<div dir="auto">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<div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><br></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed., Apr. 20, 2022, 1:46 p.m. Patricia Smiley, <<a href="mailto:smileypatricia76@gmail.com">smileypatricia76@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>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. <br></div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><i>Patricia Smiley<br></i></div><div><i>email: <a href="mailto:smileypatricia76@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">smileypatricia76@gmail.com</a><br></i></div><i>mobile: 647-517-1599<br></i></div><i> <br></i></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 10:38 PM Dave Snelgrove via Sundaycommunity <<a href="mailto:sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">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, </div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 9:40 PM Greg Gillis via Sundaycommunity <<a href="mailto:sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">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.<div><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2">Greg</font></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 9:01 PM David Walsh via Sundaycommunity <<a href="mailto:sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<font size="3" face="Century Schoolbook"><span style="font-size:12pt">
<div>It is difficult to believe this is happening in our city.</div>
<div> </div>
<div style="margin-bottom:3.75pt"><font face="Arial">NOW - Op-ed: 43 street nurses are gone due to Ford government funding cuts</font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><font face="Arial">Spadina-Fort York MPP Chris Glover says the firing of street nurses in Toronto exacerbates the homelessness crisis</font></div>
<div style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-bottom:2.25pt"><font size="3" face="Arial" color="#666666"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Apr 18, 2022</span></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11pt"><a href="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" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><font size="3" color="#0563C1"><span style="font-size:12pt"><b><u>Op-ed:
43 street nurses are gone due to Ford government funding cuts (nowtoronto.com)</u></b></span></font></a><br>
</span></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">It’s incredible to think about how callous our society has become. We have a <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/topics/homelessness" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><font color="#CE2D27"><u>homelessness crisis</u></font></a> 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.<br>
</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">It’s incredible to think about how callous our society has become. We have a <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/topics/homelessness" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><font color="#CE2D27"><u>homelessness crisis</u></font></a> 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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:11.25pt"><font size="2" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:11pt">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.</span></font></div>
<div><font size="3" face="inherit"><span style="font-size:13pt"><b><i>Chris Glover is an NDP MPP representing Spadina-Fort York in the Ontario legistalture.</i></b></span></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:3.75pt"><font size="4" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:14pt"><b>John Tory’s failure of leadership on homelessness is a shame</b></span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><font face="Arial">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</font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><font size="2" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11pt"><a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/john-torys-failure-of-leadership-on-homelessness-is-a-shame" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><font color="#0563C1"><u>John Tory’s failure of leadership on homelessness
is a shame - NOW Magazine (nowtoronto.com)</u></font></a></span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:3.75pt;padding-right:7.5pt"><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#666666"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="text-transform:uppercase"><b><i>BY ENZO DIMATTEO</i></b></span></span></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom:3.75pt"><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#666666"><span style="font-size:10pt"><b>Oct 8, 2021</b></span></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></font></div>
</span></font>
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