Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie is weighing in on a proposed bylaw aimed toward using public areas within the metropolis.
A movement was handed ultimately Tuesday’s planning assembly to have employees draft a public area use bylaw that may deal with security considerations on city-owned or managed property.
The proposed bylaw would cowl encampments just like the one at St. George’s Sq. the place a fireplace occurred in a single day on January sixteenth.
Guthrie raised the difficulty of encampments and the risks they will pose to the general public again in November.
“When it was determined to take away the motions that have been coming ahead, I used to be very public in stating that I might deliver one thing again for dialogue.”
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Tent encampments have been popping up throughout Ontario and throughout Canada. They’re occupied by people who find themselves and not using a dwelling. Apart from St. George’s Sq., tent encampments have been seen in Guelph at varied underpasses, alongside the Hanlon Expressway, and even outdoors Metropolis Corridor.
Along with fires, there have been experiences of drug use, assaults, and violence at these encampments.
“We try to wade by way of a really advanced and difficult problem,” stated Guthrie. “Everybody on Council is fielding calls on these points persistently. I feel we’ve got an obligation to reply, but in addition an obligation to hear.”
The draft bylaw would additionally cowl “associated actions”. That might imply issues like protests and demonstrations. The Metropolis’s Deputy CAO Colleen Clack-Bush in an e-mail to World Information stated that’s a part of the work employees are doing that shall be a part of their report back to Council.
Guthrie stated whereas some protests have the potential to escalate into violence, he isn’t in favour of an outright ban.
“Even when I don’t like what they’re saying, I’ll at all times defend their proper to say it,” Guthrie argued including he wouldn’t help any draft bylaw that restricts freedom of expression.
Employees will deliver the draft bylaw for a particular Council assembly on February 14th. The ultimate draft bylaw shall be voted on on the February twenty seventh assembly.
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