Premier Doug Ford says an Ontario judge’s recent decision barring the Region of Waterloo from removing people from a homeless encampment is “cockamamie.”

Justice Michael R. Gibson has found that a local bylaw created to allow the region to remove about two dozen homeless people from a parking lot encampment violates their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The encampment in Kitchener, Ont., has been around since 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic when thousands of homeless people fled shelters and set up outside in all parts of the province.

Since 2022, the region has tried to dismantle the encampment through the courts, but has so far been unsuccessful.

The region has argued the parking lot is needed to allow for construction to begin on the Kitchener Central Transit Hub later this year.

Ford says Gibson’s decision that puts the rights of encampment residents over millions of transit riders is “ridiculous.”

“He comes out with this cockamamie idea that they’re gonna hold up transit, so for what, 30 people, they’re going to hold up millions and millions of riders, communities and everything,” Ford said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2026.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press