Ontario’s big city mayors are again calling on the province and federal government for more tools to take on the mental health, addictions and homelessness crises gripping their communities.
The municipal leaders released a new list of positions following a meeting in Markham, Ont. on Friday, including an urgent push for the province to review and update its mental health, health care consent and trespass to property acts.
Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie noted it’s not the first time municipal leaders have raised these issues, adding they’ve been united for years on the need to address open drug use and encampments.
“When I look at some of the priorities that are coming out of the provincial government, I’ve got to call it out,” Guthrie said after the meeting. “We need the help of the province, and we need it urgently.”
The Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) group includes 29 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more. Its website states they represent nearly 70 per cent of Ontario’s population.
In August OBCM launched a campaign stressing municipalities have done all they can to address encampments, addictions and mental health and need support from upper levels of government.
On Friday, vice chair and London, Ont. Mayor Josh Morgan said the group was renewing its calls for help addressing the “emergency on our streets.”
Mayors want updates to provincial acts
The group is asking for a fully-funded range of treatment programs, along with expanding court referrals for rehabilitation, rather than punishment. It’s also seeking a blueprint for plans to build supportive housing.
The OBCM also wants upper levels of government to take on intervener status in court cases that could restrict a city’s ability to block encampments as well as legislation to prohibit open use of drugs and public intoxication.
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Marianne Meed Ward is Chair of Ontario’s Big City Mayors, and the mayor of Burlington.
Morgan said drug use has moved beyond back alleys and behind closed doors to the front steps of businesses and residents’ front lawns.
Controversial positions the mayors reportedly considered around forced treatment and severe punishments for repeat trespassing drew concerns ahead of the meeting. from advocacy groups, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).
In an open letter to the mayors, the CCLA said both approaches would unfairly target already vulnerable people and violate their Charter rights.
That hasn’t stopped some mayors from advocating for them. In a media conference earlier this month, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called for “involuntary treatment” for those struggling with mental health and addictions and asked the province to make legislative changes aimed at mandatory care.
The big city mayors didn’t go that far following Friday’s meeting, instead asking for the province to review and update the mental health and health care consent acts to reflect “current realities.”
Morgan said updates should be considered after consultation with health care workers and first responders, in order to determine whether to “expand the scope” and strengthen the existing mandatory mental health and addictions care.
“These acts have not been updated in some time. The opioid crisis and the drug addiction crisis, fentanyl on our streets, were never contemplated,” Morgan said.
“The scope of the mental health crisis that we’ve seen and how widespread it is was never necessarily contemplated when those acts were written.”
CCLA calls forced treatment ‘dangerous’
Harini Sivalingam, director of the CCLA’s equality program, said the organization was encouraged the mayors had stopped short of advocating for forced treatment.
“Doing so would be extremely dangerous and … we really need to find meaningful solutions to these crises that … don’t violate rights of some of the most vulnerable people in our society,” Sivalingam told CBC.
OBCM is also asking for the province to reevaluate the Trespass to Property Act to help communities respond to “aggressive and repetitive trespass behaviour.”
Guthrie said while the new positions are great on paper, the group shouldn’t be standing behind yet another podium, once again asking for help.
“When is the province actually going to take action?” he asked. “It has to happen, and it has to happen immediately, or more lives are going to be lost in our communities.”