The Latest from Local Orgs

PHOTOS:
#May1TO photo album on our facebook page
#May1TO, a photo essay by Kevin Konnyu

WRITE UPS
Hundreds rally and march in Toronto for a Solidarity City by John Bonnar
May Day Alive and Well in Toronto in Toronto MediaCoop

VIDEOS
LeftStreamed Video of May Day 2013
May1stMovement Video Reportback
Nadine Mackinnon Video Coverage

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No One Is Illegal – Toronto responds to the May 2013 changes to the Parent and Grandparent Program for Sponsorship

Last week, under the guise of “re-opening” family reunification, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney revealed significant changes to the Parent and Grandparent sponsorship program, once again making it harder for families to be reunited in Canada. With more exclusive conditions, only the wealthy or the lucky ones who make the first-come-first-served cut-off will be reunited with families, leaving behind the thousands who have been waiting for the past 10 years.

In 2011, Minister Kenney imposed a two-year freeze on immigration applications from parents and grandparents, shutting out the 165,000 people who had applied under the program many of whom had been waiting over eight years. Under the new restrictions, most of these families will remain shut out.

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Thursday, June 6, 2013
5:30pm
Where: corner of Dundas & Sherbourne

*Rain Location: St.Luke’s Church (Sherbourne/Carlton)

News broke recently that the Toronto Friendship Centre at the corner of Dundas/Sherbourne is slated to lose its funding from the City and be closed by the end of 2013. The Friendship Centre is a vital service that the local community has relied on for many years. It is a place where people go for early morning meals and coffee, a place to stay warm, a place to be safe - it is a life-line and staple community space. We cannot let the Friendship Centre close or be moved from the corner!

Come out June 6th for a Community BBQ and meeting to Save the Friendship Centre and talk about what we need in the Downtown East neighborhood.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/652894171392409/

Download the poster here

ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY

416-925-6939 / ocap@tao.ca

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The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has been challenging the overcrowded conditions in Toronto's shelter system. After months of community action, we have been able to win a commitment from the City that shelters will not go above 90% capacity. However, this has meant that they are putting down flex beds in crowded shelters instead of opening up new facilities.

We want to hear from you!

· If you have had trouble finding a bed, have been turned away from a shelter, or have had to put up with unsafe, stressful or overcrowded conditions - we want to hear from you!

· If you are a staff at a shelter or agency in the city and have had trouble finding someone a bed or have experienced the overcrowded conditions – we want to hear from you too!

We need your help to force the City to provide enough shelter space to ensure people have their right to safety and dignity respected.

Download the flyer here

Give us a call at (416) 925-6939 or e mail us at ocap@tao.ca.

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On Ontario Works or ODSP in the City of Toronto? Do you know about the new Housing Stabilization Fund?

**Download the HSF info flyer here and help us distribute in OW and ODSP offices

At the start of 2013, the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB) was cut by the Ontario Liberals. This was a vital benefit that thousands of people on OW and ODSP used to secure a place to live, pay first and last months’ rent, stave off eviction, get furniture and household items, pay utilities,. This is just another attack on poor people who depend on social assistance, making it harder and harder to get by.

When the Liberal Government cut the Community Start Up, the City of Toronto created a new fund to replace it, the Housing Stabilization Fund (HSF). This fund is set to run out by the end of 2013 and you may be eligible for it!

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Friday, May 24th, 2013

Regent Park Community Health Centre
465 Dundas Street East
5:30pm - Community Meal & Music
6:00pm Rally 6:30pm March

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/503549396359900/?ref=ts&fref=ts

In Toronto's Downtown East community we have been faced with recent alarming incidents of violence against women including attacks on the streets and in apartment complexes. Women's homeless shelters in the City of Toronto continue to operate o n average at 99% capacity - forcing homeless women in to unsafe conditions without a roof over their head. Emergency anti-violence against women's shelters also remain packed. Women who have experienced violence in their TCH buildings have been denied transfers and the waiting list for Toronto Community Housing as a whole is 10 years long. Under all three levels of government women's services have been cut and under-funded. This cannot continue! Together we are demanding the things we need in order to be safe - the very basic needs - shelter, housing, enough income and support AND an end to all violence against women.

Join us May 24th as we come together to reclaim the streets of our community and fight for what we need!

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2013-2014 Ontario Provincial Budget Breakdown by OCAP

OCAP had no great expectations that the 'Social Justice Premier's' first Budget would give poor communities in Ontario much reason to celebrate. We are surprised, however, at just how shamelessly she has continued to push people into deeper poverty. Wynne, like McGuinty before her, is obsessed with ‘eliminating the deficit’ at all costs. It is clear from the government’s own figures that corporate greed created this deficit, but the people of Ontario will be expected to pay for it. In the 2013 budget, they boast of reducing corporate taxes by $8.5 billion per year since 2009 and proudly announce that Ontarians now get less per capita funding from their government than people in any other province.

The vital question was whether social assistance rates would be raised in a way that began to repair the incredible loss of real income that has taken place since 1993. The measures taken in this budget leave no room for doubt. The great majority of people on social assistance will get a 1% increase, which is, of course, a cut when you consider the rate of inflation. To put this in real terms, consider that in 2013, landlords can raise rent by 2.5%, but social assistance rates are only going up by 1%. Single people on Ontario Works, whose income has declined by 56% since the 90s, will receive $14 a month over and above this. Their income will increase by perhaps 3%, which means they will pretty well stay where they are against inflation. This comes shockingly below the $100 raise recommendation of their own commission.

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May 2nd Court date same day as the Ontario Provincial Budget is released…

During OCAP’s recent fight against overcrowding in Toronto’s homeless
shelters, over thirty people were charged by police in two occupations at City Hall and Metro Hall, many of them on both occasions.

Last week, most of those charged met with the Movement Defense Committee that will be providing legal support and began to prepare our response to the charges. The following basic principles and goals emerged from the meeting:

1.We took the stand we did because we believe in the right to dignity,
shelter and housing. We want to respond to these charges in a way that
contributes to ensuring homeless people are sheltered and the fight for
housing is taken forward.

2.We intend to take a united stand against these charges. We will do all we can to ensure that all of us are tried together in one courtroom. We want to advance a collective defense and not act as individuals.

3.We make no apologies for the stand we took. We acted as we needed to
and forced the City to respond to a life threatening crisis for those on the streets. We will make sure that this is all brought out in Court and that those to blame for the needless suffering of homeless people are held accountable.

4.While it is true that OCAP has faced more serious legal challenges than the present round of trespass charges, the numbers facing them mean that we are looking at a big drain on resources. There will be significant costs and, potentially, fines to deal with. We will rely on the support and solidarity of the broader community to enable us to meet these costs without having to divert vital resources from our ongoing organizing work.

5.We see these charges as fundamentally unjust and as an attempt to hamper a completely justified and necessary community based resistance to austerity and poverty. Whatever the result in Court, we pledge that this attempt will not succeed and we will come out of this stronger than ever before.

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The theme for the #May1TO, May Day: Solidarity City! Status for All! Decolonize Now!? is Build a Solidarity City. In this image series we try to imagine what a solidarity city would look like.

Click on the images for hi-resolution version. Click here for facebook album you can share.

the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty on the streets for the annual May Day of Action in Toronto.

5:30 PM: Rally and March starting at City Hall and ending at Little Norway Park in solidarity with striking workers at Porter (Queens Quay and Bathurst)

On International Workers Day, we march to build a Solidarity City. Solidarity City is a unified struggle for: Respect for Indigenous Sovereignty, Status for All, an End to Imperialism and Environmental Destruction, an End to Austerity and Attacks on the Poor and Working class, continued resistance against Patriarchy, Racism, Ableism and Homophobia and Transphobia

- Organize a contingent: bring a group of people from your class, organization, neighbourhood, or union local to this demonstration, bring your demands, banners, flags and signs.

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April 25, 2013, 6:30pm, Toronto Free Gallery (1277 Bloor Street West)
Lansdowne Subway Station
The space including bathrooms is wheelchair accessible.

Presentations from Sebastian Rodriguez (Arizona, USA); Indigenous land defenders from Akwesasne Mohawk Territory; David Moffette (on the Ceuta (Morrocco/Spain) border crossing); members of No One Is Illegal - Toronto and more.

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Raise the Rates!

Rally at Charles Sousa, Minister of Finance, constituency office in
Missausauga South
Friday, April 12, 2.00 PM
Toronto Buses:
1) East-end: leaves Carlton and Sherbourne, 12.30 PM
2) West-end: leaves from out front Parkdale Legal (1266 Queen St W) at 1:15pm
*Call and register to confirm a seat on the bus: 416-925-6939

The first Provincial Budget with Kathleen Wynne as Premier is about to
come down with new Finance Minister Charles Sousa laying out what cuts and funding will be part of 2013 in Ontario. The Raise the Rates Campaign is calling on supporters in Ontario communities to hold actions at local MPP's and Minister's offices the week of April 8 to demand real action to address poverty.

*Raise social assistance rates by 55% to put them back to real levels
before the 1995 cuts and 18 years of declining incomes

*End the three year freeze on the minimum wage, raise it to $14 an hour
and index it to inflation

*Restore the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit

*Stop the cut to the Special Diet, restore the full benefit

*Scrap plans to download ODSP onto local governments and merge it with
Ontario Works

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Thursday, April 4, 2013

It took months of community action, two occupations and some fifty arrests, but the City's claim that the overcrowded shelter system is 'meeting the needs of the homeless' has now collapsed.

On April 4th, City Council voted in favour of a return to the policy of opening new space when shelter occupancy reaches 90% (it is presently running at an official 96% average with some spaces, including women's shelters, at 99 and 100%). Staff are now instructed to take the measures necessary to achieve this goal including the opening of new facilities. Our efforts will now be devoted to ensuring that they do just that.

When the final vote was taken on the amended motion, one member of Council cast a vote against- Mayor Rob Ford. Ford had earlier told the media that he would return to the Council Chambers to explicitly vote against opening more beds for the homeless and he did just that. He had already delayed consideration of the shelter issue by placing on the agenda a proposal to open a Hero Burger outlet in Nathan Phillip's Square. He was able to win the burger joint, but his efforts to deny safety and dignity to homeless people were in vain.

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RAISE the RATES!

A Raise the Rates Campaign strategy meeting was held in Toronto on
March 16 and one of its decisions was to call for a week of action in
the lead up to the 2013 Provincial Budget which is set to come down
mid-April. We are calling on community organizations and unions to
hold actions at Liberal MPP's offices and events during the week of
April 8 to challenge Liberal austerity and to demand real action on
poverty.

> No cut to the Special Diet.
> Restore the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit
> No downloading of ODSP or forcing people with disabilities into poverty jobs
> Restore OW and ODSP rates to where they were in 1995 - A 56% increase is needed now
> End the freeze on the minimum wage. Set it at $14 and index it to inflation.

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Join us in the streets for the 8th Annual May Day of Action!

5:30pm on Wednesday May 1st, 2013
March starts at Nathan Phillips Square

Mark the date, more information forthcoming.

Videos from previous year: http://bit.ly/MayDayTOVids
More info: www.toronto.nooneisillegal.org/MayDay

Organized by a coalition of organizations. To endorse and participate in the organizing, please email nooneisillegal@riseup.net.

Two Important upcoming events in the fight for decent shelter space in
the City of Toronto:

2) All Out to City Council
Wednesday, April 3rd
9:30 am
Toronto City Hall

Check Facebook for updates:
https://www.facebook.com/events/423764317713625/

After weeks of determined community action to force the City to
respond to the crisis of overcrowding in its shelter system, the
Community Development and Recreation Committee met on March 18.
Dozens of powerful deputations were presented by those with experience
of homelessness, front line workers and advocates. Despite a staff
report still trying to suggest that the shelters were adequate, the
myth of a system that is coping with the needs of those on the streets
died on the floor of that committee room. Its members called on
Council to return to a policy of opening more shelter spaces when the
system reached 90% capacity but, astoundingly, recommended only that
172 'flex beds' be opened. This means putting down mats on the floor
of already overcrowded shelters and pushing capacity well beyond 96%.
At the same time, the church run Out-of-the-Cold program is set to
close at the end of March meaning more people will be looking for a
bed in even fewer spaces.

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OCAP COMMUNITY ORGANIZING COURSE 2013

Following the great success of our first Community Organizing Course
in October 2012, OCAP is holding a second course to offer people some
of the knowledge and skills they will need to mobilize in their
communities to resist poverty and austerity. Since the last course,
OCAP has been on the front lines of some major fights against social
cutbacks and homelessness and the second course will benefit from
these experiences.

DATES: 4 consecutive Saturdays – April 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th
TIME: 2-5pm, followed by a meal each week.

Childcare and transportation costs will be provided and the location
will be wheelchair accessible. An exciting four week children’s
program is in the works!

COURSE OUTLINE:

Week 1 (April 6th): A brief introduction to OCAP. How do capitalism
and colonialism work? How do they produce poverty? What is the
austerity agenda and how is it playing out in our communities?

Week 2 (April 13th): How does the law and the welfare system regulate
the poor? How does OCAP organize actions to defend people under attack
by these systems?

Week 3 (April 20th): How can poor people use disruptive action to
defend themselves and win victories? How are effective campaigns and
actions organized?

Week 4 (April 27th): Histories of anti-poverty resistance in Toronto.
Presentations by course participants. What have we learned and how
are we going to take that knowledge into our communities?

This course is for people who want to fight back. Those who
participate will be presented with ideas and methods that OCAP has
developed over more than twenty years of organizing in poor
communities. We can offer knowledge and skills that they don't teach
in schools and you won't get from the newspapers. We intend the
sessions to be lively, engaging and informative. The opinions and
proposals of those who attend will be vital to the success. If you are
interested in being part of this course, contact OCAP as soon as
possible. We want to stress that all who agree to participate should
make a serious commitment to attending all four sessions. Please
don't reserve a spot, unless you can make that commitment. Space is
limited to allow for maximum engagement with participants.

How to apply:

**Please email or call us with the following information AS SOON AS POSSIBLE:
Name:
Email and/or phone contact:
What do you hope to get out of the course?
What area of Toronto will you be coming from?
Do you need childcare?
Do you have an accessibility concerns?
Send to: the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty at: ocap@tao.ca / 416-925-6939

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*Gathering outside the main doors at 9 AM with Coffee and snacks

*See below on how to sign-up to speak

On Monday, March 18th we will be going back to City Hall to the
Community Development and Recreation Committee. First on the agenda
that day is the item ‘Update on Emergency Shelter Services’. We are
calling for everyone to join us on this day – pack the room, sign up
for deputations, demand from the City that they open up space and deal
with the crisis on the streets!

For the past few months, OCAP and allies have been raising the alarms
around a series of homeless deaths and consistent overcrowding in the
shelters. We have occupied space in front of Ford’s office and then
again at Metro Hall to demand that additional shelter space be opened
up. The response of Ford and his supporters has been to attack those
speaking out, to blatantly make up numbers, and to dismiss deaths on
the streets as ‘personal choice’.

By the City’s own admission, shelters are operating at 96% capacity.
On top of this, the daily experiences of homeless people, advocates
and front line workers lead to the inescapable conclusion that this
City's shelter system is overloaded and in crisis. When spaces are
over 90% capacity the overcrowding creates tension, conditions worsen
and for many are intolerable. This small 3 – 4% margin of availability
does not account for beds for women, co-eds, families, or for people
who are unable for reasons of safety to go to certain spaces. In the
Shelter Support and Housing Administration’s own report, they admit to
occupancy bed-checks being done at 4am –long after people have tried
to seek out a space.

Fittingly, the second item on the agenda of the March 18th Committee
meeting is ‘Review of the Centralized Waiting List for Social
Housing’. The waiting list for Housing in Toronto has approximately 90
000 households on it and is an abysmal 10 years long. This on top of
skyrocketing private rents, the lack of sufficient income for those on
welfare or disability, Provincial cuts to programs like Community
Start-Up, and cuts to shelter beds and supports over the years, have
created this crisis that we face right now.

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Calling all allies: it appears the City intends to close down Metro Hall by 9:30pm tonight. We have stated that we refuse to leave - Metro Hall can and must be opened as emergency shelter space and the City must reverse the cuts to shelter beds (over 400 since 2006) and deal with this crisis. Please come down and show your support, join us at Metro Hall! Ford says this action taken today is a 'cheap publicity stunt' and that there is no crisis. The numbers of homeless people who have died tells a different story.

Let's pack Metro Hall and show this City what solidarity and resistance truly looks like. No more homeless deaths!

Where: 55 John St (King and John) *At this point people are still able to come and go through the main entrance

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JOIN and SUPPORT: Join us at Metro Hall, bring donations of sleeping bags, mats, and food if you can.

Follow us on Twitter: @OCAPtoronto #TakeShelter

Contact City officials and tell them that emergency shelter space is needed NOW:

Deputy City Manager, Brenda Patterson: 416- 338-7205
Acting Director of Shelter, Support and Housing Administration,
Phillip Abrahams 416-392-7885
Mayor Rob Ford: 416-397-FORD (3673)

WHY WE ARE HERE

• 8 homeless people have died since the beginning of 2013 and 34 people died in 2012. Some of these people froze on the streets, some of them died from health conditions caused by being homeless.

• Shelters are operating at 96% capacity. Overcrowding leads to appalling and often unsafe conditions inside shelters forcing many people on to the streets. In 1999, the City opened up Metro Hall as emergency shelter space after a decision that shelters should not be over 90% occupancy rate. We call on that policy, which has never been reversed, to be used today.

• Over 300 shelter beds have been lost since 2006, and overall cuts to spending on shelters, affordable housing, and supports. This year the City cut shelter funding by 2.9% which will result in an additional 100 beds (and related meals/programming) being lost.

• The Province recently cut the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit - a vital resource for people on social assistance to get housing (first and last month’s rent, etc). The City is now running a program called ‘Housing Stabilization Fund’ which is supposed to offer the same supports, however tight restrictions are making it harder for people to get the money they need to get housing.

• Shelters should not be a permanent solution – what we really need is affordable and accessible housing! But all three levels of government have refused to build housing. As a result, the wait-list for social housing in Toronto is an appalling 10 years long. The reality is that shelters are needed, and housing needs to be built. No one should be without a safe roof over their head.

We have taken this issue to all levels of the City through letters, meetings, rallies, and an occupation outside of Rob Ford’s office. As a result an emergency resolution was brought to City Council to open discussion – but that motion failed after Ford and his allies shot it down. City officials try to say publicly that there isn’t a problem – but we know there is a crisis and people on the streets are dying. We are left with no choice but to act and open shelter ourselves.
WE DEMAND:

• That the City of Toronto run an emergency shelter at Metro Hall
• Reverse the Cuts to shelters and housing supports – restore the 400 beds
• Improve conditions in shelters and improve supports like harm reduction services
• Build affordable and accessible housing
• Make the Housing Stabilization Fund easier for people to access
• Demand from the Province: Restore Community Start-Up and Raise OW/ODSP Rates!

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