When Ontario Superior Court Justice James Ramsey issued his relatively short and direct ruling declaring the City of Hamilton could remove daytime encampments, municipalities across Ontario took notice.
Since the December 24 ruling, many municipalities have declared they will enforce daytime encampment bans. Hamilton ban will come into effect on March 6. (Hamilton City Council will receive an update on enforcement planning on Wednesday.)
Sarnia moved quickly to end a notorious encampment site, with the police chief citing the Hamilton decision in enforcing the Sarnia City Council’s decision.
I wrote about the Rainbow Park encampment issue last year, using the events of May 6, 2024, as an encapsulation of the broader issue:
On May 6, 2024, Sarnia City Council hold a special council meeting, heard public delegations calling for the removal of a problematic encampment, went into closed session for legal advice, emerged and informed the public that removing the encampment would violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Sarnia’s Chief of Police declared they will not remove the encampment absent a court order, and then mere hours later, an attempted murder occurred at the Rainbow Park encampment.
Last Thursday, Sarnia Police issued a public statement “As of today, the Sarnia Police Service can confirm that the Rainbow Park encampment in the City of Sarnia has now been completely vacated.”
Sarnia Police released a drone video clip of the now-cleared park.
The encampment was cleared precisely one month after a 7-1 vote on January 20 at Sarnia Council to clear all daytime encampments.
The Hamilton decision has been appealed to Ontario’s Court of Appeal.
Production Details
v. 1.0.1
Published: February 25, 2025
Last updated: February 25, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version
v. 1.0.1 added link to ruling and link to earlier TPR summary.
hopefully they set up for a place for the homeless to go to…..? or tell them where they CAN sleep at nighttime and between what hours like midnight till 7 am kind of thing?? homeless are stuck between a rock and a hard place, but i dont like all that debris handing up, unless you have an apt, no need for all those bikes, get themselves a storage unit, and they can easity dry their clothes in a laundromat, – its one thing to be homeless, but you can look respectable, neat and tidy, and no excuse for garbage, put it in a bin, or a bag, and then bin your garbage bag…..that’s the frustrating part is the messiness which shouldn’t go hand in hand to homeless. and people are blaming homeless for city’s decisions – city can put out a garbage can, if the garbage is on the ground then they get a ticker for littering – but if the city doesn’t than how can you not expect this – its tough love on BOTH ends.