Local homelessness advocate Holland Marshall has filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal claiming the city is discriminating against the local homeless community.
In his application, Marshall notes that the city “has refused to provide public washroom facilities in the downtown for the use of the homeless population,” and that they have been “forced to relieve themselves in the alleyways, store alcoves, behind restaurants, stores and garbage dumpsters.”
As a result, he noted, “This causes the homeless to feel shame, embarrassment, discomfort, stress and helplessness due to the city’s discrimination against them for being homeless.”
In the city’s reply to the application, through lawyer Michael R. Carré, they request the complaint to be “summarily dismissed” because Holland is not personally affected and is therefore ineligible to apply, “nor has he identified or obtained consent from individual(s) whose rights are allegedly infringed, which are prerequisites for a public interest standing.”
Holland responded with a list of 20 claimants who are experiencing varying degrees of homelessness.
The city’s response also countered that they have “acted in good faith and accommodated the homeless population of the City of Greater Sudbury to the point of undue hardship.”
Pointing to various municipal expenditures he considers less crucial within this year’s municipal operating budget of $782.8 million, Holland scoffed at the notion of the city being brought to a point of “undue hardship” in accommodating the city’s homeless population.
With both sides having submitted their cases, Holland is now waiting for the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal to decide whether the case should proceed.
In the meantime, he said city council could at any time nullify the application by approving a 24/7 public washroom facility downtown.
“Whatever your feelings, they’re human beings, and we should be treating them better,” he told Sudbury.com of the local homeless community.
Directing his comments toward city council, he added, “Why are you waiting to be forced, or why are you waiting hoping you won’t be forced, to do what’s proper and just?”
The issue of limited public washrooms for the city’s homeless community was thrust into the public spotlight in August 2023, when a protest was held outside of city hall requesting that city council support the creation of 24/7 barrier-free public washrooms.
Although there’s a scattering of public washrooms in Downtown Sudbury, there’s nothing available for between 12 and 14 hours per day, and some facilities come with barriers, including situations where people have been banned.
Sudbury.com reached out to all 13 members of Greater Sudbury city council last year to see whether there was an appetite to add barrier-free 24/7 public washrooms to Downtown Sudbury. Of the four responses we received at the time, none committed to work toward this goal.
Members of the vulnerable homeless population told Sudbury.com they make use of publicly available washrooms, although some have said they’re banned from the public transit station, or avoid the station because they’re asked to show a bus ticket and get on the next bus.
However, all of them said they’re more accustomed to going outside, especially at night when public washrooms are closed. Many reported bagging feces, and one tucked-away area with buckets near Tom Davies Square was used as a makeshift toilet.
Meanwhile, the Quebec-based company Urben Blu has been installing self-cleaning washroom facilities in municipalities across Canada, including several in Ontario. A single unit starts at approximately $200,000, while a double unit starts at $300,000, though the total all-in start-up cost municipalities have reported begins at $386,000.
In their response to Marshall’s Ontario Human Rights Tribunal complaint, the city noted that they used portable toilets in 2020 as part of their pandemic response, which received “multiple complaints” regarding intravenous drug use and messes made with bodily fluids.
The city wrote that “providing 24/7 access to public washrooms poses significant challenges at present, mainly due to ongoing health and safety considerations that require strict adherence.” Without sufficient budget and staffing, washrooms would open the city up to liability and “severe health and safety risks.”
“Rather than quick fixes,” the city “aims to address the root causes of homelessness effectively.”
In addition to filing a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, Marshall has been giving out makeshift toilets to members of the city’s homeless population, which consist of a bag in a bucket and toiletries.
In January, Holland sent an email to all 13 members of city council urging the city to pass a motion to open its warming centres once temperatures drop to -5 C instead of the -15 C trigger currently in place. This would bring Greater Sudbury in line with the City of Toronto.
No member of city council brought a version of the resolution forward for consideration.
- With files from Jenny Lamothe
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
