Ontario court bars Waterloo region from removing encampment residents – JURIST

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice barred the regional municipality of Waterloo from removing encampments on Thursday. The court held that the municipality’s site-specific bylaw is not only discriminatory but also infringes the right to life, liberty and security of the encampment residents.

Justice Michael R. Gibson held that the municipality’s bylaw, allowing forced evictions of the encampment residents in the particular site, violates the residents’ right to life, liberty, and security under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He sided with the residents, accepting that the government has not provided sufficient alternative shelter nor allowed residents to shelter elsewhere since its previous application in 2023.

Gibson also found that the bylaw violates the right to equality under Section 15 of the Charter. He recognized homelessness as an analogous ground. In addition, he found that the bylaw has a discriminatory effect on Indigenous residents and residents with disabilities because they are over-represented in the unhoused population. Furthermore, he accepted that the bylaw discriminates against women and gender-diverse residents because they need to resort to unsafe forms of shelters, given the disproportionate lack of municipal shelter spaces designated for them.

Notably, Gibson took into account Canada’s international obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. He accepted that the region must explore all feasible alternatives and consult meaningfully with the residents in the encampment before forced evictions. The absence of such measures violates the rights-based approach under the right to adequate housing. The federal government adopted the covenant into domestic law through the National Housing Strategy Act in 2019.

The ruling follows a court order requiring the region to develop a safe tenting protocol and provide an alternative encampment site. The Waterloo Region Community Legal Services welcomed the decision, calling on all levels of government to address homelessness.

In Friday’s press conference, Premier Doug Ford described it as “the most ridiculous ruling I’ve ever seen.”

The encampments in question are located in downtown Kitchener, a city within the regional municipality of Waterloo. The regional municipality has attempted to clear the encampments since May 2022, citing safety concerns. However, the court barred it from doing so in January 2023, holding that there were inadequate shelter spaces for the encampment residents. The region attempted again in April 2025.

The encampment site is part of the Kitchener Central Transit Hub construction site, originally set to begin in March 2026. The hub is planned to house ION light rail transit, Grand River Transit, GO Transit, VIA Rail, and other inter-city transportation.