Toronto, January 12, 2025 – The Court of Appeal for Ontario has granted the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) leave to intervene in an upcoming case about encampment evictions in Hamilton, Ontario.
In Heegsma v. Hamilton (City), fourteen individuals who are or have been unhoused in Hamilton will argue that it is unconstitutional for Hamilton to prohibit tents on public property.
The group argues that the encampment bans and evictions violate their rights under sections 7 and 15 of the Charter. Unable to access permanent housing or shelter beds, they have faced violence including sexual assault; increased health risks; and a lack of privacy. The trial judge dismissed their claim, but the Court of Appeal for Ontario will hear their appeal on February 10 and 11, 2026.
LEAF will be intervening to emphasize the intersectional realities of homelessness for women and gender-diverse people. Systemic inequality creates unique pathways to homelessness for women and gender-diverse people, who disproportionately earn less, have precarious housing, and experience intimate partner violence. The impacts of homelessness are compounded further for Indigenous, Black, racialized, and disabled women and gender-diverse people.
“We need affordable and accessible housing for all,” says Ruth Goba, LEAF Executive Director. “In just this case, two Indigenous women had to leave their housing because of the threat of physical and sexual violence from their landlords. It is unacceptable for anyone to need to choose between enduring violence or becoming unhoused.”
While encampments cannot be a long-term solution to the housing crisis, municipal encampment bans and evictions are not the answer. Women and gender-diverse people have far fewer shelter options available to them than men, even though in Hamilton women make up approximately half of the unhoused population.
“For many unhoused women and gender-diverse people, staying at an encampment is the safest and most accessible shelter option available,” says Ms. Goba. “Being displaced often comes with significant risks – whether that’s turning to unsafe shelter options, such as returning to an abusive relationship, or sleeping unsheltered.
Heegsma will be the first case on the constitutionality of sheltering restrictions and encampment evictions to reach the Court of Appeal for Ontario. LEAF will be there to ensure that the Court understands the unique experiences of unhoused women and gender-diverse people.
LEAF is grateful to be 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].
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.
