A couple of weeks past, a small group
of Toronto's citizens observed a grim milestone in Canada's richest
city; the marking of a memorial for the 500th Canadian to die homeless
on Toronto's cold streets.
Out the windows of my cosy apartment, the first snows of winter fall on
famously tepid Victoria. Early in the year to be sure, for a city these
last years that rarely sees snow at all. It reminds; we are Canadians
afterall, living in a cold country whose climate is not always friendly
to human survival. It's a fact easy to forget living here on the mild
Pacific coast, and living easy, with a job and the bills paid.
But my happy situation is one not shared by all living here.
Unemployment, under employment, and low pay is common here,
as everywhere in Canada today; common here as elsewhere too is high
rent, and a lack of affordable rental housing. Combined with the
abrogation of their duty to the welfare of the people by all levels of
government, the current economic environment is the "perfect storm" for
the poor.
Years ago, during the "good times" in the Eighties, I lived in Toronto,
where winter is winter, and the working ethos is roughly summed up as:
Sink or Swim! Living downtown, the homeless were a common sight; I
would see them, bundles of rags, curled up fetal-like over the
ventilation grates of the highrise office towers. The tower's, deserted
and ablaze with light, heaters mind the comfort of the machines
inside, while its excess warmth helps keep some anonymous indigent
alive another night.
But not everyone has a grate. The last year I lived in Toronto, 1991,
the economy was taking a decided turn south. A joker named George
Bush was in the White House, monkey-wrenching Ronald Reagan's "good
time" economy, and the effects were being felt, even in the 'Big
Smoke.' More people were landing on the streets hard, and dying there
too. The press didn't write much about it then, but someone in the city
decided the growing number of fatal exposure victims should not
remain unknown. Throughout the downtown area, little black crosses
started appearing. There were no names attached, simply paper and paint
crosses, marking the places where another homeless Canadian had died
for lack of shelter.
And, it seems not so much has changed since my days there. Writing
in the Toronto Star newspaper, November 14th of this year, Colin
Johnson and John Brewin beg we Canadians imagine:
"Imagine an entire busload of people dying in a horrible crash, because
of faulty brakes. Cries of outrage, coupled with demands for improved
safety inspections, would immediately dominate our newscasts,
newspapers, government legislatures and water-cooler conversations. Now
try to imagine, if you can, 12 busloads of people perishing. Imagine
the uproar that would provoke, especially if the victims were innocent
schoolchildren. We would all be appalled at such a terrible loss of
human life. We all hold up the value of every human life and deplore
needless deaths ... or do we?"
Of course, they're not talking about cuddly middle-class kids perishing
in school bus crashes, but the dirty and low thought of poor; inner
city ghosts and bogeymen, whose lives we don't want to hear about, and
whose fate is too terrible for us to contemplate. These are the
"un-people," destined to be forgotten in life, as they will be too
forgotten once their misery here is done.
But, there is a place where these fallen are remembered, as Johnson and Brewin record:
"Nestled behind the Eaton Centre, in front of Holy Trinity Anglican
Church, is a stark, shocking memorial. It lists the names of those who
have perished on the streets of Toronto for lack of housing. Many are
only known as "Jane Doe" or "John Doe." Each month, new names are added
to this list at a simple ceremony of remembrance. The 500th name will
be added to this death toll today."
Looking out the window at the snow, I can't say how many have died for
lack of shelter on Victoria's streets, but I wonder if it's not past
time we venture into the streets to demand better for our society;
better that we go into the halls of power in this country with
petitions and placards, before going out into the elements with black
paint and paper crosses. Or, do we need to see 500 more corpses,
needlessly killed by inaction?
The Star's, Colin Johnson and John Brewin sum up the political situation in this country, and it is an outrage:
"Witness, as recently reported, our provincial government putting $392
million for badly needed affordable housing projects into a contingency
fund, instead of into new housing construction, because of a funding
dispute with the federal government.
Witness the federal government refusing to
renew an excellent program which funds housing programs in Toronto and
across Canada called the Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative,
even as it struggles with how to dispose of billions of dollars of
surplus revenues.
Witness the thousands of people in our city
and region who endure terribly degrading conditions, again because of a
lack of funding to repair their rundown apartments."
Looking at the snow fall from the warm side
of a window is pleasant, but we can't afford to forget what living in a
cold country means to those without the warmth of hearth and home.
Chris Cook is a contributing editor to PEJ News and the Atlantic Free Press. He also hosts Gorilla Radio, a weekly public affairs program, broad/webcast from the University of Victoria, Canada. You can check out the GR Blog here.
Writings 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
