Bill 6 protesters decry homeless criminalization while dodging public drug crackdown
A rally against Ontario’s Bill 6 criticized it as criminalizing homelessness while ignoring its primary aim to curb public drug use, highlighting the continued divide over how best to address homelessness and the drug crisis.
A small gathering of protesters descended onto MPP David Piccini’s office in Port Hope, Ont. on May 29, calling on the Ontario government to “rescind Bill 6.”
The description of the event claims that Bill 6 will “treat homelessness as a crime” and is a “failed American policy, endorsed by Donald Trump.”
“It proposes six months of jail time and an impossible $10,000 fine for homeless people living outdoors. Homeless people don't need to be punished — they need affordable housing,” reads a post from event host Melissa 'Missy' McLean, harm-reduction advocate and co-founder of TweakEasyCBG, an ‘unsanctioned’ harm reduction initiative in Cobourg.
Protesters appear to ignore the primary function of the act, which is to restrict public consumption of illicit drugs.
This legislation, officially named "An Act to enact the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act, 2025 and to amend the Trespass to Property Act respecting sentencing," includes provisions to support individuals seeking help.
It exempts those who pursue shelter, mental health, or addiction services from facing charges. Notably, this aspect of the bill was overlooked by protesters.
“It gives police the ability to take somebody who is being criminalized for being homeless, and drop them off at the door of a treatment centre or some sort of service,” McLean says of her “understanding of the bill.”
“Forced treatment doesn’t address the crisis of homelessness or the crisis of toxic drugs in our community,” claims McLean. “It actually puts people at further risk for harm and death.”
McLean blames the province for the issue but sidesteps accountability for the "historic 48% increase in homelessness funding" allocated to Northumberland, failing to explain how it has been used to support services.
“The Ford government is [altering] their policies to continually target, oppress, and harm people who are most marginalized in our communities,” she states.
In her speech, McLean argued that enforcing Bill 6 diverged from the expected duties of police work.
However, a counterpoint arises: why are officers now expected to repeatedly administer Narcan to reverse overdoses, often multiple times to the same individual day in and day out? Or deal with rapid increases in crime? Or perform endless CPR on those who have overdosed, frequently on the same person? Or address the mental health crises and psychosis linked to illicit drug use and addiction?
While several attendees refused to speak or articulate their thoughts on why they were attending the protest, passersby were eager to comment on the rally.
“Cobourg is really bad,” said one, of the open-air drug use proliferating in the community.
“I’m all in favour of saying ‘hey we’re going to put you back on track and we’re going to put you in here,’” explains another.
Provincial NDP candidate Bruce LePage, who was more composed in this round of communication, believes in the housing first model. “A good portion of [individuals] ended up with drug addiction after they ended up on the street,” he says, noting this is a “way of coping with the fact that governments and communities have forced them to become homeless.”
LePage furthers that a good portion of former Cobourg encampment residents held jobs but couldn’t access affordable housing. While millions of dollars were funnelled into “enhancing shelter services to address community needs,” like the very one he mentions, he “doesn’t know” what happened to that.
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COMMENTS
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Jamie Perritt commented 2025-06-04 00:37:00 -0400I do agree with making tents illegal. It’s completely out of hand. Homeless people do not own the parks.
What cities need are way more shelters, and we need to increase social assistance to the unemployed so they can actually afford to pay rent. Rent and food. Toronto does not even give a single unemployed person enough to pay rent for a room, let alone anything else.
Rooms, just rooms, not apartments, in Toronto are on average $1000. It’s disgusting. And social assistance I think still gives a single person under that amount.
And we wonder why we have these problems. -
Bruce Atchison commented 2025-06-02 21:06:15 -0400Liberal voters voted for MORE homelessness. Liberal answers are to put these people in shipping container homes and give them free drugs. But Danielle Smith made the right call about drug addicts. Doug Ford is clueless about what works.
