Bill 6, The Safer Municipalities Act of 2025, passed in April of this year. Regional councillors voted in favour of the site-specific bylaw that allows the municipality to clear residents from 100 Victoria St. South (100Vic) in Kitchener by Dec. 1, 2025. This, along with several other bylaws and bills, poses a grave threat to the safety and well-being of the residents of 100 Victoria St.
“A police officer or prescribed provincial offences officer may issue directions to a person if the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the person is consuming an illegal substance in a public place,” Bill 6 states.
The bill is enacted as a part of Chapter 5 of the Statutes of Ontario, 2025. It was put forward by Robert Flack, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Schedule 1 of Bill 6 restricts the public consumption of illegal substances.
More than 60 organizations across Ontario, including two in the Waterloo Region, formed a coalition to respond to the bill. The Encampment Justice Coalition has called on Premier Doug Ford not to move forward with Bill 6.
“It is important to say that the people at the 100 Victoria encampment are already facing 24/7 security presence, constant police presence, and the looming threats of the eviction,” Jacara Droog, a social worker and housing advocate, said.
While there are specified exemptions, the Act forbids the consumption of illegal substances in public spaces. Public spaces are places the public is invited to or permitted. This greatly limits the accessibility of shelters for residents.
“There was a shift during the pandemic in terms of the availability of some of the more formal social services, as well as a shift to more people sheltering outside just because of concerns with safety and COVID transmission of an indoor congregate setting,” Laura Pin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University, said.
Other by-laws that may affect the residents at 100Vic include the noise bylaw, which provides the general limitations of sound levels and sets out a minimum standard for noise and vibrations. They may also be affected by the nuisance bylaw, which regulates public nuisances or public situations that could be health hazards.
“It’s been very difficult, because the Working Center has a construction project underway. Due to that, they fenced off an essential water tap, and it was even fenced off before a long weekend,” Droog said.
The open air fire bylaw regulates the time and set up open-air fires are permitted.
Non-compliance can result in an officer issuing an order to discontinue the activity, or a Provincial Offences Notice where charges are laid and fines imposed.
For residents of 100Vic, the Lot Maintenance bylaw may also affect their quality of life.
The bylaw regulates the basic standards for maintenance and aesthetics of the exterior portion of a property in the city and sets out grass cutting, garbage, wood storage, weed control and material disposal standards.
“[Currently,] there are five giant industrial sized dumpsters, and they are surrounding the residents of 100Vic. I have sent in a reasonable request [to the region] of what the concrete rationale is for having five industrial sized dumpsters on site. When there was a higher population of people on site, there were only two dumpsters,” Droog said.
The Regional Staff report concerning the Site-Specific Bylaw at 100 Vic (PDL-LEG-25-017) does include some funds for housing: the Supportive Housing Units with $271,250 and the Scattered Site Rent Supplements with social support with $183,750.
“[I am] not aware of anyone having been able to actually take advantage of either of these options (yet)—there is funding there, which is a good thing. Again, building these connections to connect people with housing is harder when there is an environment of criminalization, which Bill 6 creates,” Pin said.
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