Smoke from burning wildfires blankets the skyline in Kingston, Ont., on June 6.Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press
The Ontario city of Kingston has been granted a temporary injunction that bans fires at a homeless encampment it is trying to clear.
The city filed an application with the Superior Court of Justice at the end of June asking for the court to order the permanent eviction of approximately 35 residents sheltering in the encampment.
Kingston is arguing it has tried to move the residents to available, accessible shelter spaces and the encampment has led to damaged city property and a concentration of criminal behaviour, among other concerns.
As part of the application, it sought injunction orders to remove unused structures from the encampment and ban fires at the site.
An interim injunction banning fires at the encampment was ordered Monday, while the other injunction request will be assessed next month, and the larger encampment issue to be heard at the end of October.
John Done, a lawyer with the Kingston Community Legal Clinic who is representing the encampment residents, says their removal would violate their Charter rights because of the region’s lack of adequate shelter spaces.
The City of Kingston and its legal representatives did not provide comment.