the opportunity for public debate is not the way.”
The councillor coalition says municipal representatives were not consulted before the mayors’ letter was sent to the Premier, and say it represents “unaccountable governance and the undermining of local democracy.”