North Bay motion supports efforts by big city mayors to address homeless crisis

Big city mayors back move to deal with encampments Paul Lefebvre of Greater Sudbury is among the 13 big city mayors looking for action to clear homeless encampments in their cities.

A motion headed to city council in North Bay next week supports radical action proposed by big city mayors in Ontario to address homeless encampments.

If approved, it would offer formal backing for the calls by the mayors of Ontario's most populous cities to override the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms if necessary to get homeless people out of encampments and into treatment.

The motion, moved by Coun. Chris Mayne and seconded by Coun. Mark King, calls for city council to join "Ontario’s Big City Mayors' 'Solve the Crisis' campaign that call for immediate and decisive action from the Government of Ontario to address the escalating homelessness crisis."

The big city mayors – including Sudbury's Paul Lefebvre, the only northern Ontario city part of the group – sent a collective letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford calling for support to deal with the encampment crisis.

Among other things, it called on Ford to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian constitution if necessary to protect measures designed to prevent such things as repeated trespassing and forcing people on the street into treatment.

While not specifying the notwithstanding clause, the North Bay motion would support "key actions" in the campaign that include "support for municipalities by providing the tools and resources to transition those in encampments to more appropriate supports, when deemed necessary."

New provincial ministry

It also supports the creation of a new provincial ministry to create an action plan to address the housing, mental health and addictions crisis, and money for 24-hour community hubs/crisis centres to relieve pressure on first responders.

While the North Bay motion supports the campaign, Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said last week he doesn't believe solutions to the crisis lie in using the notwithstanding clause.

"They lie in finding a program that fits within the Charter," Shoemaker told CTV News.

"And that's my position … There is some disagreement even among the big city mayors on that issue. I trust that there will be a fierce debate over it. But, you know, as a kind of a general position, I would say that Charter rights are absolute and should not be opted out of."

Council in North Bay will vote on the motion at its Nov. 12 meeting. Read the full text here.