TDRC Media Releases
June 19, 2002
For Immediate Release
What
has been the Response to the Release of the Homeless Secret Video?
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The sign says it all. This is a graphic of an actual photograph of the door of a shelter taken June 13th (last week) one day before it closed for renovations and 80 more people were denied shelter. Press Conference: Thursday June 20, 9:30am |
Community leaders and homeless people will be speaking out as 80 more homeless people are driven into the streets, alleys, ravines and Tent City.
On May 21, the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) released a secret video which showed the deplorable conditions in one of Toronto’s shelters. It became a front page story in the Toronto Star and was reported on in all local and national media. One woman began to cry after viewing the video while being interviewed by CityTV. “It is fair to say that our country was shocked and appalled,” says Cathy Crowe of the TDRC.
What was the result? Mayor Lastman, Premier Eves, and Community, Family and Children’s Services Minister Elliot, were questioned and all admitted that things like this shouldn’t be happening in Toronto. City Council called on the Federal government to open the armouries to shelter homeless people.
Did shelters open? No, but another shelter closed on June 14th, driving another 80 people into the streets just in time for the weekend rain.
Erdine Hope from the Toronto Friendship Centre (TFC), one of the city’s largest day shelters has had to pick up some of the pieces. She says, “when they (homeless people denied shelter) come to the TFC in the early morning, they are angry and it is often difficult to manage. We can’t keep up with the medical, physical and shelter needs. An overnight facility has to be opened.” Fellow TFC worker LaTania Wilson summarizes “why are the most vulnerable being denied?”
The press conference attendants will join with TDRC when they deliver a letter to Mel Lastman’s office.
For more information, contact TDRC at tdrc@tdrc.net
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