Toronto, October 9, 2026 – The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is pleased that the Court of Appeal for Ontario has recognized critical legal errors in a 2024 decision that found Hamilton encampment evictions did not violate Charter rights.
In Heegsma v. Hamilton (City), fourteen individuals who were or had been unhoused in Hamilton argued that it was unconstitutional for the City to prohibit tents on public property. Unable to access permanent housing or shelter beds, they faced physical and sexual violence, increased health risks, and a lack of privacy.
The Court of Appeal characterized the trial judge’s reasons on key issues in the case as “conclusory” and “lack[ing] the depth of analysis that is required when dealing with issues of this significance.” Unfortunately, because of these errors, the Court held it could not decide the case itself or provide general guidance to lower courts on how to approach future Charter challenges to encampment by-laws and evictions. Instead, the Court ordered a new hearing by a different judge.
“While we are glad that the Court recognized the errors in the initial decision, we are disappointed that the individuals who brought this case will have to continue their struggle to have their rights recognized,” says Kat Owens, LEAF Legal Director. “This was also a missed opportunity for the Court of Appeal to guide lower courts on how to consider Charter rights in encampment cases.”
LEAF’s participation in this case emphasized the need for courts to understand and take seriously the unique experiences of unhoused women, trans, and non-binary people. The Court of Appeal agreed, explaining that “the trial judge simply did not do what was required to determine whether the City breached the appellants’ s. 15 Charter rights, in particular the equality rights of the appellants who are Indigenous, women, or persons with a disability.” The Court noted evidence of overcapacity in Hamilton women’s shelters that, at the very least, needed to be considered in the equality rights analysis.
“We are heartened to see the Court provide direction that courts have to take equality rights seriously,” says Owens. “The unique experiences of unhoused Indigenous people, women, and disabled people matter and courts need to give them full consideration.”
Those experiences are shaped by systemic inequality, which causes women, trans, and non-binary people to disproportionately earn less, have precarious housing, and experience intimate partner violence. They then face unique pathways to homelessness, with those who are Indigenous, Black, racialized, and disabled facing compounded impacts of homelessness.
While encampments cannot be a long-term solution to the housing crisis, municipal encampment bans and evictions are not the answer. For many unhoused women, trans, and non-binary people, staying at an encampment may be the safest and most accessible shelter option available in the absence of sufficient shelter space. As a long-term solution, we need affordable and accessible housing for all.
LEAF is grateful to have been represented by Alexa Biscaro (McEwan Partners) and Erika Anschuetz (Norton Rose Fulbright LLP) in this case.
LEAF’s interventions are guided, informed, and supported by a case committee with expertise in the relevant issues. We are grateful to this intervention’s case committee members (in alphabetical order): Emily Hill, Sonia Lawrence, Estair Van Wagner, and Margot Young.
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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About the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is a national not-for-profit and charity that works to advance the equality rights of women, girls, trans, and non-binary people in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Since 1985, LEAF has been involved in over 145 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
