In a letter/e-mail send to the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney, the Premier of Ontario Doug Ford, MPP David Piccini, Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland, Cobourg Councillors, Northumberland OPP and Cobourg Police a Colborne man discusses why there should be a state of emergency declared for Northumberland County.
Christopher[C1] J. Amos, Hons. BA, Trent U; 1999
October 5, 2025
To whom and whomever this may concern:
I, Christopher James Amos, DEMAND to exercise my rights and privileges, including “free speech” as a Canadian citizen to DECLARE a Public State of Emergency with regard to the Homelessness Crisis in my home community of Northumberland County, specifically within Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, and FURTHER as this homelessness crisis affects the larger Ontario and Canadian community.
I am a retired senior citizen, born 24/01/1952, Markham, Ontario, married with two adult children and 5 grandchildren, residing in Northumberland County since November 1975, and employed through my life in the meat industry as a butcher and construction industry as a licensed General Carpenter, currently occupied as a beekeeper with 60 bee colonies, together with various community services including volunteer assistance to the homeless community in Cobourg since November, 2023, at the encampment on the former Brookside Youth Detention Centre at 390 King Street East, Cobourg, and continuously to my present involvement.
HISTORY:
In 2023 the former Brookside Youth Detention Centre property, on approximately 30 acres, was owned by the Province of Ontario and managed by Infrastructure Ontario. As early as and prior to May 3, 2024, when I sent a letter to Lucas Cleveland, Mayor of Cobourg outlining my concerns, the majority of Cobourg Town Council INSISTED that the collective homeless encampment on the “Brookside” property be dispersed and later in 2024 the Province of Ontario sold the property to private ownership for traditional residential development, while a concurrent homelessness crisis was evident thereby evicting and dispersing homeless Canadian/Ontario citizens from public property – many of whom were suffering from mental and physical health conditions including addictions to mind altering substances and/or financial challenges, into the adjacent community while they were utilizing the public provincially owned property to exercise their Right of Domicile according to the Canadian Constitution, the Ontario and Canadian Human Rights Commissions, and the “National Housing Strategy Act, 2019”.
In 2024 in response to the sale of the “Brookside Property” Northumberland County Council recognized a responsibility to the homeless community and established a “Homelessness Committee”, eventually including a representative from the homeless community with an individual known as “Chance” Brown upon my recommendation, and purchased a former senior’s retirement facility at 310 Division Street containing 42 available living units and initially included an over night shelter for people to sleep on the ground lever floor of the building, which was available for sale in the downtown area of Cobourg, to serve as a “Transition House” where many homeless people took shelter in November 2024. The shelter was inadequate for the number of homeless people and brought many people afflicted with mental health issues compounded by drug addiction into the downtown core of the city where they were not a welcome influence in the community. A community meeting was held in 2025 to hear the concerns of the Cobourg community and it was decided to limit residency at the 310 Division Street “Transition House” to “High Barrier” residents for those not suffering from mental health and drug addiction issues – but Transition House is still insufficient to the needs of increasing numbers of people who have lost their homes through financial hardship. A theoretical plan was presented to disperse “Low Barrier” people to other municipalities in the County where facilities and resources were not available and “Low Barrier” persons were evicted without recourse to domicile facilities and forced to live on the streets of Cobourg where they became an even greater public nuisance in the downtown core district including the downtown commercial core and tourist attractions of Victoria Park and the beach area.
CURRENTLY:
In the meantime lack of government and municipal address to the Homelessness Crisis has led to unintended support for the illegal narcotics trade by organized crime organizations, not only in Northumberland County but in every small, medium and large town or city in Ontario, by creating an increasing market for illegal narcotics to destitute and desperate drug addicts for “self medication” just to get through ONE MORE DAY; and also support to those who fund their addictions through increasing levels of community theft; increasing levels of often random street violence; fear of homeless people by local residents; charges of trespass against persons desperate to find domicile on private properties who are prohibited and enforced from occupying public parks and other public properties; and increasing demands on police and the entire justice system for the incarceration of individuals who regularly rotate through the system.
I know these issues as FACTS because I am well accepted by many individuals in the homeless community in Cobourg, who accept me as a personal friend and tell me their stories or through close observation, and meet regularly with individuals trespassing on private properties; as well with those who are high on fentanyl and other substances during our meetings; and having personal knowledge of people who have established extra income and convicted of theft and some who have not been convicted of theft; increased possession of firearms for personal protection; those who have gone to jail for breach of probation because they have no time-line to keep track of meeting times; and many who recycle through the justice system creating more demands for police and bylaw enforcement officers along with extra expense for the tax payers of Cobourg; – and I personally know several, women especially, a number of severely addicted persons, and several homeless seniors, at high risk of death due to exposure to the weather elements as cold nights are now regular and through the winter if they cannot find adequate accommodations and other life support systems.
PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE:
In short: These increasing issues relating to homelessness are symptoms of the “Opening Act” of social collapse in our communities indicating that effective measures must be taken IMMEDIATELY to prevent social collapse from happening in Canada, in Ontario, and in MY community; even if it means expropriation of private property presently, or as yet, undeveloped for other purposes and to enclose the property, such as the property previously known as the Brookside Youth Correctional Centre at 390 King Street East, with a fence and provided with security personnel to restrict unauthourized persons from entering.
…And in the bigger social picture I see increasing numbers of “For Sale” real estate signs in my travels for people who cannot afford their variable interest rate mortgages, have retired from their careers or have lost their jobs, and are down sizing to less expensive accommodations which ultimately leads to people at the “bottom end” losing their homes, requiring rental accommodations which are scarce or unaffordable, and more people will become homeless.
CONCLUSION:
The Canadian Constitution, the Ontario and Canadian Human Rights Commissions, and the “National Housing Strategy Act, 2019”, clearly state in lawful terms that the Right to Domicile is a Human Right in Canada; and that any attempt by any person, agency, or government body, including use of illegally passed municipal bylaws, to contravene the LAW by unlawfully attempting to prevent homeless people from enjoying Right of Domicile and other adequate life support systems including health care and social services, within the community of their choice and with the ability to access necessary resources equal to the Rights of other Canadians to live in the community of their choice, will constitute a criminal offense of Negligent Homicide in the event that JUST ONE PERSON dies from, or if that death is assisted by, exposure to the elements through any attempt to prevent the right for domicile. Our police forces are commanded with the mandate to uphold the laws of Canada and to investigate any unusual deaths and must report the investigation of any unusual deaths, associated with contravention of the Constitution of Canada, to the RCMP.
If I become aware that any person has lost their life through exposure to the elements in my community I will exercise my right and responsibility to contact the appropriate police force, will make a personal complaint and satisfy myself that the death is investigated and; FURTHER that any person, agency, municipal body or persons EMPLOYED BY an agency or municipality who are illegally instructed to commit an unlawful act to prevent right of domicile will be investigated for compliance if they can be identified, and if found guilty of accessory to a crime, will be charged with a criminal offense.
PERSONAL STAKEHOLDERSHIP:
AND FURTHER: Let it be known that my father, Joseph E. Amos, Service Number 2641OB, was Active during WWII with the Royal Canadian Engineers, First Division, Second Army, 2nd Field Park Coy, throughout the Sicily and Italy Campaign and that he killed enemy soldiers with his rifle, with explosive devices; and especially at the Anzio Valley south of Rome where the 2nd Field Park Coy was attached to the First Special Service Force, known by the enemy as the “Black Devils”, and it was his job to go out at night to use his knife to slit the throats of enemy soldiers in machine guns nests and artillery barracks; ALL FOR THE SAKE OF PRESERVING THE RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF CANADIANS; and my son, now retired after 25 years of Service in the Canadian Armed Forces, is an overseas military veteran as well having served with a NATO Peace Keeping force in Bosnia. If any homeless Canadians die on the streets from exposure to the elements this Fall or Winter I DEMAND to have their names listed and spoken at every Remembrance Day Service in every community where they died for 5 years; “LEST WE FORGET” or have we already FORGOTTEN??? Many politicians and self entitled Canadians now seem to simply degrade Remembrance Day as a public forum for popularity.
RESPONSIBILITY:
No “Yes Buts…”; EXCUSES DON’T SOLVE PROBLEMS: There is no such thing as STATUS QUO in life. Conditions of social, physical and mental health either improve or become pathogenic and we are already behind with the need to have this problem addressed IMMEDIATELY. If IMMEDICEY is a problem it is the problem of Government agencies for:
- Firstly; allowing the problem of homelessness crisis to fester in the first place;
- Secondly; unlawfully disposing of the approximately 30 acre provincially owned property through sale to private ownership while it was occupied as a “tent city” of homeless people, who required domicile, that would have been an ideal location for a rehabilitation centre with all humanitarian services on site; and which now MUST BE EXPROPRIATED so that location may be returned to it’s highest social potential to alleviate the Homelessness Crisis in Cobourg and Northumberland County; or simply rezone that property for use as a homeless rehabilitation centre and have the developer build the necessary infrastructure and architectural features to support the rehabilitation centre.
- Thirdly; the Provincial Government by unlawfully allowing Cobourg Council to pass an unlawful bylaw prohibiting homeless people from establishing domicile within the Town of Cobourg and enforcing their eviction them from publicly owned properties within Cobourg thus forcing many to commit trespass onto privately owned properties;
- Fourthly; for lack of responsibility to allow a situation of social anarchy to exist that supports organized crime and individual criminal behaviour.
The world, in Canada and internationally, has become a much more difficult place than it was just 6 years ago prior to the Covid ’19 pandemic, unimaginable events are becoming stark reality, and the world is becoming much worse almost on a daily basis. We are supposed to be proud of our responsible democratic government in Canada, “by the people FOR the people” – our fellow Canadian citizens, but unfortunately we are ashamed of irresponsible government in Canada for allowing this crisis to perpetuate until it threatens to cause total social collapse and anarchy at the community level.
Signed:
CHRISTOPHER JAMES AMOS
October 1, 2025
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
