Dear Hon Iain Rankin,
As the lockdown comes into place, it is essential that everyone has a place to stay. This necessitates another moratorium on evictions. It is unsafe and against the interests of protecting public health to have anyone be rendered homeless during the heightened state of emergency as of the most recent public health order:
Furthermore, failure to put in place a moratorium against evictions at this time should be seen as a violation of a person’s section 7 rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, namely the right to security of the person. Principles of fundamental justice include that government actions are not overly broad and that they do not shock the conscience. If this is a “lock down”, everyone needs government assurance that they have a place to lock up to be safe from community spread. Failure to put in place protections against evictions at this time will render the poorest and most home-insecure people in our communities more vulnerable to community spread if they are evicted, which is a shocking and unjust consequence.
Sincerely,
Asaf Rashid (he/him)
Barrister & Solicitor