Local councillors sign letter asking Premier Ford to ignore calls to use notwithstanding clause

A letter signed by 41 councillors from across Ontario, including some from Guelph and Waterloo region, is calling on the Ontario government to hold back on using the notwithstanding clause to help municipalities deal with encampments.

It comes after a letter from 13 mayors on Oct. 31 "strongly" requested the province to consider using the notwithstanding clause to help them clear encampments. Among those to sign the letter was Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie and Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett.

The notwithstanding clause is needed because of a decision in January 2023 by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Justice M.J. Valente ruled that the Region of Waterloo could not use a municipal bylaw to evict people living in an encampment in Kitchener because that bylaw was deemed to be in violation of Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The judge said a lack of shelter spaces means the bylaw infringed upon Charter rights.

The notwithstanding clause is in Section 33 of the Charter and allows governments to temporarily override other sections of that document.

The mayors sent the letter after Premier Doug Ford suggested they should.

"I don't think that the premier can help us with the encampments unless he uses the notwithstanding clause," Liggett told CBC K-W's The Morning Edition earlier this month.

But the councillors who have signed the new letter disagree.

"As individual councillors in our respective municipalities, we know that Ontario municipalities are facing a humanitarian crisis that is affecting all of us," the letter says. "We see it every day in our communities. But no municipality should be above the law and we are sworn to uphold democracy and human rights as councillors."

WATCH | People living at downtown Guelph homeless encampment asked to move:

People living at downtown Guelph homeless encampment asked to move

14 days ago

Duration 1:29

Written eviction notices handed out to residents of the encampment in Guelph's St. George Square in late October took effect on Wednesday. Unoccupied tents were removed and bylaw officers were waiting for the remaining few residents to leave voluntarily. Doug Godfrey, the general manager of Guelph's operations department, said in an emailed statement that bylaw officers may issue trespass notices to those who choose not to comply with the eviction order. Reporting by Cameron Mahler/CBC.

The councillors say councils were not consulted before mayors signed the letter or before it was made public.

"We are elected by our constituents to represent their interests, but we cannot do this without the opportunity for input and democratic debate at the municipal level," the letter says.

The letter made public on social media shows the local councillors who have signed the letter are:

• Region of Waterloo Coun. Pam Wolf.
• Region of Waterloo Coun. Rob Deutschmann.
• Cambridge Coun. Ross Earnshaw.
• Cambridge Coun. Scott Hamilton.
• Guelph Coun. Erin Caton.

In a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Deutschmann said he signed the letter because he thinks Ford should "work on solutions not litigation."

Guelph currently has a public space use bylaw, which prohibits encampments from certain parts of the city, including St. George's Square in the downtown core from which people were evicted last week.

On the social media platform Bluesky, Caton wrote, "Regardless of what you think of our local bylaw I hope we can unite around supportive solutions rather than breaching charter rights as the path forward."

Four Hamilton councillors have also signed the letter. Last week, Hamilton city council voted against a motion to call for the province to use the notwithstanding clause.