For the past two years, there has been an increase in the number of unhoused campers residing in Allan Gardens. These individuals are living in tents on public parkland, which is prohibited by Toronto City Bylaw 608. The city supports these people by providing policing, public health services, garbage cleanup, toilet facilities, and assistance with tax return filing for housing applications. To date, over $500,000 has been spent by the city. However, this has not rectified the situation. In actuality, the number of encampments has increased. As of April 2023, there were approximately 36 encampments, which is about half of all in the city of Toronto. 

Many area residents are experiencing fear, stress, and anguish from this ever-increasing numbers of encampments in Allan Gardens. There has already been one murder and a stabbing in the park. There is garbage strewn everywhere, drug paraphernalia and human feces. There are open fires burning. Those of us who still feel able to use the park do so with great apprehension as we are met with a very real threat of violence and are subjected to random verbal attacks from campers suffering psychotic breaks. The City of Toronto has been negligent in allowing the park to become a safe haven for drug dealers, and accordingly, unusable for the majority of neighbourhood residents. The risk to children and seniors is particularly imminent and foreseeable. 

The City of Toronto’s Park Bylaws, Sections 608-13 and 608-14 clearly prohibit camping, lodging, tents, and structures inside city parks. Failure to enforce these bylaws contravenes the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling of October 21, 2020, which denied the city’s request for an injunction to suspend their enforcement. This is a state of affairs that the Ombudsman’s March 24, 2023 report failed to address. We fail to understand why the city refuses to enforce its own by-laws. 

We all agree that the City of Toronto should – and must – provide accommodations for unhoused persons. We also understand that encampment residents have been offered spaces in city shelters and that some have refused this assistance. There is no legal or moral right to live in a city park, and doing so poses risks to both the encampment and neighbourhood residents. 

Our Ward 13 councillor, Chris Moise, worked diligently over the winter to reduce the number of tents by providing individualized housing offers to the homeless. He was so successful, that at one time only seven encampments remained. But they were, and are, occupied by a hard core of land-back activists who had, and have, no interest in housing or compromise. Their continued presence has served as a magnet for the current exponential growth in encampments, and until that fact is addressed no solution is possible. Councillor Moise needs the support of fellow city councillors in restoring safety and rule of law to this neighbourhood. 

We support the city’s Dufferin Grove Park “housing first approach” initiative. But we also demand that the city respect the ruling of the Superior Court and its own bylaws, to prevent activists from sabotaging the restoration of the park as a useable green space for all citizens, including seniors, individuals walking alone, families, and especially those among the poor and marginalized. The city must not allow any new encampments in the park, and those current campers must be immediately moved to proper housing.

Please sign this petition to send your support to City Council for immediate action.