Crystal Monahan, who has experienced homelessness over the past eight years, and has stayed at The Lighthouse for the past two months, says she’s concerned about Premier Doug Ford’s new plan to tackle homeless encampments in the province.
In response to a letter from a dozen mayors around the province, Ford has promised new measures targeting homeless encampments in Ontario — including “explicitly and unequivocally” prohibiting the use of illicit drugs in public, and enhancing penalties for people who continually break the law.
“That's not going to help them. People that are doing drugs are doing it because they're numbing something,” Monahan told OrilliaMatters. “Everybody is one traumatic event away from addiction, homelessness — it all depends how you deal with things.”
In response to the mayors’ letter — which called on the provincial government to crack down on homeless encampments, and to utilize the notwithstanding clause where necessary — Ford responded with his own letter on Dec. 5 saying the government is “finalizing the details of new initiatives,” as follows:
- Implementing greater service manager (such as the County of Simcoe) accountability and alignment with provincial and local priorities.
- Providing additional funding to create more capacity in shelter systems, supported by the new accountability measures to ensure these funds support dismantling encampments.
- Explicitly and unequivocally prohibiting the use of illicit drugs in public, with new tools and authorities to help police enforce this prohibition.
- Enhancing penalties for people who deliberately and continually break the law.
- Introducing new approaches to treatment and rehabilitation that prioritize pathways to recovery over incarceration in the cases of minor and non-violent drug-related crimes.
While Monahan disagrees with public drug use, and said she gets upset when she sees paraphernalia in parks, she expressed concern that punitive measures will not solve the issue.
“That's a horrible move. You can get more drugs in jail than you can out here,” she said.
Monahan said she has previously experienced addiction to painkillers, and what ultimately led her to sobriety was the birth of her grandson.
“I had a grandson. It was a promise to my daughter when my grandson was born,” she said. “I've been battling painkiller addiction for about eight years. I've done pretty good.”
As part of his letter, Ford also highlighted $700 million in annual investments for mental health, addiction recovery, and homelessness prevention services, as well as a $378 million investment in 19 homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hubs.
The HART hubs will “add up to 375 highly supportive housing units, in addition to addiction recovery and treatment beds and other services to help people facing homelessness and addiction,” the Premier wrote.
While he does not expect the incoming legislation will need to invoke the notwithstanding clause — which allows the government to temporarily override sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — Ford said the government is “fully prepared” to use it if need be.
“I do not expect the legislation will need to proactively invoke Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Ford wrote. “However, should the courts interfere with our shared goal of effectively addressing and clearing out encampments using these enhanced tools, with your support, our government is fully prepared to use the Notwithstanding Clause.”
Officials at the Lighthouse shelter in Orillia agree that public safety — from problems created by drug use or homeless encampments — is “number one,” but questioned where people will go if they are penalized, incarcerated, or even placed into a shelter system.
“When there's no housing for people to go to, where do they go?” wondered executive director Linda Goodall. “They've now cancelled all safe injection sites, so again, where do people go?”
Goodall also expressed concern about enhanced tools for police to enforce any illicit drug prohibition, as incarceration or treatment will, again, result in people without permanent places to go.
“You can evict everybody from encampments, and then jail them. They're going to come out. Where do they go?” she said. “I think supportive housing units are huge in this.”
When it comes to treatment, Goodall also pointed out that “people who have a substance use disorder need to be motivated by (themselves) to go into treatment,” highlighting Monahan’s story and how her grandson inspired her to stop using.
“That is not mandatory. That is from her heart. That is what's going to actually keep her from using in the future,” she said. "(If it’s) mandatory … I can see people that come back from treatment, they come back into the environment, and it all happens over and over and over again.”
Orillia Mayor Don McIsaac said he is not in favour of forced incarceration or treatment.
“I'm not a fan of forced incarceration. I think you can't force someone to take treatment,” he said. “You can offer them the choice: you can either go to jail and serve a sentence, or you could go into treatment. I'm a big fan of the recovery side of the equation, versus the incarceration side, so I think that's important.”
McIsaac also said he doesn’t support using the notwithstanding clause at this stage, but he did support a number of the measures put forth by Ford.
“This is an important thing for Ontario. We're all suffering from the ravages of the opioid crisis and the crimes that come with it, so we need to make sure we take the appropriate action,” he said.
The mayor said he sits “in the middle” on the debate, saying he disagrees with the mayors’ original call for forced treatment or use of the notwithstanding clause, while agreeing that illegal activity should not be tolerated.
“I am absolutely against the use of illicit drugs in public. I mean, if I'm sitting on a park bench in the park and I'm drinking a six pack of beer, I'm going to get arrested for public consumption of alcohol,” he said.
“If I am injecting myself (with an) illegal substance … for me, that's not OK – it's an illegal substance,” he said. “You should be arrested for that, just as you would be arrested for the public consumption of alcohol.”
