The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, in partnership with the Community Legal Clinic of York Region, is appealing an Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision that determined that the City of Hamilton has the right to clear homeless encampments.
The appeal was filed on behalf of 14 individuals who were homeless between August 2021 and August 2023 and were evicted from encampments through city enforcement of its park by-law.
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic argues that by-law enforcement breached the 14 individuals’ right to life, liberty, and security under Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by removing their encampments from parks.
They are also seeking $445,000 in damages.
The case was brought to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last year, with Justice James Ramsay ruling on Dec. 23, 2024, determined that the City of Hamilton can remove encampments in the daytime.
In his final paragraphs on the matter, Ramsay concludes that “the life, liberty and security of the applicants are not put at risk by enforcement of the by-law. They are put at risk by homelessness. Encampments contribute to this risk. They are lawless, dangerous, and unsanitary.”
However, a press release from the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic states, “Our legal team has undertaken a comprehensive review of the Court’s 15-page decision and found there to be many areas of profound concern that warrant an appeal and consideration by the Ontario Court of Appeal.”
“These include the issue of whether individuals were evicted overnight, an adequate analysis of Charter arguments, and the acknowledgement of the disproportionate impact of evictions on women, people with disabilities and Indigenous peoples,” the release continues.
Lawyers contend that Ramsay “erred in law” by “ignoring evidence from the Appellants that there were overnight sheltering evictions between August 2021 and August 2023.”
The City of Hamilton has denied such allegations.
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic filed the appeal on Jan. 21 and the Court of Appeal of Ontario officially accepted the Notice of Appeal on March 10, meaning that the case will move forward.
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic hopes that the appeal will be heard in the fall of 2025.
The original court decision released on Dec. 23, 2025, formed the basis of the city’s decision to revoke the Encampment Protocol that began in August 2023 and permitted tents in parks, albeit with certain restrictions.
After the Dec. 23, 2025, court decision, once the city was assured that the decision was in their favour, Councillors began discussing revoking the Encampment Protocol.
A motion was brought forward and passed in a 13-2 vote to rescind the protocol and begin enforcing the city’s parks bylaw once again.
Enforcement began on March 6.
Only Councillors Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2 – Downtown Hamilton) and Alex Wilson (Ward 13 – Dundas-Central Flamborough) voted in favour of continuing to allow encampments in parks.
It remains to be seen what impact the appeal will have on the city’s encampment response, particularly if it is successful.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
