The Regional Municipality of Waterloo applied for an injunction to evict residents of a homeless encampment on Region-owned property, citing a by-law prohibiting the erection of structures.
The encampment residents brought a constitutional challenge, arguing the by-law violated their rights under sections 7 and 15(1) of the Charter.
The court found that the number of homeless individuals in the Region exceeded the number of accessible shelter beds.
Consequently, the by-law's prohibition on erecting temporary shelters violated the residents' section 7 rights to life, liberty, and security of the person, and was not saved by section 1.
The section 15(1) claim was dismissed as homelessness is not an analogous ground.
The court declined to grant the injunction and declared the by-law inoperative insofar as it prevents homeless individuals from erecting temporary shelters when accessible shelter beds are insufficient.
