'Why are we spending money on this application?' Newly elected councillor questions taking encampment to court

The region’s court case seeking to evict the people living at 100 Victoria Street in Kitchener has been extended to next week.

Originally planned for two days, a third day has been added to the schedule.

One newly elected member of regional council is questioning why this before the courts.

“When I am (officially) a regional councillor, I suspect I will get briefed on why they took this step, but in listening to the arguments that were made at court, I am not clear why we did this,” said Rob Deutschmann, regional councillor-elect.

Deutschmann says he does not believe the region should go through with the eviction, and he is not sure why the decision has been passed to the courts.

“Clearly, we have the authority and the power to evict someone off land they are trespassing, we have bylaws, but I am not sure why it was necessary for us to take this step,” he added.

According to Deutschmann, the decision to evict should be made in council chambers, not the court house.

“My first premise is no evictions, and my second is no eviction without council approval, so we can understand why we are moving forward," said Deutschmann.

He says there is much work needed to be done to create better housing situations, so right now, encampments are a difficult reality.

“We know people are camping rough in our community, but we what we want them to do is camp safe,” he added. “This is a temporary situation to allow us to improve the shelter system, to work on, for example towards another A Better Tent City, to find better spaces to move these people to.”

It’s unclear when the judge will make a decision about the future of the encampment.

The next court date is Nov. 15.