Guelph

Just read this article in Guelph today about the problems with trying to go car free in Guelph. Do you have a car? More than one? What would it take for you to go car free in Guelph? Or even to save your car for out of town trips only?

I just got back from Vancouver where I lived car free for many years and was reminded about how much I enjoyed getting around there. Some of the things that worked well:

Skytrain extending to surrounding cities Frequent buses Abundant access to rental cars Plenty of walking paths Protected bike lanes Dense living with walkable neighborhoods rather than suburban sprawl

Going car free was not only cheaper day to day, it was healthier. We spent more time walking and cycling than driving. Transit was the norm. Shopping was always close by.

I know that Guelph is not a big city but it’s growing fast. It would be nice to see it grow in a more sustainable direction.

Guelph’s car-free nirvana is impossible without more regional transit

We haven’t lived in Guelph for very long, having moved in during lockdown, and we don’t go out often. When we do go out, we want good food n a good atmosphere. So far, our favorites are Halmand Kabob House and Taste of Andy. Great food but not much in the way of atmosphere when it comes to eating out.

What are some of your favorite spots and why?

I recently learned that Planet Bean is reopening their Wyndham but noticed they had removed their pride flags. I learned from a current employee that they also took down and threw out all the art that was created by local artists as well as current and former employees.

Disappointing, I'd boycott them if their horrible operating hours didn't do that work for me.....

It may be unclear where encampment dwellers will be expected to go if they are evicted without other housing options, but Premier Doug Ford promises they won't be left stranded

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a new Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.

Ontarians have Premier Doug Ford's word that even if he lets municipalities evict people from homeless encampments despite having nowhere else for them to go, the province "won't be sending them to the mental hospitals against their will."

The premier was responding to a question on Tuesday about his stated desire to invoke the notwithstanding clause to circumvent a 2023 Ontario Superior Court decision that forbids municipalities from evicting people living in homeless encampments when there are not enough local shelter beds or other forms of housing available for them.

Fifteen mayors, so far, have asked the province to do so. The mayors also asked the Progressive Conservative government to use the notwithstanding clause to allow for increased involuntary health treatment of encampment residents and other Ontarians with severe addiction or mental illness.

When pressed about where he expects encampment dwellers to go without other available housing options, and whether they might be sent to involuntary care, Ford said they would not be committed to health-care facilities. "We are going to make sure we find proper shelter for these people," the premier insisted.

"We're funding homeless like this government, this province has never seen before," Ford said at an unrelated press conference in Oro-Medonte on Tuesday. His office would not confirm whether Ford's assurance means the province will reject the call for increased involuntary treatment.

The premier also suggested the courts are giving too much importance to the rights of encampment dwellers, and not enough to the "rights of property owners."

"When, all of a sudden, a camp falls in place right outside of the judge's house. You'll see how quickly people change their minds on that," Ford predicted.

"If it's not in their backyard, they don't worry about it."

Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett said the 2023 court decision has left some municipalities "caught in a trap" because they don't have the resources or jurisdiction to meet the court's requirements before being able to disband encampments.

"As lower-tier municipalities, we do not provide housing," Liggett told The Trillium earlier this month. "So we are being held ransom by the encampments without being able to provide housing."

More municipalities are considering whether to join the call for use of the notwithstanding clause as well.

On Wednesday, Hamilton city council will consider a motion from Coun. Matt Frances to "formally request that the province consider any tools available to ... not permit encampments in parks and public spaces, including but not limited to the use of the notwithstanding clause."

Another Hamilton councillor, John-Paul Danko, blamed "encampment supporters" arguing on social media, saying they've "left Ontario municipalities little choice to ensure resident's rights are respected."

The Community Legal Clinic for York Region issued a statement this week noting that “Canadian law states that cities are free to evict encampment residents at any time, provided they first offer the evictee truly accessible accommodation," and suggested that Ford and "his mayors" are exploiting the encampment issue for political gain.

“The premier may have polling to suggest that ‘cracking down’ on homeless Ontarians will be a popular issue in the upcoming election if they can be sufficiently vilified. His mayors may also seek to benefit from this approach. It will, of course, cause immense suffering to Ontario’s most fragile citizens this winter,” reads the statement.

“Threatening to invoke the clause is evidently intended to pander and inflame uninformed, angry NIMBYism and distract from the failure of the premier and his mayors to create a workable plan to reduce homelessness.”

Ford is still leaving the door open to having the issue resolved in the courts, rather than using the notwithstanding clause.

The municipality involved in the 2023 court case, the Region of Waterloo, chose not to appeal the decision, but Ford told reporters that Waterloo is rethinking that decision.

"I talked to the regional chair Karen Redman [on Monday] regarding that, and I believe they're going to challenge it one more time in the courts," said Ford.

The Trillium reached out to Redman's office for confirmation but did not receive a response before publication.

Ford also said the province will "support any municipality that goes to court" to challenge the decision.

Items from the encampment are going to a storage facility, a worker from Stepping Stone told GuelphToday

The tent encampment in St. George’s Square where people had been living for several months was removed earlier today.

This comes after the city passed a public space use bylaw at the beginning of October. An eviction notice was posted at the encampment two weeks ago which gave people two weeks to leave. Today was that deadline.

Danielle, who wanted to use her first name due to safety concerns, was living at the encampment for a couple of months. She got a call from Dani O’Connell, a housing outreach worker for Stepping Stone, this morning telling her the encampment was being taken down and to come down if she wanted any of her belongings that were still in her tent. The possessions she is keeping are in storage.

“That was annoying, because there's nowhere really for us to go, right? And there's people with really bad addictions that are getting pushed out of the public, and there's going to be more overdoses now with the medical centre … the safe supply closing. It's going to affect a lot of people,” said Danielle.

People don’t know where they will be going tonight but some will go to shelters and others will be staying outside, she said.

She said some people in encampments are treated differently than other people and even people who live in shelters are treated differently too. “Some people can't go to the shelter, can't access it, but there's others that can,” said Danielle.

With two deaths at the encampment on Friday it’s going to continue to be devastating, she continued. “We're going to see a lot more of it come the colder months, because they're going to be out in the middle of nowhere, right?”

Danielle has been living in a shelter with her dog Lexi. She’s the first dog to have lived at the shelter who wasn’t a service dog, said O’Connell.

O’Connell came to St. George’s Square at 10:30 a.m. and was shocked to see the encampment structures being taken down thinking that the time people had to be out was 4 p.m. People’s items are being kept in a work van for the time being and then the items will be put in a storage facility, said O’Connell.

People have been pretty good about coming to shelters, looking for housing and moving forward, O’Connell continued.

“As of today, the majority of individuals that were in St. George’s Square have voluntarily relocated to other locations or to an available shelter space," said deputy CAO Colleen Clack-Bush via email.

"In an effort to respect the privacy of these individuals, we cannot provide information on specific details. Our bylaw staff along with social service partners are actively assisting any individuals who remain there at this time and are dialoguing with any impacted individuals to ensure they are informed of available supports and where they could relocate to.

"With respect to non-compliance, staff have not directly encountered any. In the coming days, city staff will proceed with the removal of shelters that haven’t yet been removed by the owner. Bylaw staff will continue working with our social service partners to coordinate pick-up of removed items," she continued in the email.