Kingston to start enforcing daytime camping ban in city parks

The City of Kingston says it will begin forcing people living in municipal parks to dismantle their shelters and pack up their belongings each day, starting the first week of April.

Brad Joyce, the city's commissioner of emergency services, said the approach isn't an eviction, but rather enforcement of Kingston's existing parks bylaw, which bans daytime camping.

"It's simply, you're packing your tent up for the day," Joyce told reporters at Belle Park Thursday. "We don't view that as an eviction at all. We're not telling [you], 'Now you have to get out of the park.'"

Encampment resident Kirk Sabiston sees it differently. He described what he and others are being asked to do as "insanity."

"It's absolutely an eviction," Sabiston said. "How can you say it's not an eviction when I have to leave every day? Can you imagine having to pack up your house and move it every day?"

The city's move follows its failed attempt to secure a court injunction to clear the encampment.

Following a two-day hearing in October, Justice Ian Carter found the city's ban on overnight sheltering was unconstitutional, and in his decision included an exception to the bylaw allowing people who are homeless to erect shelters in parks from one hour before sunset to one hour after sunrise.

Joyce said the city now intends to begin enforcing those restrictions at all municipally owned parks.

The Kingston Community Legal Clinic (KCLC), which represented encampment residents during the hearing, disputes whether the city has permission to do that, however.

In a letter sent to Mayor Bryan Paterson and his council colleagues on Monday, the KCLC argued Carter's decision does not give the city permission to clear the encampment during the day, and urged them to revisit the parks bylaw.

Local housing officials are "aware that Kingston's shelter system has significantly fewer spaces for homeless persons to shelter during the day in comparison to overnight," lawyers John Done and William Florence wrote in the letter.

"Clear evidence of insufficient daytime shelter spaces will certainly form part of the record before the Court in any subsequent legal proceeding, should Kingston restrict its homeless from sheltering during the daytime."

The lawyers also pointed to a recent report from the Canadian Human Rights Commission in which the Federal Housing Advocate called for municipal governments to eliminate polices restricting access to encampments during the daytime.

Brad Joyce, Kingston's commissioner of infrastructure, transportation and emergency services, at Belle Park on March 14, 2024. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

City to provide storage, tents

Joyce pushed back on the KCLC's interpretation of the judge's decision.

"We believe fully that we are within our right to apply the parks use bylaw with the exception that Justice Carter noted," he said.

Firefighters have responded to a rash of fires at shelters in Belle Park in recent weeks, and have raised concerns about the safety of those living there.

Joyce said city staff have begun removing permanent and semi-permanents structures, and enforcing fire bans in order to protect park infrastructure and address those safety concerns.

The work will be carried out in a "respectful, safe and empathetic manner," according to the commissioner.

Bylaw officers and street outreach workers could be seen visiting tents and other shelters in the encampment Thursday morning, handing out packages with information outlining when camping will be permitted, as well as available supports.

Kingston bylaw officers hand out information packets informing encampment residents that the city intends to enforce a daytime ban on camping in city parks starting in April. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

Joyce said the city will provide storage options for people's belongings during the day, including duffle bags and locked shipping containers at the park.

Joyce added that 15 indoor shelter spaces have gone unoccupied in recent weeks, and said he believes there's enough space there for everyone living at the encampment.

The city is also handing out free three-person tents, which Joyce said will be easier to set up and take down on a daily basis.

Resident left feeling 'like cattle'

Sabiston said he's been living in Belle Park for roughly two years and serves as a community support worker at the Integrated Care Hub (ICH) nearby.

He's currently staying in a large green tent that's framed with two-by-fours, making disassembly a difficult and heavy prospect.

"I can finally live in comfortably with my wife and dog," he said. "Now I have to take it down every day and put it up every day."

Kingston has installed a traffic light in the parking lot of the Integrated Care Hub as a way to signal when shelters are and are not permitted, but officials say it will only be activated if encampment residents want it to be. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

Sabiston also took issue with another of the city's proposed changes, angrily pointing to a traffic light set up in the ICH parking lot, meant as a way to signal when tents are allowed and when they're not.

"I feel like cattle," he said.

Joyce said the signal was installed in the last week, but said it won't be activated unless encampment residents want it to be.