Barrie State of Emergency Raises Concerns Among Advocates

On the morning of September 3, Rev. Dr. Susan Eagle stepped away from her daily breakfast program for unhoused and food-insecure community members at the Busby Centre to hear Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall’s declaration of a State of Emergency. What she heard left her concerned and disappointed.

“I heard a lot of homelessness equated to lawlessness,” Dr. Eagle said, reflecting on the Mayor’s remarks.

Dr. Eagle serves as Chair of the Busby Centre’s board and has long been immersed in the day-to-day realities facing vulnerable residents. She is familiar with the complex social issues that can push people into precarious housing situations and bring them to seek support from agencies like the Busby Centre. For her, the Mayor’s framing oversimplified the challenges and overlooked the ongoing work already being done.

“There was a reference to ‘agencies shouldn’t be looking the other way anymore,’” she explained. “Agencies are not looking the other way. They are using every cent they’ve got and every staff member they have to try to address the concerns. The reality is, there are simply not enough resources to meet the needs of the growing homeless population in our city.”

What struck her even more was the absence of social service voices in the conversation. Dr. Eagle noted that none of the local agencies were invited to attend the press conference, despite their frontline role in dealing with homelessness daily. The Busby Centre itself is located directly across the street from the Courthouse, where the Mayor delivered his speech. This proximity made her decision to cross the road and listen in all the more immediate.

Mayor Nuttall announced plans to form a task force to address the state of emergency, but he did not clarify how social service organizations would be included in that process or to what degree their expertise would inform the city’s strategy. For Dr. Eagle, this lack of clarity raised concerns that the people and agencies most familiar with the crisis could once again be left out of the decision-making process.

“The agencies are on the ground every day,” she added. “If we’re not part of the discussion, then solutions risk being incomplete or ineffective.”

As the city moves forward under the state of emergency, it remains to be seen whether collaboration with organizations like the Busby Centre will be central to the response—or whether the gap between political leadership and frontline service providers will continue to widen.