Hundreds protest Barrie's homelessness plan outside city hall
Hundreds gathered outside Barrie city hall Wednesday night, protesting the city's plans to address its homelessness crisis.
Earlier this month city council passed a motion aimed at addressing the number of people homeless in the city. However, on Wednesday, many gathered outside city hall as councillors were meeting to make their discontent with the plan known.
"The first concern that I had, as did others, was that it was passed as a motion without notice," said Susan Eagle, a minister at Grace United Church. "[That] meant that there wasn't an opportunity for the public to really know what was being discussed or even to be present for the discussion."
The motion called for additional funding requests to be submitted to other levels of government, funding for a lunch program and for a re-unification fund to pay to help people reunite with families or other types of support.
The motion also called to prohibit using tents in public parks without a permit and look for ways to prohibit panhandling on city streets.
"I cannot wrap my head around why Barrie council would want to wreck the community that's being built through the actual community helping each other," said protester Ashleigh Pineau. Council is also planning to offer a cooling and warming centre for at-risk individuals to be connected with different support agencies.
"One of the goals of the motion that we passed was to try and help individuals get access to the agencies where you can be referred to, whether it's mental health supports or addiction supports, housing, or any other set of supports that exist through those agencies," said Mayor Alex Nuttall.
As part of the motion handing out food and other grocery items in public spaces without a permit will be prohibited.
"Imagine that you're out in the park someday, and somebody falls down in front of you who is dehydrated, and there's a law that says you're not allowed to hand them a bottle of water," said Eagle. "How ridiculous."
The mayor recently returned from an annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities, which passed a resolution focussed on addressing the homelessness crisis across the country. He says he had multiple conversations with other municipal leaders about their plans to handle the issue.
"There's some measures that others have put in place that I think they are going to have some success or they are going to have some failures, and we can learn from what they're doing while at the same time we can report back what we're doing," said Nuttall.
With files from CTV's Dana Roberts.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
'It was joy': Trapped B.C. orca calf eats seal meat, putting rescue on hold
A rescue operation for an orca calf trapped in a remote tidal lagoon off Vancouver Island has been put on hold after it started eating seal meat thrown in the water for what is believed to be the first time.
Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
B.C. judge orders shared dog custody for exes who both 'clearly love Stella'
In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a B.C. judge has awarded a former couple joint custody of their dog.
Saskatoon police to search landfill for remains of woman missing since 2020
Saskatoon police say they will begin searching the city’s landfill for the remains of Mackenzie Lee Trottier, who has been missing for more than three years.
Shivering for health: The myths and truths of ice baths explained
In a climate of social media-endorsed wellness rituals, plunging into cold water has promised to aid muscle recovery, enhance mental health and support immune system function. But the evidence of such benefits sits on thin ice, according to researchers.