[Sundaycommunity] FW: 43 street nurses are gone due to Ford government funding cuts

Wed Apr 20 20:46:55 PDT 2022

Bless you, Patricia, for articulating your appreciation for the open
-heartedness of your daughter and spouse.  There is a spreading outward of
your and their love. Alleluia!  Rosemary


On Wed., Apr. 20, 2022, 1:46 p.m. Patricia Smiley, <
smileypatricia76 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you David for sharing this excellent article.  It isn't just OW
> recipients who are in trouble - so are ODSP recipients.  And this extends
> beyond problems in Toronto.  The same is happening in other cities.
> Fortunately, Hamilton didn't witness the brutality of the closing of the
> tent encampments but it did happen.  As indicated by the article, this has
> a long history and the situation won't easily or quickly be resolved.
>
> At the current time, I can only be grateful for the loving generosity of
> Rachel, my daughter and her partner Leo for providing me with a nice home.
>
>
> *Patricia Smiley*
>
> *email:  smileypatricia76 at gmail.com <smileypatricia76 at gmail.com>*
>
> *mobile:  647-517-1599*
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 10:38 PM Dave Snelgrove via Sundaycommunity <
> sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>
>> Thank you for airing this.  The same exposure of the reality of
>> homelessness has to hit us over and over again, until tf becomes clear to
>> elected officials at each level of government that this IS NOT GOING TO
>> CONTINUE TO BE AN INVISIBLE ISSUE.  It's right out there, outside our
>> doors.  Covid has made it worse, by reducing the possibility of community
>> groups, like the Out of the Colds around the City being able to alleviate,
>> however modestly, the pain for a few hundreds. This can't stay ignored,
>> invisible to comfortable middle-class neighbourhoods, some kind of
>> taken-for-granted reality in Toronto.  It isn't going away.  If Easter
>> means anything, it has to include opening our collective eyes and minds to
>> the need for fresh energy and raising of collective shame.  We must act.
>> Rosemary,
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 9:40 PM Greg Gillis via Sundaycommunity <
>> sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks David, it is good some of the media are drawing attention to
>>> these issues.  Last year's display of police brutality against Toronto's
>>> homeless was a disgrace to the city and the country.  Hopefully, some
>>> change is in the air come election time.
>>>
>>> Greg
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 9:01 PM David Walsh via Sundaycommunity <
>>> sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>>> It is difficult to believe this is happening in our city.
>>>>
>>>> NOW - Op-ed: 43 street nurses are gone due to Ford government funding
>>>> cuts
>>>> Spadina-Fort York MPP Chris Glover says the firing of street nurses in
>>>> Toronto exacerbates the homelessness crisis
>>>> Apr 18, 2022
>>>> *Op-ed: 43 street nurses are gone due to Ford government funding cuts
>>>> (nowtoronto.com)*
>>>> <https://nowtoronto.com/news/op-ed-43-street-nurses-are-gone-due-to-ford-government-funding-cuts?utm_source=nowtoronto.com&utm_campaign=358c3a9704-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_04_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bfaa0e1d4c-358c3a9704-81138686>
>>>> It’s incredible to think about how callous our society has become. We
>>>> have a *homelessness crisis*
>>>> <https://nowtoronto.com/topics/homelessness> compounded by an opioid
>>>> epidemic and people dying on the streets every day. The City of Toronto is
>>>> often criticized for its handling of this crisis, but the real blame lies
>>>> with the provincial and federal governments.
>>>> The roots of today’s crisis date back decades. In the early 90s, the
>>>> federal and provincial governments were building 10,000-15,000 affordable
>>>> housing units per year – mixed income co-ops, public housing and supportive
>>>> housing for people with mental health and addiction issues. In the mid-90s,
>>>> the federal Liberals cancelled the federal housing program. The Ontario
>>>> government then downloaded it onto the city. Since then, almost no
>>>> affordable or supportive housing has been built.
>>>> The reason so many people with mental health challenges and
>>>> intellectual disabilities are homeless dates back to the early 80s, when
>>>> federal and provincial governments began closing large residential mental
>>>> health institutions like the Queen Street Mental Health Centre and
>>>> transitioning people into group homes in the community. Then the
>>>> governments stopped building group homes.
>>>> If failing to provide housing for the most vulnerable wasn’t enough,
>>>> Premier Mike Harris cut Ontario Works (welfare) rates by 21.6 per cent in
>>>> 1997, arguing that people could survive on a “welfare diet” of pasta
>>>> without sauce and dented cans of tuna. Successive Conservative and Liberal
>>>> governments since then have let inflation reduce it further. If you’re
>>>> wondering why we have a homelessness crisis, the Ontario Works rate of $733
>>>> per month is not even enough to rent a room.
>>>> Greed compounded the growing homelessness crisis. In the 90s,
>>>> pharmaceutical companies like Purdue began aggressively marketing opioids
>>>> for pain relief, downplaying the addictive nature of the drugs and creating
>>>> the opioid epidemic that killed more than 5,000 Canadians in 2021.
>>>> It’s incredible to think about how callous our society has become. We
>>>> have a *homelessness crisis*
>>>> <https://nowtoronto.com/topics/homelessness> compounded by an opioid
>>>> epidemic and people dying on the streets every day. The City of Toronto is
>>>> often criticized for its handling of this crisis, but the real blame lies
>>>> with the provincial and federal governments.
>>>> The roots of today’s crisis date back decades. In the early 90s, the
>>>> federal and provincial governments were building 10,000-15,000 affordable
>>>> housing units per year – mixed income co-ops, public housing and supportive
>>>> housing for people with mental health and addiction issues. In the mid-90s,
>>>> the federal Liberals cancelled the federal housing program. The Ontario
>>>> government then downloaded it onto the city. Since then, almost no
>>>> affordable or supportive housing has been built.
>>>> The reason so many people with mental health challenges and
>>>> intellectual disabilities are homeless dates back to the early 80s, when
>>>> federal and provincial governments began closing large residential mental
>>>> health institutions like the Queen Street Mental Health Centre and
>>>> transitioning people into group homes in the community. Then the
>>>> governments stopped building group homes.
>>>> If failing to provide housing for the most vulnerable wasn’t enough,
>>>> Premier Mike Harris cut Ontario Works (welfare) rates by 21.6 per cent in
>>>> 1997, arguing that people could survive on a “welfare diet” of pasta
>>>> without sauce and dented cans of tuna. Successive Conservative and Liberal
>>>> governments since then have let inflation reduce it further. If you’re
>>>> wondering why we have a homelessness crisis, the Ontario Works rate of $733
>>>> per month is not even enough to rent a room.
>>>> Greed compounded the growing homelessness crisis. In the 90s,
>>>> pharmaceutical companies like Purdue began aggressively marketing opioids
>>>> for pain relief, downplaying the addictive nature of the drugs and creating
>>>> the opioid epidemic that killed more than 5,000 Canadians in 2021.
>>>> Since then, federal and provincial governments have consistently
>>>> refused to make the investments to bring an end to homelessness, to provide
>>>> supportive housing for people with intellectual disabilities and mental
>>>> health challenges and to provide the treatment necessary for people to
>>>> overcome addictions.
>>>> As an MPP, I often receive complaints from residents and business
>>>> owners about the homelessness crisis. And they are absolutely right. We
>>>> have people living in crisis and too often dying in our streets.
>>>> Communities and businesses are left to deal with the impacts.
>>>> But community members and businesses alone cannot fix the crisis
>>>> created by provincial and federal governments. Only the federal and
>>>> provincial governments can solve it. And right now, the Ford government is
>>>> firing 43 street nurses.
>>>> *Chris Glover is an NDP MPP representing Spadina-Fort York in the
>>>> Ontario legistalture.*
>>>>
>>>> *John Tory’s failure of leadership on homelessness is a shame*
>>>> It's becoming harder to explain away the mayor's inaction when his
>>>> allies on council are being dispatched to provide cover and do his dirty
>>>> work
>>>> *John Tory’s failure of leadership on homelessness is a shame - NOW
>>>> Magazine (nowtoronto.com)*
>>>> <https://nowtoronto.com/news/john-torys-failure-of-leadership-on-homelessness-is-a-shame>
>>>> *BY ENZO DIMATTEO*
>>>> *Oct 8, 2021*
>>>>
>>>>
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