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Council approves controversial public space use draft bylaw

GuelphToday

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Removing encampments from public lands when there is no alternative shelter space for encampment residents has been found to violate the Charter right to life, liberty and security of the person. Encampments are legal if indoor spaces unavailable: Ontario & BC Superior Courts. Cam Guthrie is not complying with the Charter right to life.

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Downtown location ‘isn’t the best’ for CTS, says mayor

GuelphToday

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Cam and many people seem to be uneducated inexperienced and naive so believe that people experiencing homelessness had a choice in the matter and should be invisible and Because of this false premise, promote “anti-homeless” laws that criminalize people in public spaces These laws keep homeless people out of sight and deprive them of access to basic medical and social services that could improve their lives. Rejecting stigmas is a crucial first step in addressing the issue of homelessness. To do this, we must engage with people who are experiencing homelessness to further understand the context surrounding their situation. Understanding their context will allow us to approach the problem realistically rather than relying on stigma-based assumptions. Healthcare and subsidized housing are crucial to the survival of our loved ones. It is inhumane not to provide this and to take this away.

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Dozens protest proposed public space bylaw ahead of council vote

GuelphToday

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Removing encampments from public lands when there is no alternative shelter space for encampment residents has been found to violate the Charter right to life, liberty and security of the person. Encampments are legal if indoor spaces unavailable: Ontario & BC Superior Courts.

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A local woman on ODSP can't make ends in meet in Guelph anymore

GuelphToday

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So sorry to hear of your struggles. This is another example of how the Guelph Subsidized housing has failed us. Unfortunately the discrimination against low income and our loved ones with disabilities is epidemic. I am ashamed to say That Guelph is my hometown. You have to be a university student to get housing in this city. So sorry for your loss. Hope Ottawa treats you better.

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Mayor ‘disappointed’ by U of G 'over-enrollment'

GuelphToday

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Cam, YOU need to actively participate in solving the lack of affordable housing for our Guelph residents before housing overenrolled students Being “disappointed” is not effectively finding a solution. Strong mayor powers are useless if it’s all talk no action during our unaffordable housing crisis. Admitting ignorance on the universities decisions and asking to be informed after the fact is not going to change anything. I am disappointed in you again.

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What Guelph council said before voting on public space use bylaw

GuelphToday

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Guelph’s homeless encampments are part of a national human rights crisis.A growing number of people in Guelph are having to live in tents or informal shelters to survive due to a lack of affordable housing, limited support services, and nowhere safe to go. For ourloved ones living in these encampments, every day is a matter of life and death so encampments represent an effort by people who are unhoused to claim their human right to housing and meet their most basic needs for shelter. First, encampment residents are at dire risk of harm due to the failure to uphold their basic rights.Second, the encampments exist only because of a larger, systemic failure to uphold the right of all people to adequate housing without discrimination.Forced evictions are a violation of human rights, as contained in section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the right to adequate housing under international law.

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You can't trade constitutional rights to end homelessness

GuelphToday

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Drug addiction is not a choice Shirley. It is a genetic disease and the person with it acquires it in the womb the same as allergies and other hereditary disease. The addict needs to be treated with the love and compassion the same as any sick person. The first step of treatment is affordable and supportive housing. Then see the transformation to hope and recovery. “Out of site” segregation instead of developing tiny homes and safe supportive housing is the mayor’s choice in developing the new bylaw so yes he is responsible for those that die in tents

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You can't trade constitutional rights to end homelessness

GuelphToday

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BGi, so true, exactly right that our vulnerable loved ones are being victimized by political bullies who do not abide by or respect the Charter of human rights. Criminalizing a disease, mental illness, and poverty is not the solution. Affordable and supportive housing is.

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Mayor inadvertently violated code of conduct: integrity commissioner

GuelphToday

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Oh same way he “inadvertently” violated the Charter of human rights by evicting the houseless.

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OPINION: Tiny homes get predictably tiny reception at the county

GuelphToday

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I am disgusted with Guelph council and the Mayor of Guelph on how they dismiss our homeless as dispensable. These are our children, our pensioners, our veterans, our paramedics, ours brothers and sisters, OUR LOVED ONES, with either mental illness such as PTSD, Depression, bipolar, etc or simply the lack of income to pay the greedy prices of housing in a city that has their entitled heads buried in the ground. We need a new mayor and all new council. Maybe we can borrow Kitchener’s Mayor

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A local woman on ODSP can't make ends in meet in Guelph anymore

GuelphToday

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There are a lot of reasons why sharing is not an option for people with disabilities. Social anxiety, sensitivities to sound, inability to communicate, etc are often barriers. It’s important to see each persons needs met individually and that is why supportive housing is needed

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Protest planned before Aug. 28 public space bylaw meeting

GuelphToday

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What is more important than saving lives?

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Council approves controversial public space use draft bylaw

GuelphToday

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I for sure will not shop downtown if this bylaw goes through.

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Two more Guelph councillors sign opposition to use of notwithstanding clause

GuelphToday

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The notwithstanding clause is a violation of human rights. History has proven that Segregation, victimization, prejudice and robbing people of their freedom and shelter is also a violation and the reason the Charter of Human Rights was implemented. We are all equal. No one is above the law. It may be a small number of councillors who want it rescinded but they are growing and it’s the right thing to do. No court of law or judge would have taken the Charter of Hunan rights away from our most vulnerable people. Love your neighbor as yourself.

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A local woman on ODSP can't make ends in meet in Guelph anymore

GuelphToday

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Runningrebel…There are homeless people being evicted from their tents and being turned away at lineup's for shelter, loved ones with disabilities without assisted housing and you are worried about taxes on your comfy home ? Shame

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Coalition of agencies ‘deeply concerned’ about mayors' approach to encampments

GuelphToday

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Affordable geared to income and supportive housing is the solution and should be a priority. Guthrie’s lack of understanding that addictions is medically recognized as a disease no different than cancer and his ignorance and lack of empathy on mental illness, disabilities, poverty, pensioners, Reno evictions, unaffordable housing and addictions which all cause homelessness is obvious by his inhumane bylaw segregating and penalizing our vulnerable loved ones. Guthrie, spend some time at the mission, hope house, food banks, CADs, CMHA, and live in a tent for a month and then find the right solution being tiny homes and supportive housing for all who need it. Housing is a human right

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With apparently no new ideas, the mayor is raising the dead

GuelphToday

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If you don’t like the tents then support the need for government subsidized housing. A safe permanent home is the foundation for recovery. It appalls me when people complain about smoke when it’s obvious that there is a need for housing for our loved ones.

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OPINION: I have no idea what was decided on tiny homes at council this week

GuelphToday

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They are only stalling because they have no loved ones who are homeless and have had no personal experiences on the desperation and futility of having to survive with no home. Once you … “Walk a mile in my shoes” or, councillors, mayor with strong mayor powers and fellow NIMBY citizens; spend a night without shelter or (worrying if your loved one is surviving out there ) in a freezing snowstorm or summer tornado. I have. If someone was drowning in a lake would you refuse to give them a hand to pull them out of the water? Or would you ask first if they deserved it. Save a life. Its time to act in housing the homeless.

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OPINION: 'Guelph has become a cold and mean place in recent weeks'

GuelphToday

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It’s obvious that people who are not happy with themselves are mean to others. The people who are pro the discriminatory bylaw that dehumanizes and displaces our vulnerable loved ones need to learn acceptance that poverty and being houseless is a reality and can’t be swept under the rug and that we all need to work together without hatred and segregation and isolation of vulnerable people from essential services and know that this against the Charter of human rights. Yes this is a mean bylaw designed by mean people.

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Council approves controversial public space use draft bylaw

GuelphToday

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Steve soydernan… you are housed

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