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November 22, 2004
The Great Sleep-Out: Hundreds gather on day
one, with sleep-out at Nathan Phillips Square
Day two: action moves to Queen’s Park with
rally at noon and then second sleep-out
Hundreds of people
gathered for a community meal and rally at the Church of the Holy Trinity
on day one of the Great Sleep-Out on November 21. Then about 50 people
spent the night at Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto City Hall. The event
is part of National Housing Day 2004, sponsored in Toronto by the Toronto
Disaster Relief Committee.
The action shifts to Queen’s Park on day two (Monday, November 22) with a
rally at noon and then a second night of the Great Sleep-Out on the south
lawn of the Ontario Legislature.
“What value do we put on the lives of homeless people?” asks Bishop
Colin Johnson, Anglican Bishop of Toronto, one of several prominent
people speaking at a rally at noon on Monday, Nov. 22 at Queen’s Park. “A
memorial at the Church of the Holy Trinity names over 300 men and women
who have died on Toronto's streets. More victims are constantly added.
That's why we're urging the provincial government to act now. The lives of
real people are at stake.”
“As a citizen of Canada, I find it completely unacceptable that my
country, my Province and my city appears unwilling to eliminate
homelessness, but willing, even eager, to participate in a
Continental Missile Defense, when caring for each other is the only viable
defense," says Dr. Ursula Franklin, professor emeritus at the
University of Toronto and another of the speakers.
National Housing Day is held annually on November 22 to mark the day in
1998 when the Big City Mayors’ Caucus of the Federation of Canadian
Municipalities adopted the Disaster Declaration of the Toronto Disaster
Relief Committee and called on senior levels of government to adopt a new
national housing strategy. Other actions will be held in Halifax, Gatineau,
Ottawa and Edmonton. Since 2001, the federal and Ontario governments have
promised more than $730 million for new affordable housing in this
province, but very little of that money has actually been spent, and
almost no new units have been funded in Toronto.
For more information, contact TDRC
at tdrc@tdrc.net
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