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Ontario Coalition Against Poverty is a direct action anti-poverty organization that fights for more shelter beds, social housing, and a raise in social assistance rates.
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March 11, 2020 In Events, Gentrification, Inglewood Arms

The Landlord Says What?

Update: The rally has been cancelled because the Landlord and Tenant board has postponed the hearing on account of the COVID-19 outbreak. No new date has yet been set, but once there is, we will reschedule the rally for that date.

Thursday, March 19 | 9 am | 15 Grosvenor Street (Two blocks north of College station)
Facebook Event
Come to the rally at 9am. Stay for the hearing if you can.

The landlord at the Inglewood Arms says the residents of his licensed rooming house are not tenants. He doesn’t believe the roughly 90 people who live in the building have rights under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).

This despite the fact that the Inglewood Arms, located at 295 Jarvis street, has operated as a rooming house for over 30 years. Many residents have lived there long term, some over 10 years.

One of those tenants is going to the Landlord and Tenant board to establish the obvious: residents of the Inglewood Arms are tenants and have rights under the RTA. The landlord will be arguing against that.

As you might recall, the tenants at the Inglewood Arms are also taking on a corporate developer who wants to knock down their home and build a 36-storey condominium in its place. Victory at the landlord and tenant board will also strengthen the fight against the developer.

Join us for a rally to support the tenants and build the battle to keep the tenants housed.

February 3, 2020 In Events, Solidarity Actions, Speaking Series

Wet’suwet’en Strong: In Defence of Land Defenders

Thursday, Feb 20 | 6pm-8pm| CRC, 40 Oak Street
[Free event with meal, childminding, wheelchair access and tokens]
Facebook Event

[Speakers Series: Free event with meal, child-minding, wheelchair access and tokens]

 

 The people of the Wet’suwet’en nation in northern British Columbia courageously defied a supreme court injunction by blocking Coastal Gaslink (CGL) from building a pipeline through their territories. The company is attempting to build a 670km fracked gas pipeline from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, but has not secured the free, prior and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who remain opposed to its construction.

The hereditary chiefs evicted CGL workers from their territories in early January and called for the construction to cease. The company refused to comply and militarized police (yet again) raided Wet’suwet’en territory earlier this month. The resulting arrests have triggered ongoing protests and rail blockades nationwide. 

Join us to understand why the land defenders are risking their lives to oppose this and other pipelines, how this struggle is linked to those of Indigenous people here, and how we can support.
 
Speakers: Eve Saint, Vanessa Gray and Niloofar Golkar
Eve is a Wet’suwet’en land defender who was one of the four people arrested at the Gitdumt’en checkpoint on Feb 7 when RCMP raided Wet’suwet’en territory. Eve’s father is the hereditary house chief of the Gitdumt’en clan (house of Casiyeh). Eve was based in Toronto but left the city to stand with her father as the hereditary chiefs evicted Coastal Gaslink from Wet’suwet’en territory in early January.
 
Vanessa is a 27 year old Queer Anishinaabe kwe from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, located in Canada’s Chemical Valley. As a grassroots organizer, land defender and educator, Vanessa works to decolonize environmental justice research by linking scholarly findings to traditional teachings. Vanessa is a co-founder of Aamjiwnaang & Sarnia Against Pipelines (ASAP), host of the annual Toxic Tour of Canada’s Chemical Valley. She continues to take part in a diversity of tactics such direct action, classroom lectures, co-hosting Toxic Tours and Water Gatherings.
 
Niloofar is a member of Rising Tide Toronto, an organization that has organized actions in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en in Toronto.

Audio from event:

This event is part of OCAP’s monthly Speakers Series. It’s where we discuss issues critical to the success of poor people’s movements.
January 22, 2020 In Events, Gentrification, Homelessness

Defend Tenants of the Inglewood Arms

Monday, Jan 27 | 9 am | 655 Bay Street (one block south of Bay/Gerrard)
Rally at 9am, then pack the hearing room (15th floor) at 10am
Facebook event

The Inglewood Arms is a licensed rooming house with approximately 90 tenants. It’s located close to Jarvis and Dundas. It has housed poor and working class people for over 30 years. Now, a real estate behemoth – Minto – wants to tear it down and build a 36 storey condo.

The City has not yet approved the application, but tenants are already feeling pressured to move out. Not willing to cave in the midst of a deadly housing crisis, they are fighting back. We are supporting them.

Join us this Monday, Jan 27 at 9 am for a rally and press conference at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal to launch a fight that will take on the landlord, the City and the developer.

Here is the brief on the three fronts:

The Landlord: The landlord argues the Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to tenants at the Inglewood. The Act protects renters rights; claiming it doesn’t apply allows the landlord to evict tenants with no process. A tenant of 10 years at the Inglewood has appealed to the Landlord and Tenant board to get a determination that the Act does in fact apply. The hearing is in March.

The City: The City is currently in negotiations with the developer. Our message is clear – no compromises with tenants’ lives. Tenants must be guaranteed housing in the new development and adequately compensated for the interim displacement.

Minto: Minto is fighting the City’s rooming house protection policy at the provincial Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. If Minto wins, it will be a setback for tenants at all rooming houses across the City. On Monday, Jan 27 an Inglewood tenant will formally seek to be part of the hearings. This will be a launch of the fight to defend the tenants of Inglewood, and of rooming houses around the City. Join us at 9am for the rally and then help us pack the hearing room!

January 3, 2020 In Events, Homelessness

Open Letter to Mayor Tory: Call Off the Homeless Sweeps

The letter below was issued by the Shelter and Housing Justice Network on Friday, January 3, 2020. There will be a press conference to address the situation on Monday, January 6 at Noon at Lawren Harris park (Rosedale Valley Rd & Park Rd).

Dear Mayor John Tory,

The Parks, Forestry and Recreation department has said it will be dismantling homeless encampments in the Rosedale valley on January 7, 2020.

There is no justification for these sweeps in the midst of a deadly shortage of shelter space in the city. People are camped outside in the bitter cold because the housing crisis rages on unchecked and the City’s shelter system is overwhelmed. Conditions within these emergency centres are difficult and often unsafe because of chronic overcrowding, short-staffing and a general lack of necessary resources. The private market is such that even those able to access the housing allowance find it impossible to find a place to rent.

Forcibly dismantling homeless encampments – be they under the Gardiner or in the Rosedale valley – is nothing more than an attempt to make homelessness invisible rather than addressing the problem. In the absence of adequate shelter or housing, the encampments just rise up once again. Despite having seen this time and again, the administration continues to subject homeless people to the ritualized humiliation and hardship of being displaced and having their belongings confiscated, only to then be informed that the emergency system is full.

You must call off these brutal sweeps, starting with the one planned for January 7, and focus City resources on adding sufficient shelter spaces and building publicly owned rent-geared-to-income housing. That’s the only way to make sure no one has to resort to sleeping under bridges and in the ravines of this wealthy city. Our network will be mobilizing around the upcoming sweep and will challenge attempts at evicting people that your administration has effectively abandoned to the streets.

Sincerely,

Rafi Aaron, Interfaith Coalition to Fight Homelessness
Yogi Acharya and Cat Chhina, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Greg Cook, Sanctuary Outreach
Cathy Crowe, Street Nurse
Bob Rose

on behalf of the Shelter and Housing Justice Network

November 15, 2019 In Events, Speaking Series

At Full Capacity: Homelessness and Resistance

Thursday, November 21 | 6pm-8pm | CRC, 40 Oak Street
[Free event with meal, childminding, wheelchair access, and tokens]
Facebook Event

Film Screening & Discussion

On November 11th Toronto endured its first winter storm. With shelters at capacity, many were left out on the streets in below freezing temperatures. Community members and organizers immediately pushed the city to open Metro Hall as a warming centre.

The city is failing to respond to the shelter and housing emergency, and the number of homeless deaths is on the rise.

Together we have the power and must push back. We will fight to win the basic shelter and housing we need. Join us.

Discussion on resistance and fight back to follow the film screening.

—

Film: The Public (2019) With emergency shelters at full capacity and a brutal winter storm on the way, a group of Cincinnati homeless men refuse to leave the public library. Demanding shelter from the extreme cold, they stage a sit-in and occupation.

November 1, 2019 In Events

Vigil Outside the Peter Street Referral Centre

Thursday, November 7th, 2019 | 5:30 PM | East of Richmond & Spadina
Light Meal Provided | Facebook Event

Homeless People Die as Referral Centre Turns People Away
Vigil Outside The Peter Street Referral Centre
129 Peter Street |

Shelters and respite centres are failing to meet the needs of the homeless in the midst of the City’s worsening housing crisis. This summer shelter occupancy rates have exceeded the highs of last winter and even respite sites, which provide cots, chairs or mats on the floor for people to sleep on are at capacity. The Peter Street referral centre is intended to be a last resort for those in need of a shelter bed. On a nightly basis dozens of people are forced to spend the night in chairs and on the floor in the centre’s waiting area because there is nowhere to refer people to. When the waiting area is packed to capacity others who have travelled to the centre in hopes of securing safe shelter are being turned away and told to come back later.

On October 5th the body of Kevin Dickman was pulled out of the Don River. Despite repeated efforts and extensive support, he was unable to access shelter or a safe space to go. We do not know why Kevin was by the Don River. We do know that the shelters are full and for many who are homeless or in crisis there is nowhere to go and no hope for housing. The outcome of the shelter and housing crisis is tragic and deadly. Kevin is only one of many lives we are losing to homelessness.

The shelter system is already at a breaking point and as the winter approaches the need will only intensify. The abandonment of homeless people this winter will have deadly consequence.

On November 7th community members will gather at a vigil to remember lives lost to homelessness and demand that the City immediately:

-Open 2000 shelter beds to replace the inadequate accommodations provided in respite sites and meet the growing need for safe shelter

-Publicly call on the Provincial and Federal governments for urgent assistance to begin the immediate construction of social rent-geared-to-income housing

Join us.

October 19, 2019 In Events, Homelessness

Build Solidarity: Rally For Dundas & Sherbourne

Thursday, October 24 | 6pm-7:30pm | Dundas and Sherbourne
Meal Provided | Facebook Event

The downtown east belongs to all its residents. The healthcare and homeless services here serve a critical need for the area’s poor people and save lives. But some wealthier neighbours, organized through the local residents’ association, are agitating for their closure and are opposed to any new services opening. The resulting tensions are turning the neighbourhood, and Dundas and Sherbourne in particular, into a battleground.

Toronto’s deadly housing crisis and severe shelter shortage are responsible for escalating homelessness. Attacking the people suffering its worst consequences or the services they rely on doesn’t solve the issue. It only shows a vicious disregard for poor people’s lives.

We can build a vibrant neighbourhood by choosing solidarity over bigotry. United, we can fight to turn 214-230 Sherbourne into affordable rent-geared-to-income housing, build adequate shelters, and expand health services for all.

Join us for a rally to demonstrate that solidarity and build the fight for housing and shelter.

October 9, 2019 In Events, Speaking Series

Resisting Revitalized Bigotry in the Downtown East

Thursday, October 17 | 6pm-8pm | CRC, 40 Oak Street
[Free event with meal, childminding, wheelchair access, and tokens]
Facebook Event

Toronto’s downtown east is changing rapidly. The historic Regent Park social housing is being reduced to rubble and the “mixed-income” imagination of politicians is coming alive. Towers with a combination of ownership condos and rental units for former social housing tenants have risen, with more on the way.

Mitchell Cohen, the president of Daniel’s Corporation, sold his company’s revitalization plan as one that would make “tenants and owners feel at home with each other and in their community.” But the residents of Daniel’s new building at Parliament and Dundas installed spikes on the large tree planters downstairs. Neighbours and passerby’s would sit around those planters to rest, drink coffee or have conversations. Now they can’t.

Not far away, Dundas and Sherbourne has turned into a battleground. Residents who control the Cabbagetown South Residents’ Association want to shut down a health centre and respite site that serve the homeless at that corner. They don’t want poor people in crisis in the area. The City responded with more police, the Province cut funding for the overdose prevention site, the health centre put up a fence, and the respite site cut its capacity. Not satisfied, the Association now collaborates with Toronto Sun’s Sue Ann Levy who writes articles denigrating poor people as dirty, drug-addicted and dangerous.

Area residents have two choices: we either build solidarity or escalate hostility. We invite all those who choose the former to join us to discuss how we can do so.

Speakers: Gaetan Heroux and A.J. Withers

Gaetan Heroux has worked in the downtown east for over three decades, a longtime organizer with OCAP, and co-author of Toronto’s Poor: A Rebellious History.

A.J. Withers is an longtime OCAP organizer and author of stillmyrevolution.org, and two books: Radical Disability Politics and Theory and A Violent History of Benevolence.