A Saskatoon judge will hear arguments Monday afternoon on whether the city can clear part of a west-end homeless encampment, echoing similar fights that have happened in courtrooms from Victoria to Kitchener, Ont.
Crystal Fafard filed an injunction to stop the removal of tents from a parking lot at 301 Avenue K South in Saskatoon. The hearing for that injunction is set for 2 p.m. CST.
The parking lot is part of a larger encampment near 20th Street West and Avenue K South. Some advocates say moving, uprooting and displacing people without finding them adequate housing and support is not fair.
Saskatoon officials have pointed to safety concerns at the site. Deputy fire chief Yvonne Raymer has said nearby St. Mary’s School put up fencing between the encampment and students, and the fire department has received complaints about needles, drug use and overdoses.
Tensions boiled over at the site last week. Fire officials and police arrived to clean it up and install fencing. Protesters confronted them and the city paused the work, pending the court process.
Melissa Zimmer is the founder of Bridge City Warmth, a group that hands out essentials to people living on the street. She said her volunteers have been going to the camp one to three times a day since homeless advocate David Fineday first called about it, weeks ago.
She said people at the camp are nervous about what happens next.
“There’s just a lot of questions unanswered right now, and they’re just waiting for some answers,” Zimmer said Monday on CBC’s Saskatoon Morning. “Do they just set up another encampment? Do they look for housing?”
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Efforts to clear encampments have landed in courts throughout Canada over the years.
In 2009, B.C.’s Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that Victoria’s ban on overnight shelters in parks violated Section 7 of the Charter when there weren’t enough shelter beds for everyone who needed one.
In 2021, a B.C. judge refused to let Prince George dismantle an encampment because people had nowhere accessible to go.
City of Prince George apologizes for ‘trauma’ caused by destroying part of homeless camp
In 2022, a court struck down eviction orders at Vancouver’s CRAB Park, finding the park board was unreasonable to claim there was enough shelter space. Two years later, the park board said it closed the homeless encampment after offering shelter to the people who lived there, but that people could still shelter temporarily overnight.
Remaining CRAB Park residents ordered out as Vancouver enforces eviction
In May, an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled Waterloo Region couldn’t remove people from a downtown encampment on land slated for a transit hub in Kitchener, Ont. Justice Michael Gibson found the move violated both Section 7 and Section 15 of the Charter, and recognized homelessness as a protected ground for the first time in Ontario.
The region and the province are appealing. Premier Doug Ford called it ” the most ridiculous ruling.”
Region of Waterloo’s appeal of encampment decision argues Ontario judge made ‘multiple errors’
But cities don’t always lose these cases. In December 2024, a judge dismissed a Charter challenge against Hamilton’s encampment ban, although the ruling did say cities can’t clear camps overnight or when shelters are full. That case has since gone to Ontario’s Court of Appeal and is awaiting decision.
In Edmonton in December 2023, a human rights coalition won an injunction that slowed the city’s plan to clear several downtown camps. A judge later threw out the coalition’s lawsuit, ruling it didn’t have standing to do that. The court never decided whether clearing camps violated the Charter.
Edmonton declares homelessness emergency, while judge scraps lawsuit against city’s dismantling of encampments
