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ARTICLE · 01 JUNE 2026

When Judges Become Social Engineers (Podcast)

Gardiner Roberts LLP
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Gavin and Stephen examine the Waterloo homeless encampment decision as a major example of courts moving beyond traditional Charter review and into the realm of public policy design.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Stephen Thiele
Stephen Thiele
Gavin Tighe
Gavin Tighe
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When judges become social engineers, democracy starts to wobble.

Gavin and Stephen examine the Waterloo homeless encampment decision as a major example of courts moving beyond traditional Charter review and into the realm of public policy design. 

What began as a dispute over a municipal bylaw and a public parking lot becomes, in their view, a much larger warning about judicially engineered social outcomes, the constitutionalization of housing policy, the weakening of elected municipal authority, and the possibility that governments may increasingly respond with tools like the notwithstanding clause.


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00:00 Is housing now a protected Charter right in Canada?

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