Proposed bylaw sets parameters for relocating encampment residents

When and how the city would move people out of encampments, and when it would use force, will soon be up for debate.

City council will consider a new use of public spaces bylaw, alongside options for designated encampment sites, at Wednesday’s special committee of the whole meeting.

The bylaw is key to bringing the city’s enhanced encampment response plan together.

According to Rilee Willianen, the city’s supervisor for encampment response, the bylaw delivers on part six of the council‑approved plan, which sets clear rules for how public spaces are used by all residents, including people living in encampments.

“The use of public spaces bylaw regulates how public spaces are used and enjoyed by everybody who visits a public space. And then there’s a specific section within the bylaw that applies for people who are sheltering in public space because they’re experiencing homelessness,” Willianen told Newswatch.

The encampment-specific sections of the bylaw include supporting a coordinated response between the encampment response team and community outreach services. It provides them with a clear approach to prioritize voluntary compliance, harm reduction and access to supports before any enforcement measures are pursued.

“Within the bylaw, it’s fairly clearly laid out here that, if we do end up reaching a point of enforcement with a situation, that we are following a graduated approach, a step-by-step approach and making sure that we are offering that space to the individuals who are requiring relocation, which then keeps us in line with the case law, which was founded upon, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Willianen said.

The bylaw recognizes the challenges faced by individuals experiencing homelessness, while regulating public spaces to promote safety, accessibility and equitable use by all community members, she said.

“We’ve seen through the case law that’s been established, if there’s any sort of enforcement of a bylaw for people who are sheltering in public space, you have to offer them an indoor space that is truly accessible, that meets their needs,” she said.

If and when city decides to relocate people, response teams will enter non-designated encampments to provide connection to services, notice of by-law restrictions and relocation planning.

“First and foremost, we would seek voluntary compliance,” Willianen said.

“So, my response team would go and chat with some folks and say, ‘You know, this isn’t a designated area. Let’s help you get to a designated area.’ Depending on what results from that, and it might escalate to the next step, and depending on that, then the next step gets triggered.

“So, it’s not going to be an automatic enforcement-first approach. It is a voluntary compliance-first approach seeking enforcement only if it reaches that point.”

If voluntary measures are unsuccessful, service providers involved in the relocation plan will attempt to offer indoor shelter space.

“If at that point they decline to participate in the relocation plan, then that offer of indoor space has been made available to them, and they’ve declined it, then we would be reaching a point of enforcement, which would then go to bylaw,” she said.

Municipal Enforcement Services will step in to enforce the by-law. If enforcement of the by-law needs to be escalated further, the Thunder Bay Police Service would be called as a last resort, according to the report.

Willianen said enforcement actions under the by-law are “dependent on being able to offer that space of truly accessible indoor sheltering or housing.”

Where such options are not available or do not reasonably meet individual needs, enforcement will not proceed. In these circumstances, the city will continue to pursue voluntary compliance, guided by council-approved distance guidelines and supported by the Encampment Response Team.

The encampment-related sections are only part of the proposed bylaw. It establishes restrictions intended to protect community health, safety, and accessibility for all residents.

Damage to public property, environmental harm, unsafe or disruptive behaviour, waste dumping, obstructing sightlines, and fire safety risks are restricted in all public spaces.

The bylaw also includes monetary fines for non-compliance, according to the staff report.

The city does not intend to issue fines to individuals experiencing homelessness. The fines are intended to address violations by individuals not experiencing homelessness and to support broader compliance with the bylaw.

The special committee of the whole meeting was called after the five-member quality of life committee refused to consider designated encampment locations, saying the contentious issue should be brought before all of council.

If the bylaw is approved in committee of the whole it will need to be brought back to council for ratification. – tbnewswatch.com

article website here

Our high salaried residents of City Hall need to realize that they have zero power over these people.  None.

The encampment residents have no money soo fines won’t work.

Can’t tax them.

A short stint in jail provides then with ‘three hots and a cot’ plus showers etc. How is that a threat?

Every step of these new public spaces bylaws can be followed by the question ‘Then what?’

If the person refuses to go to a designated campsite, then what?

If the person is arrested and thrown in jail, then what?

If the person is released from jail and sets up camp anywhere other than a designated camp site, then what?

What is there to stop this cycle from repeating itself?    There is nothing.

What happens to the unhoused  person’s possessions when arrested?  The tents etc. Will they be destroyed?  Will they be returned to the unhoused person upon release?

City Hall is acting like the referee in professional wrestling.   Its all theatre.

Being nice is not going to work.  The ‘unhoused/addicted/mentally-ill Industrial Complex’ will walk all over them.