York students joined the protests at City Hall last week to show their disapproval for the city removing hundreds of shelter beds in the downtown core.
Toronto City Council was supposed to meet for two days to vote on a motion that would close 634 shelter beds in the downtown east to relocate them in the suburbs.
“Students should care about poverty the same reason everyone should,” says Hillary DiMenna, a second-year gender and women’s studies student.
The haves are outnumbered by the have-nots.
“It should terrify everybody that the oppressed are the majority. Something has to change. People need to survive, we need to organize.”
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty rallied against the boarding up of the men’s shelter. OCAP organizer John Clarke invited people to protest at City Hall around noon to make their concerns known. Hundreds of people moved to the second-floor rotunda and the area in front of Mayor John Tory’s office.
“The city is engaging in a development driven agenda that I think will be described as social cleansing,” says Clarke. “They’re seeking to remove people from the centre of the city and they are failing to provide the basic necessity of shelter. We’re challenging that by demanding that the city act and meet the needs of homeless people.”
Activists handed out food and T-shirts reading, “We will not be pushed out.” Later on, when city councillors were on break, the rally moved from outside into city hall. Activists blew whistles, shouted slogans, and clapped their hands in an attempt to garner attention from city councillors. However, no one came out to address the crowd.
OCAP sent a letter in early October to city councillors, asking them to open shelters in their respective wards. Moreover, councillors were asked about transportation and services for relocated persons without reply. Janet Cee, a social services worker who finds housing for homeless clients, says she’s known that many of her clients die on the streets.
“Could you imagine,” she says, “someone sleeping on the sidewalk or behind a building. There’s no sleeping bag, no blanket. Just imagine what that’s like. Their whole worldly possessions [are] in a grocery cart.”
The current occupancy level in shelters is above the policy aim of 90 per cent, coming in at approximately 98-99 per cent, according to the daily shelter census. By mid-afternoon, city council decided to develop a “transition plan for clients during demolition and construction,” but did not specify further details. Council approved the George Street redevelopment plan.
Shahtaj Khawar, Contributor
