TORONTO — The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) is appearing in court today as an intervenor to defend the rights of unhoused people living in encampments in Waterloo, Ontario.
The Regional Municipality of Waterloo is seeking a court declaration that it’s site-specific bylaw authorizing the eviction of encampment residents is constitutional.
Unhoused people are rights-holders and governments must treat them that way. The CCLA intervention pushes back against municipal encampment responses that fail to meet Canada’s human rights obligations.
“The right to dignity, safety, and equality do not disappear when someone becomes unhoused,” said Howard Sapers, Executive Director of the CCLA. “Governments must ensure their responses to encampments are rights-respecting and uphold the dignity, autonomy, and lived realities of those experiencing homelessness.”
CCLA lawyers will argue that the National Housing Strategy Act incorporates Canada’s international commitment to adequate housing as a basic human right. Government decisions affecting an encampment must include procedural fairness, meaningful consultation with residents, and access to effective remedies.
“Unhoused people are among the most vulnerable in our society, often from already marginalized communities,” said Harini Sivalingam, Director of the Equality Program at the CCLA. “Displacing encampment residents without meaningful engagement or alternative housing does not resolve the crisis — it compounds the harm already done to the most vulnerable members of our community.”
The CCLA will argue that Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — which protects life, liberty, and security of the person — requires courts to rigorously assess whether alternative shelter is truly adequate, accessible, and safe for each individual. This means taking into account personal circumstances, lived experience, and intersecting identities.
The intervention also draws on the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in Kanyinda, which confirmed that courts must take an intersectional approach to equality rights — recognizing that homelessness hits hardest for people already facing overlapping forms of disadvantage.
The CCLA is grateful for the excellent pro bono representation provided by Kristen Allen and Simone Truemner-Caron of Ursel Phillips Fellows Hopkinson LLP.
About the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
The CCLA is an independent, non-profit organization with supporters from across the country. Founded in 1964, the CCLA is a national human rights organization committed to defending the rights, dignity, safety, and freedoms of all people in Canada.
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