June 23
OCAP DEMANDS CITY RESTORE SHELTER BEDS - SHUTS DOWN CITY COUNCIL

Today we went to City Hall to demand that Mayor David Miller immediately
restore shelter beds in the downtown east side. We've lost over 350
shelter beds in the downtown core, and tens of thousands of meals over the
past year, and the City has done nothing.

"They closed University Settlement for renovations today, so where am I
supposed to sleep now?" asks Chris. "I'm sleeping in parks, under bridges.
They got empty rooms here in City Hall tho, maybe we should stay here?"

On our way in to City Hall, security and 52 division cops arrested Gaetan
Heroux— in a pathetic attempt to quash the protest, but we continued in
to Miller's office demanding to speak to the Mayor [Gaetan was released
from 52 division two hours later]. Instead we got the dregs of Miller's
PR department, someone with zero decision-making (or even scheduling)
authority, nor anything interesting to say, so we went to Council Chambers
to confront Miller and Council directly.

"Last February when a man died on the streets, you told us you would
address this crisis," Danielle Koyama told the remaining sheepish city
councillors. "You patted yourselves on the back for replacing 60 of the
350 shelter beds lost. Well now we've lost another 65, so thanks for
nothing!"
By the time we got there, Miller had already left council. We can only
assume he is too afraid to see the consequences of his shameful policies.
However, we stayed and told City Council what is actually going on in our
city and demanding more food, shelter and less harassment. Within a few
minutes, they called council into recess and cleared the room.

Today's action was the culmination of a weekend of protest at Allan
Gardens, taken over this past weekend by OCAP and allies, despite the
city's attempts to clear us out. Over the weekend 4 meals were served to
hundreds of people from the streets, Allan Gardens was taken over and
successfully held, and the city was called on their complete failure to
address the homeless crisis in this city. OCAP will continue to bring
this fight to the city until shelter beds get replaced, the police stop
ticketing and harassing people on the streets, and decent, affordable,
accessible social housing is expanded to meet demand!

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June 22
Come tell Miller to stop the attack on poor people:
we demand more shelter beds and meals and a stop to police harassment.

Tomorrow:
Nathan Phillips Square
(Queen and Bay)
9:30 am
Monday, June 23

Today:
Barbecue at Allan Gardens
(Gerrard and Sherbourne)
Noon

Monday morning, join us as at City Hall to tell Miller to stop his attack
on poor and homeless people.

We held Allen Gardens last night despite a police attack and rain.
Shortly before midnight a group of police officers moved in on the protest
and violently removed a large tarp-which was protecting people from heavy
rain. The police used knives to cut down the tarp while there were people
under it. Once it was down, several police slashed the tarp up so it
could not be used to keep people dry. In doing so, one officer cut
himself badly. By the end of the day, two homeless men had been arrested
and one has a bail hearing today.

"Miller has attacked people by closing down over 350 shelter beds,
canceling tens of thousands of meals, and increasing the number of tickets
laid against people on the streets under the Safe Streets Act by 288%. If
Miller won't give us what we need, we will keep fighting until we get it,"
says Danielle Koyama of OCAP.

"We need housing for people - too many shelters are getting closed down.
There is not enough housing and nothing has changed yet," says Karl
Schmidt, a homeless man who as been on and off the streets for years.
"The city has to do something - the shelters are over crowded... A
bachelor apt costs $500 to $600. How are we supposed to get by?"

We will also be having a barbecue in the park today at noon.

**
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
10 Britain St. Toronto, ON M5A 1R6
416-925-6939 ocap@tao.ca www.ocap.ca
**

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June 21

COME OUT TO ALLEN GARDENS TO SUPPORT!

Sat June 21, 2008
Earlier today, a 30-minute stand-off with police in Allen Gardens took
place, before cops on horseback moved in to remove a TARP erected to
provide us with shelter from the rain.

City officials are on site in the park, calling the shots about how poor
people & their supporters should be treated- in their opinion, apparently,
with force & disrespect.

We are here with simple demands: stop police harassment, provide food and
shelter for poor people now. And the city has given their response.

At 11:58 tonight, the city has ordered the police to move in and forcibly
remove us.

If you care about the poor and the homeless in Toronto, come out to show
your support...

Come now:
Allen Gardens
(Jarvis & Gerrard)

HANDS OFF POOR PEOPLE NOW!