Protesters hope the silence will be deafening when they gather Wednesday to oppose government policies dealing with homelessness.
To be held at Barrie city hall, organizers say their gathering is to address the root cause of homelessness — a lack of housing.
“We will gather together to make our voices heard and to hold our elected leaders accountable for their responsibility to ensure everyone in our community has a safe place to call home,” said Christine Nayler, co-founder and director of Ryan’s Hope, an advocacy group for the homeless.
“Homelessness is not a crime — it is a policy choice and a policy failure,” she added.
The protest is also about Ontario mayors, including Barrie’s Alex Nuttall, taking Ontario Premier Doug Ford up on his invitation to move people out of homeless encampments and protect such actions from Charter challenges by using the notwithstanding clause.
A dozen mayors have sent Ford a letter, formally asking the province to take action aimed at disbanding homeless encampments.
“This motion calls for forced treatment, involuntary care for people living with mental illness, increased police power to criminalize public drug use and to limit homeless people's right to be in public spaces,” Nayler said. “It does very little to address the root cause of homelessness, which is a lack of adequate and affordable housing, and it seeks to punish and criminalize poverty.
“Furthermore it shows a lack of understanding and complete ignorance by our elected leaders,” she said. “The whole motion is based on unfounded assumptions that all homeless people are mentally ill and are addicted to drugs.”
Nuttall has a different take on the matter.
“What you're seeing here in this motion is a call for the provincial government to determine whether they need to strengthen what already exists in terms of mandatory care in this province,” he told The Trillium, a Village Media website covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park, last month.
The mayors are calling on the province to amend the Trespass to Property Act to allow people to be sent to jail for "repetitive acts of trespass" and to allow police officers "to arrest a person who commits repetitive acts of trespass" who they previously warned to leave.
The mayors are also calling on the premier to use the notwithstanding clause "where necessary" to protect the legislation from constitutional challenges that have hampered past efforts to evict encampment dwellers.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has criticized the call for the creation of new "repetitive trespass" provisions, saying they are meant to "criminalize unhoused people and people living in poverty, who are already among the most vulnerable members of our society."
Asked last week if the government will pass legislation with the mayors’ requested measures, while invoking the notwithstanding clause, Ford's office said it "will explore every legal tool available to the province to clear encampments and restore safety to public spaces."
Nayler has said the solution to solving the homeless crisis is for elected leaders to live up to their responsibility and start building social housing again — rent geared to income, non-market housing, housing to support families, accessible housing for seniors and people with disabilities, and supportive housing for people living with complex needs.
“We need quick-build tiny home communities to get people out of encampments and into housing ASAP,” Nayler said.
The protesters are to gather outside of city hall (70 Collier St.), at 6:30 p.m. and make their voices heard, then move inside for a silent protest during Wednesday’s meetings.
The city’s infrastructure and community investment committee is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m., followed by general committee at 7 p.m.
Both meetings are open to the public and are to take place in the council chamber.
— With files by The Trillium
