TORONTO – The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) welcomes the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision allowing the appeal of unhoused residents of a Hamilton encampment who are challenging the City of Hamilton’s enforcement of bylaws that led to their eviction. The CCLA intervened to support the rights of unhoused encampment residents.
The Court of Appeal identified several errors in the trial judge’s decision to dismiss the residents’ Charter challenge. These included insufficient reasons for the decision, the dismissal of key documentary evidence, cursory factual findings, an inadequate analysis of the residents’ section 7 and section 15 Charter rights, and an improper assessment of the availability of damages against municipalities for Charter breaches.
Additionally, the Court of Appeal concluded that witnesses who live with mental health challenges or addictions are not presumptively unreliable, and that to conclude as such, or to rely on myths or stereotypes about addiction or mental illness when evaluating an individual’s credibility, constitutes legal error.
While the Court of Appeal declined to remedy these errors itself, it sent the case back to the lower court for reconsideration.
“This decision is an important reminder that Charter protections must be meaningfully considered when the rights and dignity of unhoused people are at stake,” says Howard Sapers, Executive Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Courts in Ontario and across Canada have recognized that prohibiting unhoused people from sheltering themselves overnight when adequate shelter spaces are unavailable violates their Charter rights to life, liberty and security of the person under section 7, as well as their equality rights under section 15.
“Unhoused people do not lose their Charter rights because they lack a place to call home,” said Harini Sivalingam, Director of the Equality Program at CCLA. “When governments enact and enforce bylaws that leave people without a safe place to shelter, courts must rigorously examine the impact on their fundamental rights and freedoms, including the disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities.”
This decision underscores the importance of a thorough and rigorous assessment of Charter claims involving the rights of unhoused people, including the consequences of government actions that deprive people of access to shelter.
CCLA is grateful to Tina Yang and Naomi Greckol-Herlich of Goldblatt Partners LLP for their excellent pro bono representation in this case.
You can read the decision here
