Cambridge encampment to remain in place until next court hearing
A superior court has temporarily blocked the eviction of a Cambridge, Ont. encampment while it hears the case for an emergency injunction against the city.
Waterloo Region Community Legal Services filed the injunction on behalf of two residents living at the encampment near Branchton Road, behind the PetroCanada gas station on Dundas Street.
The matter was adjourned in court Thursday morning.
Bylaw officials had served Michael Nanos, 52, and Joseph Micallef, 68, a notice of eviction that would have taken effect on Thursday.
“I’m not leaving,” Micallef told CTV News Thursday. “If they’re going to take me out of here, then they’re going to take me out of here in handcuffs.”
Micallef says he was surprised when they got the notice.
“We don’t give anybody a hard time. They don’t give us a hard time.”
“Where are we to go? Leave and go where? We just get passed down the road until we get to be somebody else’s problem,” he said.
Shannon Down, a lawyer from Waterloo Region Community Legal Services says Waterloo Region municipalities are still grapping with how to deal with homelessness.
Down says her team took on this case because there was no other attempt to come to an agreement to stop the eviction.
“We really felt we had to take that step,” she said.
At Thursday morning’s hearing, lawyers for the city asked the court to adjourn the matter until sometime next week.
Down told the court they agreed to the adjournment, under conditions the residents could stay until the next hearing.
“Our clients who are living in the encampment can stay there with their current set-up that they have and sort of be left undisturbed,” she said.
Both sides agreed the city will not prevent the plaintiffs from staying at or accessing the encampment site, and the plaintiffs will not erect any new structures at the site other than tents.
If the city decides to remove garbage in the meantime, it will only be allowed to remove items the residents identify as garbage.
The next court date has not yet been set.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
3 injured after man with knife enters Montreal-area mosque
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
Police arrest 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole Porsche and ran over its owner
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Woman nearly shut out of mother's estate sues brother in B.C. Supreme Court – and wins
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
Teen arrested in New Brunswick after emergency alert; 5 people in custody
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
Kamala Harris tells Oprah any intruder to her home is 'getting shot'
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a warning to any potential home intruder: 'If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot.'
On the trail of the mystery woman whose company licensed exploding pagers
What Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, 49, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of Hungary-based BAC Consulting, says she hasn't done is make the exploding pagers that killed 12 people and wounded more than 2,000 in Lebanon this week.
Woman shot by B.C. police was Colombian refugee with young daughter, advocate says
Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.
'We're still pushing hard': Search for missing Manitoba boy continues, RCMP find tracks
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
Video released of person of interest after cat is allegedly set on fire in Orillia, Ont.
Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.