[010] "This Country’s Got The Money. Find The Money."
Encampment residents in Toronto, v1: On the collective resilience of encampment communities, and one poet's long night in search of peace.
Hello, Tired Ones,
Another week, another sign of life, another reason that showing up’s still worth it.
In my work as a writer and designer for culture change, I come across important stories about progress that’s actually working for people.
These are stories that refuse the false choice: sweet indulgence, or the bitter pill.
They help us to remember: before there was bureaucratic care, or self-care, there was simply, well, care.
So come on in, sit down. For the next few minutes at least, there’s no rush. It’s a new week, after all.
December’s care workers: Encampment residents and neighbours in Toronto
“Tonight my brother, in heavy boots, is walking/ through bare rooms over my head/ opening and closing doors.”
—This week’s poet, Li-Young Lee
Sourcing notes: Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash.
—
This week, I was reminded that therapy really is great.
Some weeks, I go through life unaware that I’m having a particularly hard time. And because I don’t see it, I just kind of wander around in the world of normal adult problems, projecting stinky vibes out into my immediate surroundings.
And then I go to therapy and realize, Ohhhh, I’m just having a hard time! That I can deal with.
Which is to say, I can get back to practicing what I’ve learned—you know, just getting on with it, but kinder.
Note for those seeking low- or no-cost access:
1) The Medical Clinic for Person-Centred Psychotherapy—Covered by medicare 100%, with a referral. (Recently heard waitlist was ~2 months.)
2) Or consult one among various lists of options, from psychotherapist Michel’e Bertrand, Sherbourne Health (p. 41), or my own round-up of community funds.
A song, for pairing
"Golden Arrow" by DARKSIDE, from the album Psychic (2013).
An electronic duo—and side-project of one of my favourite DJs, Nicolas Jaar—on this track lulls disco and jazz together, and coaxes them through a prism of ambient. In this way, all colours seem to loop together, like glistening oil at the surface of very dark water. Listen to more.
A healthy idea, to chew on
“Anti-Eviction Press Release at Scadding Court - Dom Speaks” a video recording of Domenico speaking with the Encampment Support Network (ESN). Recorded on November 8, 2020.
On the resilient community built by people without houses, and the City’s crackdown on humanitarian relief and other neighbourly solutions:
Dom, resident at Scadding Court speaks at the Anti-Eviction Press Conference held Sunday, Nov. 8:
Good day, my name is Domenico. Born and raised in Toronto, lived five blocks from here. Never thought I'd be out here homeless for four years now. I've been in and out of the shelter system, which is... one, it's not working. The harm reduction is not working. All these tents out here to show you that.
If it wasn't for these volunteers and all these people coming out here and helping us – tents, food, water, clothing, you name it. They've been coming out here. The neighbours have all been awesome, so this stuff about neighbours complaining is a load.
Police are not at fault that much but, I thought they've gotten out a little out of hand with some of the encampments – including my former encampment behind this where you guys are taping. […]
The Better Living Centres are just a COVID concentration camp, just to put it briefly. I have refused, and I will not go. […] I have the right to choose, and I choose to stay. I will not be dominated. I will not be intimidated by the police, or the government. I'm not moving.
You can come with your SWAT teams and whatever you want. I'm not moving. And I say again, everybody in this park is my family so don't touch them, either.
So you better come up with some housing. I don't care what the government, which branch of government – got to do what you got to do. This country's got the money. Find the money. Build the housing and get it done.
There's also just mental illness, not just addicts, there's disability and seniors out here. It kind of disgusts me to be Canadian to see what's going on, but the government better do something. And threatening us with evictions - it's not happening. Not in this park. Any other park, I don't know. But I'm in this park and it's not happening.
Sourcing notes: via The Encampment Support Network – @esn.to.4real (Instagram), posted November 11, 2020.
A good practice, to freeze for later
This Country’s Got The Money—Find The Money. Build The Housing And Get It Done.
The ESN has been calling on the City for months to stop evicting people from their homes in park encampments, as BlogTO, Toronto.com, and others have reported. Meanwhile, the informal mutual aid network has been providing emergency supports, like blankets, sleeping bags and hot meals, all from outside traditional charitable or non-profit infrastructure. Their Twitter bio sums up their role in Toronto’s decades-long housing crisis better than I can:
We need to take care of each other. Donate, volunteer, decommodify housing. Not an agency & find it troubling we're providing water when the city should be.
Then this week, dozens of resident groups from different professions and walks of life have echoed the ESN’s calls, including 526 academics, 246 service industry workers and owners, 496 musicians, 652 artists and authors as well as the NDP riding association of University—Rosedale. These letters each itemize a set of practices that the artists call “unconscionably cruel,” and the academics characterize as “punative.” The latter group is particularly thorough in their account—no surprise there—which provides detailed notes on the City’s various efforts to ensure that people without house “will continue to be homeless, but elsewhere.” The author Desmond Cole even donated a quarter of his $10,000 Toronto Book Prize to the ESN, using his acceptance speech to call on the City (as partial funders of the prize) to do more on homelessness.
Any scrutiny of the City’s efforts makes their underlying intent clear. There are credible reports about a secretive “encampment table” charged with planning mass evictions. Another report from a longtime street nurse, Cathy Crowe, describes community agencies being discouraged for years from providing relief like blankets and hot meals, citing City funding arrangements.
Other efforts to hide residents from view can be seen in plain sight. Toronto carpenter Khaleel Seivwright received a warning from the City to stop building insulated structures, which they claim are flammable even as a video from the ESN appears to show otherwise. (More recently, volunteers have continued building them anyway, including outside Mayor Tory’s condo building. And Seivwright’s petition demanding the City allow temporary shelters has gained 50,058 signatures as of early Monday, December 7th.)
Sourcing notes: Video via Encampment Support Network (@esn.to.4real), with filming by Alykhan Pabani and Daniel Rotsztain.
What I found most revealing of all was a recent video released by the ESN (titled “Dismantling Stubborn Structures”), which goes to excruciating lengths to document the wall of misdirection from City workers of all stripes. Filmed by Alykhan Pabani, an outreach worker and organizer, and Daniel Rotsztain, an artist and writer, the video portrays residents’ various unsuccessful attempts to access information – either on their “options of interim or permanent housing” (as promised in the City’s Winter Plan), or why their homes or property have been destroyed. I counted no less than 15 iterations of “ask someone else,” including “feel free to call 311,” “I can’t answer questions,” and the classic bureaucratic shrug-off, “that’s not my department.” (These are juxtaposed by pained resident interviews, and remarks of soaring praise from political and departmental leaders.)
But the single thing I most hope these efforts reveal is the dignity of encampment residents like Domenico, and the spirit of grace among everyday people to defend their neighbours.
This country’s got the money. Find the money. Build the housing and get it done.
A poem, to cleanse the palate
“The Hour and What Is Dead” by Li-Young Lee, from The City In Which I Love You (1990).
It begins:
Tonight my brother, in heavy boots, is walking
through bare rooms over my head,
opening and closing doors.
On the long night’s search for peace, and the longing that “someone” might let dead spirits rest:
My father keeps a light on by our bed
and readies for our journey.
He mends ten holes in the knees
of five pairs of boy's pants.
His love for me is like sewing:
various colors and too much thread,
the stitching uneven. But the needle pierces
clean through with each stroke of his hand.
Something sweet, for the road
And now, a very happy baby—un-phased by rejection.
Sourcing notes: via @haileyannward (TikTok)
That's all for this week.
Remember: Drink when you're thirsty, nap when you can.
Kind regards,
Chris Connolly
Manager, Personalized Care
(Acting Director, Standardized Care)
Humane Resources Division
The Dept. of Emotional Labour