Big city mayors sidestep calls for notwithstanding clause to address homelessness

When the mayors of Ontario’s 29 biggest cities met last week, the homelessness and addictions crisis dominated the discussions, so much so, that several items on the agenda had to be differed because many people wanted to comment.

At the heart of the talks was a motion floating the idea of a “system of mandatory community-based and residential mental health and addictions treatment.” The motion also suggests the provincial and federal governments could use the nuclear option — notwithstanding clause — to stifle potential constitutional challenges that might arise.

Essentially, the changes to legislation suggested would force unhoused individuals with mental health or addiction crisis, into treatment to get them off the street.

In the end, Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) caucus opted for a toned-down and softened version.

Waterloo Mayor, Dorothy McCabe, a member of OBCM, told The Mike Farwell Show forcing people into treatment is not an option for a system that is broken at its most basic level.

“The system right now does not have enough funding for people who are seeking treatment voluntarily. It’s months before you can get that person into treatment. We need funding and capacity in the system to address that.”

She said that some of the ideas in the original version of the motion don’t appear to be entirely based in fact.

“I haven’t heard any experts calling for involuntary treatment and use of the notwithstanding clause. What I hear experts call for is ongoing money that goes into systems like Canadian Mental Health Association and other groups. Those are the people saying they can really find solutions and deliver really good care for people.”

McCabe said municipalities are the ones who know best how to support individuals in their community.

“We continue to call on the provincial and federal governments to sit down with us, establish an action table. Give us a minister, one point of contact we can talk to them and say this is what we need now. Let’s negotiate and talk about that. I think going down the road of talking about involuntary treatment and the notwithstanding clause is a real red herring and a slippery slope.”