Lambton County Council will provide affidavits if the City of Sarnia proceeds with an injunction for Rainbow Park.
City council's motion to evict homeless individuals from Rainbow Park, if an injunction was not obtained, failed 6-3 on Tuesday. Councillors Bill Dennis, George Vandenberg, and Terry Burrell voted in favour. However, Mayor Mike Bradley noted that the motion wasn't passed mainly because county council hadn't convened yet.
The encampment at Rainbow Park took shape earlier this year, growing considerably over the last couple of months. Despite the county's current stance, resolving an injunction or eviction will take time. Bradley explained during the city council meeting, "Where all the cities have lost in court has been on the issue of partners and a couple of other matters. The county claims they are addressing these needs. If that can be verified tomorrow, I believe we will be in a strong position to consider the legal option for an injunction."
“If Rainbow Park is vacated tomorrow, we have not dealt with the fundamental issues of those individuals and their impact on the community. All I've been trying to do is get a plan in place to get the county to say they are ready to go if we move forward. Make sure we don’t scatter the Rainbow Park issues right through the entire city,” added Bradley.
The other issue about an injunction would be the possibility of it not being passed.
“If we were to apply for an injunction and we did fail, it’s likely that that order would state we are not permitted to enforce our parks bylaw, we are not permitted to enforce the trespass to property act, and we would have our hands tied in respect to dismantling or removing any of the people who currently reside there,” said city solicitor Randi Kalar.
Now, county council has confirmed they will provide the necessary affidavits which could include information regarding shelters and what procedures are in place at the county and city level if an injunction occurs.
“Their response was basically if we were to move forward with an injunction in Rainbow Park, to enforce bylaws. The County of Lambton provides reasonable support with the affidavits and any other evidence requested by the city and its legal advisers,” Bradley told The Journal.
“We're still having a struggle in the city trying to get a handle on how many people are actually homeless in the community, versus the number in the shelters, and we get conflicting information almost on a daily basis about that,” explained Bradley.
“It's trying to work all the way through these different issues and the different aspects of it. It's a real challenge, but that's what I've been trying to do for the last number of months.”
Bradley is also still trying to get county council to give shelter numbers and stats while knowing that there is a need for shelters with less restrictions on who they allow to stay there.
Bradley plans to meet with the warden, the county and city CEOs, and the Rotary club organizers behind the town hall last month, to get an understanding of the next steps.
“The meeting is going to be at a very very high level. Dealing with two or three top issues. One is the immediate situation. Two is the affordable housing question and is there something further we could do there that would accelerate our ability to deal,” said Bradley.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 28 at 1 p.m.