Introduction
Rethinking Municipal Policy Responses to Encampments: Building a Human Rights Approach in Ontario
Homelessness is a growing problem in Canada, because of the overlapping crises of the structures of settler colonialism and the failures of the housing, healthcare, and social services systems (1). The growth of homelessness has contributed to a rise in encampments. Encampments are places on private or public lands where people experiencing homelessness shelter in tents or small built structures.
The 100-day protest encampment at Hamilton City Hall in July 2025, organized to demand an end to the city’s encampment ban.
One of the dominant frameworks used by government and non-government advocates in Canada to discuss the needs of people in encampments is that of human rights: framing the issue as a matter of entitlements, obligations, and accountability by government to individuals experiencing homelessness, rather than framing an issue as a matter of charity, policy preference, or efficiency (2). Within our current settler-colonial society, municipalities in Ontario have been on the front lines of encampment responses. While social services, including homelessness services, are designated as a responsibility of the provinces in Canada, in Ontario this responsibility has been largely downloaded to municipalities. In addition, many aspects of land regulation – including those that are unceded territories or in active treaty disputes - are under municipal jurisdiction, governed using bylaws. This means that much policymaking concerning encampments occurs at the municipal level. And municipal responses matter: they can be matters of life and death for unhoused residents who rely on encampments for food, shelter, and support (3). As a result, there is an urgent need to identify, share, and evaluate municipal encampment responses to see how consistent they are with a human rights approach.
Fundamentally, the goal of this report is to provide guidance on what a human rights-based approach to encampments looks like at the municipal level, assess the extent to which existing municipal policy responses reflect a rights-based approach, and to determine necessary interventions where the municipalities fall short of their responsibilities within this approach. This report is an Ontario-wide review of all neo-vagrancy bylaws and protocols in municipalities with populations over 70,000, conducted in 2023 and 2024.
Realizing the Right: Municipal Policy Responses to Encampments
This research is part of a project called “Realizing the Right: Municipal Policy Responses to Encampments”. Realizing the Right is a multi-year community engaged project based at Wilfrid Laurier University, focused on understanding how municipalities in Ontario are responding to encampments.
The researchers on this project are committed to a critical community-engaged research (CCER) approach. CCER draws attention to structural inequities which inform social, political, and other issues, with an explicit emphasis on equity and justice. (4) As such, this research project is rooted in the following principles:
This research is part of a project called “Realizing the Right: Municipal Policy Responses to Encampments”. Realizing the Right is a multi-year community engaged project based at Wilfrid Laurier University, focused on understanding how municipalities in Ontario are responding to encampments.
The researchers on this project are committed to a critical community-engaged research (CCER) approach. CCER draws attention to structural inequities which inform social, political, and other issues, with an explicit emphasis on equity and justice. (4) As such, this research project is rooted in the following principles:
- Transparent and clear communication with all groups and individuals interacting with the project
- Prioritizing community-identified needs through the research process
- Developing meaningful relationships including shared governance and shared benefit from research outputs
- Emphasizing a flexible approach in response to diverse community needs
- Practicing reflexivity including pausing, reflecting, and re-calibrating as needed to remain consistent with the emphasis on justice and equity
- Developing meaningful outputs that use research to advocate for social change