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Ben Woodfinden: A judge just hallucinated that homelessness is the same as race or sex

Canada's cities will become ungovernable if this ruling stands

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Last week, an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that the Region of Waterloo cannot clear a 30-person tent encampment from a parking lot in downtown Kitchener, even though the region owns the lot. The municipality has been trying to do so as part of its plans to build the Kitchener Central Transit Hub, which will eventually connect local and regional bus and light rail services, along with VIA Rail (the kind of integrated transit infrastructure Canadian cities are constantly told they need more of).

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People have been living in tents on the site since 2021. The region has spent three years trying to clear them through the courts. It passed a bylaw. When the bylaw was challenged, it amended it. It removed the $5,000 fines for people who refused to leave. It created a transition policy to help residents find alternative housing. It offered individualized housing plans to every resident. None of it was enough. To use its own land, the judge ruled, the region must first provide an alternative legal encampment site or a formal “tenting protocol” with equivalent services.

Ben Woodfinden: A judge just hallucinated that homelessness is the same as race or sex Back to video

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The absurdity of the decision is obvious to any sensible observer, but the case is just the latest in a disturbing trend in how........

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