In the 81-page judgement, Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled that not allowing the homeless to sleep in city parks was in violation of Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that ensures the right of security for a person, according to the CBC.
There is an attempt to put a limit on the creation of permanent homeless encampments, though. “I conclude that allowing the City’s homeless to set up shelters overnight while taking them down during the day would reasonably balance the needs of the homeless and the rights of other residents of the City,” wrote Hinkson.
Judge Hinkson further wrote that evidence did show there was a need for people to shelter and rest during the day, and there were no shelters for this need. The judge decided that in balancing the needs of the homeless with the needs of the public having access to the parks, it would be best to “allow the homeless to set up temporary shelters in public spaces between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. the following day.”
A group calling itself Drug War Survivors took the city to court, the lawsuit claiming the city’s regulations and harassment violated their charter rights. The lawsuit follows a number of incidents over the past couple of years, including June 2014, when municipal officials allowed city workers to dump chicken manure over a site where the homeless had been gathering.
Two weeks after the chicken manure incident, police were alleged to have gone into the encampment and slashed the tents with knives and sprayed bear mace inside the damaged tents.
The Huffington Post is reporting that David Wotherspoon of the Pivot Legal Society, an advocacy group representing the city’s homeless in this case, says it’s unfair to blame the homeless for their plight, even though there are city shelters available to them. This is the second time the B.C. Supreme Court has struck down a municipal bylaw aimed at preventing the homeless from setting up encampments in city parks.
In October, 2008, the B.C. Supreme Court struck down a Victoria bylaw, ruling it deprived the homeless of life, liberty and security of the person in violation of the Charter. Victoria appealed the decision and the ruling was upheld by the B.C. Court of Appeals.
