Accessibility committee not consulted over Guelph's new encampment bylaw

The City of Guelph's Public Space Use bylaw went into effect earlier this month, but the city's Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) says they weren't consulted about the changes, which they feel could create barriers.

They say the disabled community wasn't taken into consideration when it comes to homeless encampments, and that both communities intertwine, but the bylaw doesn't reflect that.

"There was a mistake. There was a communications breakdown. Commitments were not honoured," said AAC member Mike "O'dah ziibing" Ashkewe, during Thursday's meeting – the first one since the bylaw went into effect.

The frustrations date back to February when the bylaw was first brought to council. At that point, the AAC said they didn't support anything that would limit the use of public spaces by people experiencing homelessness and asked to be a part of future engagement.

"Staff did make a commitment to us that we would definitely be engaged," said Lorelei Root, AAC chair.

But that consultation between the AAC and city staff never happened.

Root says the committee and city do have great communication in most cases and there are things the city doesn't have to consult them on, but still chooses to do so. This situation just seems to be an anomaly.

The goal of Thursday's committee meeting was to look at ways to improve the rollout of the bylaw.

While members were told city staff didn't feel this meeting should be public, that didn't stop some questions from being directed their way.

"Why was this so urgent? Because usually urgency is based upon outlined needs and issues," said AAC member Janette Svehla, referring to why council approved the bylaw so swiftly.

Colleen Clack-Bush, the city's deputy CAO of public services, was at the meeting but wasn't able to answer that question on council's behalf.

"I simply can only speak for the direction that staff were given in terms of the timeline for when the meeting was scheduled," said Clack-Bush.

A statement to CTV News Kitchener from Dylan McMahon, acting general manager for the city clerk's office, did address at least part of why the AAC was not consulted during the process.

"While consultation with the AAC on this bylaw, which was passed by council, was not a requirement, city staff are eager to hear the committee's feedback," the statement reads in part.

Even though consultation was not required, committee members feel while looking at the bylaw and map of where encampments can be set up around the city, there are obvious areas that could've been avoided.

"I don't see many people in manual wheelchairs in open fields. Especially when it's going to be snowy weather," said Ashkewe.

With the bylaw in effect, there is no wiggle room when it comes to permissible spaces at this point.

"This bylaw would effectively make it illegal for me to exist if I didn't have a home to live in," said Root. "I've thoroughly looked through the map and I'm telling you, I did not find one location where I could set up an encampment and live there."

Several motions were passed by the committee in hopes of making improvements. One of which, asks the city to consider expanding the list of places where encampments are allowed.

The goal is that while council and the committee can't go back in time, they can work together to make this bylaw more barrier-free.