TDRC Media Releases
Media Release
May 6, 2003 For Immediate Release
Through
homeless people’s eyes – the truth about Toronto’s shelter system:
The Shelter Inspection Report
An Inspection Team was assembled to hear
evidence of homeless people and people who work in the shelter system to
examine the state of Toronto’s shelter system. They are now releasing a
report of their findings and recommendations to politicians,
policy-makers, medical people, agencies and homeless people who gave
evidence.
Their report contrasts the shelter system’s own guidelines with what the investigators heard. It is peppered with quotes from homeless people.
Rick Wallace, a former United Nations humanitarian aid worker and member of the Inspection Team, summed up what he found with the following statement: “I have worked in dozens of refugee camps, responsible for thousands of people. Some of the conditions in Toronto’s shelters are worse than in refugee camps in Rwanda, in terms of space, sanitation, and preventative health care practices.”
Recommendations from the report will be taken to appropriate political bodies for remedy.
For more information, contact TDRC at tdrc@tdrc.net
-30-