Important Dates this week: 

Graham Gardiner, John Rose and Michelle Wilmot all will be celebrating their birthday's on May 20th. 

May 15^th marked 31 years since Bill Steven's join our club!!

 

Mac Graham provided an overview summary of his experience at the District Conference. Overall Mac said he really enjoyed the experience and encourages all to take the time to attend a conference event at some point.

 

50/50 prize is at $167.50 – Syd, Graham and Brandon all tried for the lucky marble without success. 

 

This week our guest speaker was Shannon Down from Waterloo Region Community Legal Services https://www.wrcls.ca/. 

Shannon is the Executive Director and a Lawyer.

Shannon explained that Waterloo Region Community Legal Services provides free services to low-income individuals and families. Their services include providing legal information, legal support and advice along with legal representation.

 

Most recently, Waterloo Region Community Legal Services was involved in a landmark case in Waterloo Region regarding the rights of individuals living within encampments and specifically the one located at the corner of Victoria Street and Weber Street in Kitchener.  Waterloo Region Community Legal Services represented 16 individuals in this case. Many of these individuals experience chronic homelessness and were in the range of 25-50 years old.  The trial involved the submission of thousands of pages of evidence and affidavits from those living in the encampment. The trial was heard on the grounds of infringement of individual rights and freedoms afforded by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

 

The findings and ruling of the trial found that the Region of Waterloo in attempting to evict residents of the encampment was infringing on the Charter Rights of individuals on the grounds that having shelter is a necessity of life, not having secure and warm shelter placed individuals in a harmful situation and that housing alternatives were not provided or available.

 

This is the first time in Ontario that a successful Charter of Rights infringement has been found when trying to force eviction of encampments.  Waterloo Region Community Legal Services has been contacted by many jurisdictions and agencies following this decision.  

 

Shannon concluded her presentation with a summary of the housing crisis in Waterloo Region and noted current estimates suggest a chronic homelessness population in the Region of approximately 1500 individuals. 

 

After a healthy question and answer period, Syd thanked Shannon for her presentation and presented her with a certificate from Operation Eyesight.