Judge dismisses injunction over Saskatoon homeless encampment

A Court of King’s Bench judge in Saskatoon has dismissed an injunction request to prevent the City of Saskatoon from clearing an encampment located in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood.

Justice Richard Danyliuk issued a written decision Tuesday, ruling the plaintiffs who brought forward the injunction request had no standing to do so.

The 46-page decision details several uses of hearsay and opinion contained in submissions from the plaintiffs, lawyer Crystal Fafard and Sheela McLean, while citing several documented warnings provided to the encampment occupants by the City of Saskatoon.

Justice Danyliuk took issue with Fafard’s insistence on being an applicant, rather than counsel for the applicants, and reprimanded her behaviour related to filing additional affidavits to seek injunctions on other encampments while documenting an attempt to obtain the judge’s cell phone number, something Danyliuk criticized as “entirely inappropriate.”