The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic continues to advocate to protect the constitutional rights of Hamilton’s unhoused population in the courts against the City of Hamilton’s by-laws related to encampments.

Last week, Hamilton City Council approved a motion directing Hamilton’s parks by-law be enforced to remove encampments within 24 to 48 hours. City Council approved a second motion to allocate roughly $417,000.00 to hire 4 additional Municipal by-law officers to enforce the encampment by-law 24/7.

This hardline approach comes only a few months after City Council passed a motion proposed by Councillor Nrinder Nann to convene a roundtable committee with a focus on “human-rights based, health-focused” approach to housing which recognized that an “enforcement led response” wouldn’t solve homelessness or lead to healing community relationships. The roundtable has never been convened.

Enforcing the parks by-law does not respond to the needs of Hamilton’s unhoused population, because it does not create shelter or housing – a view shared by health professionals, shelter workers, and other providing services to the unhoused. The City has taken the position that when someone is living on the street and unable to obtain shelter, that they will strip them of their essentials for human survival, such as their tent, blankets, clothing, sentimental items and more, leaving them empty-handed with nothing but their clothing on their backs and nowhere to go.

Homelessness in Hamilton is growing worse. A growing housing crisis has pushed precariously housed tenants out of their homes. COVID-19 has brought unique challenges for many communities in Hamilton, including job loss or income reduction, and an increased cost of living.

Last fall, the HCLC filed commenced legal proceedings arguing that City’s ongoing efforts to dismantle encampments violate the Charter. Our case will be heard sometime in early 2023.

We are also excited to announce that we have two new co-counsel joining our legal team: Wade Poziomka (@WPoziomka) from Ross & McBride (@rossmcbridellp), and Sujit Choudhry (@sujit_choudhry) from Choudhry Law. Wade is a well-known and respected local human rights and employment lawyer and was previously involved with the 2020 encampment litigation. Sujit has a broad public law practice on questions of constitutional law, administrative law, public international law and international human rights law.

We must all work together to address the housing crisis and ending homelessness. We encourage the City to take a human-rights and housing-first approach to supporting the diverse needs of its unhoused population. Greater enforcement without increased resources and support for the unhoused population will only further stigmatize, criminalize and traumatize those living in our community’s greenspaces.

A copy of our statement has been attached here: HCLC Encampment Litigation

Despite human rights being protected by federal, provincial and territorial laws, racist and discriminatory stereotypes about people of African Descent permeate contemporary society and disproportionally impact the social, economic, educational, and health outcomes of Black men, women and children. Whether they are descendants of those who were enslaved or recent immigrants, people of African Descent are united by a shared, lived experience with anti-Black racism. It is within this tension that the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic launched Together We Rise!

The Together We Rise advisory committee is made up of a maximum of 12 Black community members. The advisory committee actively participates in directing and creating events, facilitates long term visioning and meets regularly. The advisory committee works with the Black Justice Coordinator to realize a more just and equitable environment for Black Hamiltonians. We encourage youth (ages 15-29), self-identified Black elders (age 55 and up) and all Black community members from different walks of life to join this committee. 

To read more about Together We Rise: https://hamiltonjustice.ca/en/community-justice/black-justice/

To apply to be on the committee: https://hamiltonjustice.ca/en/community-justice/black-justice/application/

The Board of Directors of the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic is thrilled to announce the appointment of Clare Freeman as Executive Director beginning, January 24, 2022. 

Clare has worked in the non-profit sector for approximately 19 years as an Executive Director. She has extensive experience in leadership, strategy, public relations, advocacy, and management. She has served on many local, provincial, and national boards and committees, and is deeply committed to giving back to her community through her engagement with numerous social justice initiatives.

Since 2015, Clare has served as the CEO of Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice and bereavement services. Additionally, her past roles include Executive Director, Interval House of Hamilton; Counselling Coordinator, Sexual Assault Centre of Brant; and Continuing Education Professor of the Child and Youth Program, Mohawk College. She obtained her Bachelor of Sociology from the University of Western, as well as her Master of Social Work from York University.

Clare is a passionate and rights-based social justice advocate, and embodies the principles and values that the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic stands for. She will brings a wealth of experience from the organizations she has worked for in the past that will be of benefit to the Hamilton community.

We would like to congratulate Clare on her new role and look forward to continuing to fight for access to justice under her leadership.

We also extend our deepest gratitude to Hugh Tye for his exceptional leadership as our Executive Director over the past 26 years.

The Board of Directors

Hamilton Community Legal Clinic

Indigenous people see the impacts of colonization on a daily basis. We are assured to either hear, see or feel these impacts of colonialism, racism and discrimination every single day. Ongoing colonial and systemic policies continue to disproportionately impact the lives of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island, including within the City of Hamilton.
Canada continues to oppress Indigenous people through the use of harmful colonizing polices.
These policies include the doctrine of discovery, the Indian Act, the 60’s scoop, residential schools, child welfare systems and the colonial legal system.
The Assembly of First Nations notes: “The Doctrine of Discovery emanates from a series of Papal Bulls (formal statements from the Pope) and extensions, originating in the 1400s. Discovery was used as legal and moral justification for colonial dispossession of sovereign Indigenous Nations, including First Nations in what is now Canada. During the European “Age of Discovery”, Christian explorers “claimed” lands for their monarchs who felt they could exploit the land, regardless of the original inhabitants. This was invalidly based on the presumed racial superiority of European Christian peoples and was used to dehumanize, exploit and subjugate Indigenous Peoples and dispossess us of our most basic rights. This was the very foundation of genocide. Such ideology led to practices that continue through modern-day laws and policies.”
The Indian Act was created in 1876. The main goal of the Act was to force the First Nations peoples to lose their culture and become like Euro-Canadians, otherwise referred to as forced assimilation. The Indian Act has been changed many times and it is still an oppressive tool of the Canadian government. It does not affect either the Métis or Inuit.
These tools of the colonial project have led to Indigenous people’s loss of land, language, identity, and way of life.
A clear example of the policies that cause harm is the recent court ruling that enables the local municipal government of Hamilton to forcibly remove homeless people from public spaces. This violent act further displaces encampment residents, destroys any sense of safety and/or security by dismantling the only place they call home and violently disposing of personal belongings. Replicating 500 years of police and government sanctioned colonial violence.
Indigenous people are over-represented in Hamilton’s encampment population.
The Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action have been committed to by the government of Canada to try to rectify some of the wrongs done to Indigenous people. It is a tool we use to remind that there is a necessity to work with Indigenous people and communities to change the way things are done and reduce the harm. Consultation is a way of working with the Indigenous community and consultation did not happen when the decision to remove the encampments, removal that impacts Indigenous people, was made.
Hamilton and Burlington lie within the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe territories and fall under the dish with one spoon and the two row wampum treaty agreements. Treaties are binding agreements between two groups and there are responsibilities to all that these agreements include. Have municipal governments forgotten they are treaty partners? Or have they failed to ever acknowledge and put this relationship into practice?
This is an important point that we all need to recognize; each and every person here has a responsibility to educate themselves, support reconciliation and understand our treaty obligations. The education system has proven to have failed Indigenous peoples and been used as a tool of colonialism. We have seen how the education system has failed through the confirmation of unmarked graves at residential schools that has made the news headlines for months and many Canadians just learning about these acts of genocide. We are in charge of our own education and it is no longer acceptable to say “I didn’t know”. Ignorance is not bliss.
We recognize our roles and responsibilities and are speaking out against the mistreatment of our brothers and sisters who have had to make encampments their homes. The Indigenous way of being, our way of life and our roles and responsibilities DO NOT INCLUDE treating other human beings with such disrespect to dismantle their homes and toss their material possessions to the garbage. This is not how we manage our relationships with others. Our way of being includes consultation, compassion, empathy, caring and love.
Removing the encampments without alternatives for those displaced is taking away the spoon. When we take away the spoon, we are feeling privileged enough to interpret the treaty, Dish with one Spoon, in a manner that justifies our behaviours and accommodates only our needs and wants. This was not the intent of the treaty on Indigenous land. No one is privileged to interpret the treaty to benefit only them and this includes elected officials such as mayors and council members as well as policing agents who carry out their mandates.
It is our responsibility to remind Canadians that you are on Indigenous territories and we have agreements that are older than ourselves, older than any colonial law. Through these agreements we have roles and responsibilities to each other and the land. Wearing an Orange Shirt one day and violently dismantling encampments the next is a contradiction, example of a performative stunt with no real intention for true systemic transformative change to ensure we are upholding treaty obligations and working towards reconciliation.
If the City of Hamilton is truly committed to working towards reparation and reconciliation then the removal of the statue of Victoria, your Queen, is essential to ending the oppression that a majority of city council embraces toward Indigenous people. By not having her already removed reminds us that the city is not hearing the voices of Indigenous people and they continue to trigger Indigenous people with the same trauma, plus, associated with the John MacDonald statue. TAKE DOWN YOUR QUEEN. Indigenous people do not need constant reminders of genocide.

We are disheartened that the Court considered the desperate act of sleeping in an encampment as a choice.  We are concerned that this decision risks perpetuating the stigmatization of the unhoused population. By the City’s own admission, shelters are full and are unable to meet peoples’ disability related needs. This gap often results in people being denied entry or kicked out. This segment of the population will now be left to sleep outside in harms’ way, without the use of a tent to shield them from the harsh elements. Some will move further off the grid and into hiding, disconnecting from vital supports like medical and street outreach.

While we disagree with the decision, we are encouraged that there has been increased public attention and criticism of Hamilton’s mistreatment of individuals in encampments, particularly in contrast to other innovative and compassionate municipalities that have expanded shelter options and provided food, social workers, mental health crisis worker, potable water and bathroom facilities. Going forward, we hope that the City will adopt similar creative solutions to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the community.

This decision is not an endorsement or a license for the City to aggressively and violently evict homeless persons into a cycle of displacement.  The City must refrain from the aggressive and heavy handed displacement tactics seen in Toronto. It must ensure that people have an actual indoor space option before being told to move along.  It must increase the number of shelter spaces, particularly for women and couples. It must urgently provide low barrier shelter options so that individuals are not repeatedly kicked out.  It must prioritize investment in affordable, supportive housing, refrain from enacting policies that contribute to homelessness, and seek funding from other levels of government to actually meet the needs of the unhoused community.

Despite not granting the injunction, the judge confirmed that there is a triable Charter issue. The full Charter challenge remains the next step in this matter, should the City continue to fail to meet the needs of the unhoused population.

The bottom line is that, despite the Court’s decision, there remains a segment of Hamilton’s population, the most vulnerable, who have nowhere else to go.  We are hopeful that the City will commit to an ongoing dialogue with community stakeholders and prioritize addressing the housing crisis over the enforcement and displacement of homeless individuals.

We are pleased to present the community HCLC’S 2021 Annual Report. Please see the link below!

Annual Report (1)

For immediate release

HAMILTON, ON, August 8, 2021 — The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic (HCLC) congratulates our Executive Director, Hugh Tye, on more than thirty years of service to Ontario’s legal clinic system on the eve of his retirement.

Hugh was called to the bar and joined the Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples as a staff lawyer in 1988. In 1990 he joined Hamilton Mountain Legal & Community Services, where he took the reins as Executive Director in 1995.

Hugh has led HCLC as Executive Director since its inception in 2010 with the amalgamation of three clinics: Dundurn Community Legal Services, Hamilton Mountain Legal & Community Services and McQuestern Legal & Community Services.

During this time he has led initiatives to improve access to justice for historically marginalized communities, like YÉN:TENE (You and I will go there together) with Indigenous partners, Hamilton Legal Outreach in support of people experiencing mental health and substance use issues, Together We Rise! combating individual and systemic Anti-Black racism, and the Queer Justice Project with Two Spirit and LGBTQAI+ communities. These exist within an ongoing decolonizing, Anti-Racism Anti-Oppression journey to address and dismantle racism and oppression across all areas of our clinic.

Hugh is a founding member of the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario and served as the staff co-chair of the Association Executive until 2002. He has also sat on many provincial clinic committees over the years.

Hugh will retire from this leadership position at the end of 2021, but leaves behind a compassionate, motivated, and skilled team committed to access to justice, strong ties with communities and agencies across Hamilton engaged in the work of supporting our neighbours and protecting their dignity, and deep, organization-spanning practices of anti-oppression and continuous improvement.

“You have waged an incredible fight for access to justice and the very existence of a critical component to that access in Ontario,” said Sandi Bell, Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors of HCLC. “And always with calm, compassion, and thoughtfulness that often exceeded the moment. When it is time to say goodbye, we will do all we can to follow the fierce example you’ve set for us.”

We invite Hugh, our community, and all those across the clinic system who have worked with him on issues from the neighbourhood level up to the provincial to take a moment for reflection today: look back upon the legacy of a tireless champion and take heart in what great passion can accomplish.

The Board of Directors

Hamilton Community Legal Clinic/Clinique juridique communautaire de Hamilton

We echo The Hamilton Encampment Support Network‘s recent statement and petition to end encampment evictions in the city of Hamilton.

” What’s clear to us is that encampment evictions put people directly in harm’s way and we know that Black and Indigenous community members are overrepresented in encampments. Across Turtle Island, from Tkaronto to the unseeded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), & Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nations in so-called Vancouver, it is unjust to violate the dignity and humanity of people in our community.”

For the full statement and petition you can visit here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQoOI5vNUCzCM73F2fJqGbfB4ldMD6nQwiUmSMKabgDckp4Q/viewform

We extend our deepest condolences and stand in solidarity with the families, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, residential school survivors and Indigenous communities across Canada. This legacy of residential schools haunts all of us in this country and we must stand together to address these wrongs that continue to cause trauma and suffering.  We must face this truth in order to begin a reconciliation journey of healing.

We are deeply impacted by the gruesome discovery of the remains of 215 children buried at the site of Kamloops Indian Residential School.  We mourn the horrifying loss of 215 children who had been stolen from their families by the State. We are struggling with how to respond to this national tragedy.

As an organization we continue to look at how we can decolonize and be inclusive.  In 2017 we completed “A Journey to ReconciliAction: Calls to Action Report” after examining our policies, practices and procedures through the lens of the TRC Report. It is our guide and part of our commitment to First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.

We urge all organizations, institutions and governments to implement the Calls to Action as well as the Calls to Justice from the MMIWG Inquiry. We call upon the provincial and federal governments to support the full investigation of all residential school sites for unmarked graves. We call upon the Catholic Church to take responsibility for its role in the operation of schools and the criminal acts that were perpetuated against innocent children in their care.

Locally, we urge you to support the preservation of the “Mush Hole”, the former Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford now operated as part of the Woodland Cultural Centre. There has been an attempt by the Canadian Government to destroy all the evidence of Residential Schools.    “Save the Evidence” is a campaign to raise awareness and support for the restoration of the former Residential School, and to develop the building into an Interpreted Historic Site and Educational Resource. We have made a contribution and urge you to do the same if able. It is a concrete way to support Indigenous (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) peoples and contribute to both truth and reconciliation.

https://woodlandculturalcentre.ca/the-campaign/

Please see this video recording of our event ” The Colour Of Health – Black Healthcare Justice” which was held on February 3rd, 2021.