A group of protesters took to the regional horseshoe during a recent council meeting, in what was the latest display of tensions regarding the region’s push to appeal an Ontario Superior Court decision regarding the Victoria Street encampment.
The latest action comes after a meeting earlier in the week, where councillors voted 10-5 to move forward with an appeal of Justice Michael Gibson’s ruling that the Region of Waterloo’s bylaw and amendments that would clear the encampment located at 100 Victoria Street in Kitchener were unconstitutional.
The region and the Ontario government were quick to act on their disagreement with the decision, with Premier Doug Ford calling it a “cockamamie idea” that would hold up transit developments as the region hoped to clear the space to begin construction on the Kitchener Central Transit Hub.
At that particular meeting when the decision to appeal was made, councillors heard the shouts and disagreements from audience members in attendance, who shouted “We won’t forget a thing,” “Shame on you,” “You know this is wrong,” and some going so far as to yell, “Fascists,” towards those councillors around the horseshoe.
Then, just a day later at a regularly scheduled council meeting, a larger push was made in the form of protesters who made their presence known during the meeting.
At the time, over three hours into the meeting, Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) Chief Mark Crowell was answering questions regarding a presentation he made on the local service’s mid-year report.
He, along with those sitting council members, was interrupted when shouting could be heard, and a group of protesters entered the council chambers, some of which making it all the way into the middle of the chamber.
The full exchange can be seen in the video below:
The action caused a stir with the security personnel who were inside the chambers, who were quick to escort the group of protesters outside before the proceedings began once again roughly 10 minutes later.
The rest of the council meeting continued as expected for the remainder of the proceedings.
As tensions continue to stir around the issue, council has said that it hopes to press forward with the formalizing of the appeal process regarding the Ontario Superior Court decision within the week.
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