A report from Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josée Houle said homeless people occupying tent cities are “claiming their rights.” . Tent city edmontonLiving rough in Edmonton. .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the report said tent city residents are “rights holders” and there should be a ban on evicting people from tent cities, plus provide free legal advice..“Those who are forced to rely on encampments as their home are not only experiencing human rights violations as a result of failed state actions and policies, but are also claiming their right to housing,” said the report Overview of Encampments Across Canada. .“When the state fails to implement and meet its obligation to realize the right to adequate housing for all, those who are financially disadvantaged and whose identities intersect with multiple forms of oppression tend to be more at risk.”.“In essence, homeless encampment residents are rights holders who are advancing their basic claims to home and community and thereby claiming their legitimate place within cities,” said the report. .Authorities must “recognize residents of homeless encampments as rights holders.”.Parliament in 2019 passed a National Housing Strategy Act that enshrined “a right to adequate housing” in federal law. The Parliamentary Budget Office in a 2019 report Federal Program Spending on Housing Affordability said the measure “does not create any enforceable individual rights that would give rise to statutory spending.”.The overview report said tent cities represented the “failure of governments in Canada to meet the obligations to realize the right for all” to housing. .“Residents have been arrested and criminalized under bylaws outlawing behaviour such as camping, bathing or defecating in public, activities which are unavoidable when sheltering in place,” said the report..The Housing Advocate’s document said municipalities should provide tent city occupants with free legal counsel, policing and utilities, pay squatters “who act as community spokespeople” and identify “permanent housing options before asking them to move” based on the Housing Strategy Act..“Rather than criminalizing encampment residents, states need to recognize those experiencing homelessness as human beings claiming their rights,” it said..The report said many occupants suffered from “mental health issues” and “substance abuse.”.The report complained taxpayers oppose the tent cities often based on “very stigmatizing images of those who are experiencing homelessness.”.“A different approach is needed to better respond to this humanitarian crisis and violation of people’s human rights in Canada,” said the overview. .“A human rights-based approach to encampments is long overdue.”.Houle looked at examples of tent cities in different places across Canada, such as Vancouver, Prince George, Hamilton, Toronto, Gatineau, Montréal, and Sherbrooke..“What they want is a place, a home, without curfew and without a schedule which they find in the encampment,” wrote researchers. .“For them, the encampment allows them to develop a sense of belonging.”
