BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following open letter to members of Barrie city council from Jeff Schlemmer, executive director, and Sharon Crowe, director of legal services at Community Legal Clinic of York Region was also sent to BarrieToday about the ongoing situation at Berczy Park in downtown Barrie.
This is further to our letters to you of May 7, 2024, Aug. 14, 2024 (delivered through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario) and Sept. 4, 2024.
We read with concern that on Friday the city apparently issued trespass notices to the remaining Berczy Park encampment residents.
We appreciate that you have not yet carried out any evictions, albeit that some residents were pressured to leave with false claims by your bylaw staff that they “had to leave.”
We have read in media reports that you refer to “self-identified unique needs” as being your determinant in deciding whether or not to issue trespass notices. You will be aware that this is not the test set out by the courts. The courts have required that “truly accessible accommodation” must be offered prior to eviction. That test relates to addressing the reason the person feels that a tent is preferable to the offered alternative.
A person with apparent symptoms of mental illness, for example, may not identify any unique needs, but be unwilling to stay in a shelter. A person who prefers a tent, especially in winter, may be making an irrational decision, which in and of itself indicates a problem with disordered reasoning. (It will be apparent when truly accessible accommodation is offered because the resident will take it. When tiny cabins are offered, for instance — as in Waterloo, Peterborough, Kitchener and soon Chatham — encampment residents generally take them.)
Examples of considerations respecting “truly accessible” accommodation identified in the evidence in the Waterloo and Kingston cases include:
1. Daytime sheltering:
Generally, shelters require occupants to leave during the day. People often have no way to transport their belongings, no place to go, and transportation to get to indoor options. If the shelter is full on their return, they might not get in for the night.
2. Permit couples or families:
Shelters often can’t accommodate opposite sex couples to stay together, and family shelters are often full. Separation causes stress, anxiety and panic in partners who can no longer support and/or protect each other. If separated, one partner may not find shelter space. Often, one partner will stay with the other in an encampment in order to avoid separation.
3. Permit pets:
Shelters generally don’t permit pets. Pets can be an important source of emotional support for people who are unhoused. The loss of their pets (including the risk of their being put down) can be deeply traumatizing.
4. Substance use and harm reduction rules:
Shelter spaces are often abstinence-based. These structural barriers can lead people with addiction disabilities to resort to staying outside where they can access the support of peers and harm reduction services to stay well and safe. Many shelters do not allow substances to be stored onsite, and some shelters do not even allow harm reduction materials. On the flip side and despite these restrictions, drug use can be rampant in shelters. People who are attempting to maintain sobriety are at risk of relapse if they are at a shelter where drug use takes place.
5. Provide secure accessible place for belongings:
Shelters generally have very limited space for belongings. Items like tents, cooking and warmth tools, and clothing can take significant effort to obtain. When people living unhoused have to leave their tents, or their encampments are cleared, they are at high risk of losing all of their hard-won possessions. Given that shelters are routinely full and residents do not often have phones, they must walk with their possessions from shelter to shelter. It is very physically taxing, especially for those with physical disabilities, to spend their days moving their belongings.
6. Service restrictions:
Shelter stays are inherently unpredictable and precarious. Many people can find themselves abruptly evicted onto the street at any time of day and with any weather conditions. Service restrictions (or shelter bans) are often disability related, and can vary in length from hours and days, to years-long bans. Individuals with mental health and/or substance use disabilities are particularly at risk of being service restricted, as their disability can manifest in disruptive behaviour.
7. Personal safety:
Many people have experienced or witnessed violence and threats to personal safety in shelters. Theft is rampant and physical altercations sometimes occur. Shelters are often understaffed and despite best efforts, often can’t provide adequate safeguards.
8. Isolation:
Motel rooms may not work for some because they are isolated in these rooms and need interaction with trusted friends in order to remain well.
As you are aware, no such “truly accessible accommodation” has been offered to the encampment residents on whom you have served trespass notices.
We see Mayor Alex Nuttall quoted on Friday saying:
“Meanwhile, Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall said he supports the County of Simcoe’s efforts to relocate the park’s inhabitants.
“The county is leading the help there to find a place for folks who are experiencing homelessness, and perhaps addictions, perhaps mental health concerns, and so we are certainly supporting the efforts the county’s brought forward,” Nuttall told BarrieToday on the sidelines of an event just outside city hall on Friday.
"...At the same time, we need to make sure that we have the services available for adults to be able to choose a different life, and until recently, those haven’t been available.”
We are aware that the county’s contracted agent, The Busby Centre, in a statement issued last Thursday, has denied that it has offered anything beyond standard group shelter beds, and has expressly not attempted to provide truly accessible accommodation. It said: “Our role is strictly to provide direct support and resources … We are not encouraging the removal of anyone or anyone’s belongings without their permission ... We can’t provide housing that is accessible to all.”
It has been reported that seven encampment residents moved to Busby beds. It is our understanding that the Busby shelter is at capacity, consisting of a large room full of beds. Few, if any moved to motel rooms.
We would urge you not to proceed with the imminent evictions which you apparently plan. Once again we strongly urge you to seek authorization from the court before proceeding.
Jeff Schlemmer, executive director
Sharon Crowe, director of legal services
Community Legal Clinic of York Region
