Sue Wilson

Our Office for Systemic Justice: A Letter to Premier Doug Ford

Our Office for Systemic Justice cites ethical concerns with legislation aimed at dismantling encampments.

December 9, 2024

Dear Premier Ford,

Recently, you proposed legislation to grant municipalities and police expanded powers to dismantle homeless encampments.  You also indicated your willingness to use the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms if courts block the implementation of the legislation. You indicated your intention to give municipalities "the tools they need" to restore public order and safety, including measures to enhance penalties for trespassing, explicitly ban open drug use in public spaces, and enhance enforcement capabilities.

While no one thinks that encampments are an adequate solution, there are significant ethical concerns with this proposed legislation and, more widely, with this approach to homelessness: 

  • Despite your government's promise of new funding to increase shelter beds for people being removed from dismantled encampments, it is clear that crowded shelters are part of the problem, not a long-term solution. Many people prefer living on the street, or in parks, because they find shelters unsafe, stressful, and lacking in privacy. In addition, overnight shelters leave people with nowhere to go during the day. Furthermore, many studies have demonstrated that funding overnight shelters is more expensive than funding deeply affordable and supportive housing options.

  • The notwithstanding clause should not be evoked to limit the rights and freedoms of people in vulnerable situations, particularly when there are more effective options for addressing the issues. The answers to homelessness are clear (see recommendations below). All that is lacking is the political will to invest in effective solutions. This is, at heart, an ethical issue for our society.

 Recommendations:

  • An adequate response to homelessness requires the government to address the roots causes of homelessness. This means recognizing safe, adequate, and deeply affordable housing as a human right, and funding it as such. It also means providing supportive housing for people who require it.

  • We know that providing housing is cheaper than providing emergency shelters, but the problem is the steep upfront capital costs for housing. This means that the effective solutions we all seek require significant and sustained investments from all levels of government. It also requires tackling other systemic issues such as punitively low social assistance rates, an inadequate minimum wage, and insufficient mental health and addiction resources. 

We urge you to be attentive to the Homeless Hub's Report on Encampments, which outlines a human rights approach. See Overview of Encampments Across Canada: A Right to Housing Approach.  The report identifies key principles which would urge your government to recognize the residents of homeless encampments as rights holders, and to engage them in meaningful ways to explore alternatives to evictions. These rights-based principles also require governments to design and invest in long-term solutions, as suggested in the recommendations above. 

Sincerely,

Sue Wilson, CSJ | Executive Director, Office for Systemic Justice

Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada

c.c. Minister Paul Calandra

Image of Homeless Jesus sculpture by Ashwini Chaudhary(Monty)

Labour Day: Imagining a New Kind of Economy

As Labour Day rolls around once again, there’s a different feeling in the air. For many workers, wages haven’t kept up with inflation. There’s a growing sense that workers have been pushed to the brink and they’re ready to stand together for a fair deal. For some that has meant strikes; for others, tough negotiating. Slowly, progress is being made.   

But a recent article, by a former grocery-store worker, puts this progress in context. The article makes the point that there was a time when a person could build a solid career out of a full-time job at a grocery store. There were benefits, a pension, and a wage that would be about $46/hr in today’s dollars. Cashiers and clerks started at a wage that was triple the minimum wage. 

Today, we can’t imagine such a thing. That’s how far removed from decent work our economy has become.  It’s not that grocery stores are making less profit. In the quarter  that ended July 1, Metro announced that net earnings increased 26 per cent to $346.7 million from $275 million during the same quarter a year earlier. That’s profit.  Yes, their costs went up, but their revenues increased at the same time, ensuring these huge profits.

And, of course, it’s not just Metro. And it’s not just grocery stores. Profits don’t trickle down to workers; they flow to shareholders through increased dividends and buybacks.  It’s how the system works.

“Profits don’t trickle down to workers; they flow to shareholders through increased dividends and buybacks.  It’s how the system works.”

As we celebrate Labour Day, let’s also begin to imagine a new kind of economy. What about an Economy of Solidarity?  An economy grounded in human rights and care for the earth and all earth’s inhabitants. 

If we learn to stand together, we could make it happen.

-Sister Sue Wilson, CSJ

Sustainable Development Goals

In July this summer the United Nations held what they call their High-Level Political Forum in which governments report on their efforts to implement within their countries what they are doing to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).  There are 17 different goals and those countries whose turn it is to report, reports on a few that the UN has chosen for this Forum.  It was Canada’s turn to report on certain goals.

Sisters Sue Wilson and Joan Atkinson at the UN in New York, as part of a delegation from Canada representing NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) from Religious Communities. Pictured left to right: Brentella Williams, Sarah Rudolph' IBVM, Sue Wilson, Joan Atkinson, Varka Kalydzhieva.   

A small delegation representing some Canadian Religious Congregations attended. 

In preparation for this meeting, some of the religious Congregations that have NGO offices at the UN agreed to submit a report alongside the official Canadian Governments report.  The bottom-line conclusion of all the countries that reported was that none of us are doing as well as we had hoped.  Part of this slow progress was due to the impact of the Covid pandemic, and the world economy to recover.  However, what is uplifting about the sessions we attended was the very positive aspiration of countries to do better.  I always come away from the meetings at the UN feeling we remain very hopeful with a commitment to keep trying to do better.

The below video link from the UN website is worth the time to watch and despite all the problems we see and hear about around the globe there is also a very dedicated group of people who are committed to keep working to improve our world.  

-Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ