Barrie, Ont. mayor presses Ottawa for urgent help with unsafe encampments, rising violence

Barrie’s mayor is escalating his calls for help to solve the city’s homelessness crisis, now turning to Ottawa for federal intervention.

Mayor Alex Nuttall penned a letter Thursday to Prime Minister Mark Carney asking for what he described as “immediate federal action” to address unsafe encampments and rising violence in Barrie.

“What I’m asking the prime minister to do is to ensure they’re working with the province and working with the municipalities to allow for us to restore order on our streets,” Nuttall explained. “That’s going to take bold moves.”

The move comes just over a week after Nuttall declared a state of emergency in the city and days after formally appealing to Premier Doug Ford for provincial support.

In his letter, Nuttall said the situation is “real and urgent,” citing two homicides, multiple fires, thefts, open drug use, and contamination of local waterways.

“These conditions are unsafe for both the vulnerable people living in tents and the broader community,” the mayor wrote. “Encampments are not a solution to homelessness. They expose residents to danger, strain municipal resources, and erode public safety.”

Nuttall added that municipalities “cannot face this crisis alone” and called for reforms to bail and sentencing, federal funding for shelter and mental health services, and clearer authority for cities to dismantle unsafe encampments.

“Compassionate intervention is needed, even if it requires using the Notwithstanding Clause,” the mayor highlighted.

“Homelessness, encampments and the lawlessness surrounding them are an issue that is felt right across this country,” Nuttall emphasized. “Whether you’re in Vancouver, Halifax, Barrie, Windsor, London... it doesn’t really matter. All cities - mid-sized and large - are feeling the effects of this problem.”

• Extended | Barrie homeless encampments

This isn’t the first time Nuttall has pointed to the Notwithstanding Clause to address encampments on public property. Last year, the mayor asked the premier to consider using the controversial clause as encampments popped up in several areas around the city.

The Notwithstanding Clause, which falls under Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, allows parliament or provincial legislatures to temporarily override certain sections of the charter.

“We need to make sure that our sidewalks are able to be used by individuals who are walking on them, or individuals that are disabled and have the need for wheelchairs or other devices to help them move around. It’s ridiculous that we’ve reached this state in this country,” Nuttall said. “We need to have the federal government, the provincial governments at the table. We need them investing in long-term solutions. We need them investing in helping people that are hurting, and the federal government needs to be at the table. Likewise, the federal government needs to back up its municipalities who are saying we need to have control and order.”

According to the City, Barrie now has more than 20 encampments, with an estimated 650 unhoused people, many of whom officials say are not from Barrie or Simcoe County.

“We’re not going to end the state of emergency until we’ve cleared all the encampments in the City of Barrie, and we’re working towards that as we speak,” Nuttall said. “That [fact that] we can make up for the lack of mental health and addiction support that is available on the ground unilaterally is just not a common sense thought.”

The City reported E. coli levels nearly five times higher than acceptable limits in streams running through a former encampment and into Kempenfelt Bay, along with discarded needles in public areas, and human waste contaminating the City Hall fountain, which has since been shut down.

Nuttall told the prime minister that while 39 people displaced from a Mulcaster Street encampment have accepted housing or supports, there remain individuals struggling with addiction and posing “a long-term threat to themselves or the community.”

The mayor is calling for coordinated leadership from Ottawa and Queen’s Park, adding municipalities cannot continue to shoulder the crisis alone.

“Come and see it for yourself,” Nuttall said. “We are here to help [and] partner to find a solution to this incredibly difficult emergency that’s taking place.”

“Strong federal leadership is required,” the mayor stated. It’s unclear whether the premier or prime minister will accept the mayor’s request to meet.

CTV News reached out to the Minister of Housing and Public Safety and did not receive a response.