Toronto mayor rejects using notwithstanding clause to clear encampments

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is rejecting an offer from the province to use a legislative hammer to help deal with the issue of encampments.

Premier Doug Ford says he’s heard from a number of mayors urging him to use the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to override a 2023 decision by the Ontario Superior Court which ruled that the clearing of an encampment violates the charter rights of the inhabitants. More than a dozen mayors including those from Brampton, Barrie, Oakville, Oshawa and Windsor have written to the premier to step in – but Chow is not among them.

Instead, Chow, flanked by a gathering of faith leaders, was making a pitch to Torontonians on Thursday to accept new homeless shelters while rejecting force as a means to deal with homelessness.

“It’s easy to be overcome by fear but don’t let that take over. We as Torontonians are better than that.”

Chow’s plea comes as city staff are currently going through the process of selecting locations for new shelters. One such location, which CityNews recently revealed, is in Scarborough, along Gerrard Street East.

Local councillor Parthi Kandavel who originally voted in favour of the motion says he’s now opposed to that site and area residents have already begun to organize and try to stop the proposed 80-bed shelter from opening.

Chow says a lack of shelter space is directly related to the number of encampments that have sprung up, adding it’s not just a Toronto problem as other municipalities across the province are struggling with the issue.

The mayor says if force is used to move people from encampments, they’ll just end up somewhere else.

“We evict people from camps, they go to a ravine. You go to a ravine, if you move them they go to a park. You take them out of a park they go into the TTC subway system,” explained Chow.

Earlier this year, the City of Toronto adopted a “people-first, human rights-based approach” to connect people with shelters, services and housing after a Toronto ombudsperson investigation found “significant unfairness” in the way officials cleared encampments in 2021.