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City of Sarnia agrees to amend discriminatory bylaw; Toronto next up
Six weeks after a Toronto-based group of advocates for people with mental illness filed a Human Rights complaint against four Ontario municipalities, one of those cities, Sarnia, agreed to amend a discriminatory zoning by-law targeting where people with disabilities can live. Now, the Dream Team has vowed to end similar housing discrimination in Toronto.
In February, eight members of the Dream Team, a group of psychiatric survivors who lobby for supportive housing, were the lead applicants in a case filed by the Human Rights Legal Support Centre against the municipalities of Toronto, Kitchener, Smiths Falls and Sarnia. Their case targeted restrictive zoning bylaws governing where group homes for people with disabilities could be located.
Sarnia is the first of those municipalities to voluntarily agree to amend its bylaw to completely remove the restrictive provisions. In announcing the decision, Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley declared, “These antiquated by-laws had to go and we’ve been working on it for some time. We moved decisively to remove portions of our by-laws that placed arbitrary restrictions on group homes – those restrictions had nothing to do with planning and everything to do with negative stereotypes about disabled people.”
The Dream Team hailed the Mayor's statement and noted his call for other municipalities to follow Sarnia's lead. They point to Toronto where discriminatory zoning bylaws still exist from pre-amalgamated municipalities such as Scarborough and Etobicoke that prohibit supportive housing units within 245 to 800 metres of other residences or care homes. These districts also prohibit rooming houses, which is often the only housing available for low income people who struggle with mental health issues.
"North American municipalities long ago prohibited housing discrimination based on race and religion," the Dream Team declared in a statement. "But it appears that laws targeting people with mental illness are the last legally sanctioned form of discrimination. We will continue to advocate so that Toronto and other cities end this anachronism." The City of Toronto will be considering a proposal on Amalgamated Zoning Bylaws on April 21st.
Since 1999, the Dream Team has battled against stigma and discrimination while advocating for more supportive housing in Toronto and throughout the province. In 2008, they released a comprehensive study, "We Are Neighbours," in partnership with the Wellesley Institute, showing that the existence of supportive housing doesn't increase the crime rate or lower property taxes in neighbourhoods where it is located.
For more information, contact Linda Chamberlain at 416-824-3435 or Jennifer Ramsay at the Human Rights Legal Support Centre 416-326-7253
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