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Homelessness Issues |
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Save free-access computers centres!
Homeless and other poor people don;'t have the internet access that most Canadians take for granted. In Ottawa, the federal Community Access Program funds the Millenium Learning Centres that offer free Internet access, as well as computer use for resumes, etc. CAP is ending this year - help save this critical program! (This site was created on a CAP comuter.. no CAP = no SHORT site!.)
Download a sample email or petition! |
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Canada: Dealing with 21st century social problems with versions of 19th century "poor" laws.
Doghouse, poorhouse:
whats' the difference? |
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Links to Important Laws: |
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New - Email the National Housing Minister! |
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Ontario's "Safe Streets Act" |
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Add your voice to the cry for affordable housing! Canada's National Ant-Poverty Organization (NAPO) has started a mail and email campaign, directed to the federal housing Minister. Please, sign on! |
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Technically, only "aggressive" begging is outlawed. However, this law is applied very indiscriminately, to remove from the streets whoever an individual policeman doesn't like. |
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Ontario's "Trespass to Property Act" |
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Changed about 15 years ago to allow agents of property owners (security guards) to arrest and detain people. Used to keep homeless people from shopping centres, as well as out of city parks and other "public" spaces. |
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Homeless Issues and Public Awareness
Much of this website's purpose has been to collect a wide variety of links that provide useful information to the homeless. Our site should be more than that, though.
There are many serious issues surrounding homelessness. Some of the most important involve how the law affects the homeless.
- The 'Safe Streets Act', a ridiculous and archaic law that attempts to impose fines on those who are so poor they ask for 'spare change'.
- The NCC By-laws that make it illegal to sleep on the grass in some of our beautiful federal public parks.
- A curious wrinkle to being homeless - where is it legal to drink alcohol?
In Ontario, liquor is sold by a government monopoly - and they'll happily serve homeless people. Yet, in Ontario, it's illegal to drink that alcohol anywhere but in your own home. But - you don't have a home! |
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National Capital Commission ByLaws |
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Unique to Ottawa, with its many federal parks and greenspaces, the NCC (which recently got its own police force, complete with guns, in addition to the RCMP) strictly enforces anti-camping laws on federal property. |
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Ottawa's Municipal By-Laws |
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"Freedom from Want: From Charity to Entitlement": Louie Arbour, former Justice of Canada's Supreme Court and now the UN High Commisioner for Human Rights, hits the nail on the head in this Lafontaine-Baldwin lecture from March 4, 2005. It's a very slow trip from our use of the "charity model" - where the poor only have a full belly due to the kindness of strangers - to making freedom from want to be a basic human right. |
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2004 Homelessness Report Card for Ottawa - One Percent of Ottawa's Population Was Homeless and Used the Shelter System During 2004
This report clearly demonstrates how shockingly widespread a problem Homelessness is becoming and why "The Shelter Trap" is a danger for more and more Canadians. |
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Poverty Matters: |
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Statistics of Poverty in Ottawa |
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Who's To Blame For Rising Homelessness? - CCPA - June 2004 |
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Province of B.C. Gets a Safe Streets Act:
Recently, British Columbia passed a private member's bill into law, giving BC its own version of the Safe Streets Act. This has raised the awareness of the issues of the Safe Streets Act, and increased the level of public debate. Here are some links to discussions of this important issue - the criminalization of poverty. |
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Ontario Housing Policies De-House 345,000 Ontarians - Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatices - March 2003 |
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Home Truths - Why The Housing System Matters To All Canadians - CCPA - September 2004 |
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The Criminilization of Poverty - an excellent article by a noted economist and former BC MLA. |
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A Social and Economic Study of the Safe Streets Act from the Online Journal of Justice Studies |
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Safe Streets: Laws for Us, Laws for Them - article from the Vancouver Sun, by the policy director of BCCLA |
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Back to our Main Page... |
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