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Action Campaign Against Home Depot |
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3. SAMPLE FLYER FOR YOUR INFORMATION PICKET AT A HOME DEPOT STORE NEAR YOU << side one >> Home Depot didn’t cause
homelessness, On September 24, 2002, Home Depot
ordered a small army of private security guards, backed by a small army of
police officers, to forcibly remove about 125 homeless people from some
unused property they own in Toronto, Canada. The people lived peacefully
in a community they called Tent City for several years in 55 dwellings,
most of which were built by the residents. Home Depot – which boasts
“a record $5.2 billion in cash on the balance sheet” didn’t give
them any warning, they didn’t offer any help in relocating and they even
tried to stop residents from collecting medicine, identification or other
personal belongings. An apology is not enough. Home
Depot should pay for the error of its ways. The Toronto Disaster Relief
Committee is calling on Home Depot to: 1. Treat Tent City residents with respect. Give them access to their dwellings. Protect their property and their homes. Help them move or store portable structures. Help residents salvage the homes that cannot be moved. 2. Acknowledge the error of their ways. Home Depot should make amends by offering $50,000 per unit in capital funding for construction of 55 units of new social housing – the same number of units that were on the Tent City site – for a total bill of $2.75 million. 3.
Adopt the One-Percent Solution. A growing number of groups,
including socially responsible corporations, are calling on the Canadian
government to restore housing programs that were slashed in the 1980s and
cancelled in the 1990s. Home Depot should be an active partner in the One
Percent Solution, the campaign for a fully-funded national housing
program. << side two >> Tired of big corporations that push around poor people? Here’s what you can do. . . Tell Home Depot that, as a
customer, you expect them to be a good corporate citizen. And that means
treating homeless people fairly. You can make a difference – if
you raise your voice! When you shop in a local store,
tell the clerk, the store manager or other employees about your concern
regarding the company’s actions in Toronto. And ask the employee to pass
those concerns along to the Canadian head office in Toronto. Send a letter directly to Annette
Verschuren, President, Home Depot Canada, 426 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough,
Ontario, Canada, M1R 4E7. The telephone number is 416-609-0852 and follow
the prompts to get to her office. Or send a fax to 416-412-4215. For more information about the
Homeless Depot campaign, you can log onto the Toronto Disaster Relief
Committee Web site at www.tdrc.net.
Call us at 416-599-8372. Send an e-mail to tdrc@tdrc.net.
Or write to Toronto Disaster
Relief Committee, 6 Trinity Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1B1. Send
us copies of any letters that you sent to Home Depot. And make sure to
send us copies of any replies that you receive. Or contact << add local contact information here >> |