Laurier experts provide insight into homeless encampments as part of Milton Lecture Series

Jan. 9, 2023

Homeless encampments have become more visible during recent years in municipalities across Ontario. Wilfrid Laurier University’s Milton Lecture Series will address the topic as part of its first lecture of 2023, taking place Wednesday, Jan. 11 from 7 to 8 p.m.

Political Science Assistant Professor Laura Pin and recent Master of Applied Politics graduate Hannah McGurk will present the findings of their co-edited report “Homeless Encampments through a Human Rights Lens.” The report emerged from a community-engaged research project with the Region of Waterloo and provides a comparison of encampment protocols among six municipalities.

The lecture will take place in MinMaxx Hall at the First Ontario Arts Centre, 1010 Main St. E. in Milton. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to register online.

Pin conducts research that examines how social inequality intersects with policy-governance regimes and how political scientists can use community-engaged research to understand complex policy problems. She engages with race, class, gender, disability and other categories of difference to understand the lived experience implications of policy. 

“As municipalities engage with homeless encampments and their residents, it is important to share best practices that are rooted in a human rights-based approach,” says Pin. “I’m excited to have the work of my research team inform dialogue in Milton and Halton Region.”

For her graduate degree, McGurk specialized in Canadian housing policy and co-authored an article on the regulation of unsheltered homelessness in Canada. McGurk’s research has been sought after by the Region of Waterloo and non-profit organizations, including the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness.

Pin and McGurk will be joined in the lecture by Geeta Pathak, a supervisor from the Halton Housing Help Centre, who will relate her own experiences with homelessness and complex housing needs.

“The Laurier Milton Lecture Series provides a wonderful opportunity for Laurier researchers to engage in a public dialogue with citizens of Milton on a broad array of important topics, such as homelessness and encampments,” says Jonathan Newman, Laurier’s vice-president: research.

Learn more about the Laurier Milton Lecture Series.