Posted on 11/23/2023 5:22:37 PM PST by Squawk 8888
The minister of a church in Kensington Market says she’s “heartbroken” and “extremely anxious” for those staying at an encampment there after receiving word that the city intends to evict its residents and clear the site on Friday morning.
Rev. Canon Maggie Helwig of St. Stephen-In-The-Field Anglican Church on Bellevue Avenue told CP24 that the City of Toronto’s Encampment Office informed them on Wednesday night that it plans to remove the makeshift camp, which is located on a small plot of private and city-owned land just west of the church, sometime between 7 and 9 a.m. on Friday.
“We have been told by other sources as well that there is the intention to fully fence off the site to prevent any further occupation,” said Helwig, who noted that this news was communicated by phone, as the city typically does, despite their previous requests for written notification.
(Excerpt) Read more at cp24.com ...
Is China’s leader visiting or something...
Missing from the story is any indication that the Rev. Canon Maggie Helwig of St. Stephen-In-The-Field Anglican Church did anything to help those people. Why didn’t she go out there and help them clean up that incredible pigsty and serious health hazard? Why didn’t she muster her congregation to go help those people?
Nope, she apparently did not lift a finger to help them. I may be wrong, but you’d think the article would point out all the heroic efforts they made to help those people.
I bet those pews in her church are empty every night. And there’s no doubt that there’s a kitchen there, too.
If that photo was taken in Toronto it was photoshopped. I’ve visited the encampment in question; no more than a dozen people on church property and the passersby don’t even notice. The city only cracks down on encampments if they cause fire, health or safety hazards.
There’s definitely a kitchen ;-)
When I attended a church in downtown Toronto back some 30 years ago I helped organize along with a number of other churches a program called Out of the Cold for the homeless. The church gave them a dinner and they could sleep in cots and sleeping bags in the dining area afterwards. It was one night a week and volunteers supervised throughout the night. Each church covered one night a week. IIRC it filled up and a couple of hundred were looked after each night. I don’t know the status of the program now. Obviously this church wasn’t participating.
first one that came up...
Out of the Cold is still going strong here. Some do breakfast in the morning followed by a drop-in for the rest of the day.
Their participation is keeping the campers safe. Since COVID many are so afraid of the crowding in the shelters to the point where they feel safer camped outdoors year-round.
Yes....things have changed from 30 years ago I guess.
That looks like Spadina & College (north end of Chinatown) in the background while the encampment in the foreground is a few blocks to the west (~5 minutes walking). I speak from direct experience that no encampment in Toronto was *EVER* anywhere near that bad. Ergo, it was photoshopped.
Even here in Toronto. Been here all my life through thick and thin.
It could become a tradition - “The Hosing of the Homeless”
Yeah looks kinda small compared to Seattle/Portland style “encampments”:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/SiL9sYZyrgPQvQiL8
But looking around Google street view for Toronto in general they are in serious need of a graffiti abatement squad!!
not disputing you, like i said it was just the first one i came across
Most of the “graffiti” here stays with the consent of the property owners. Much of it actually deters the vandals because it’s a form of street art that offends nobody here. Graffiti that is threating, gang related or racist is usually erased within 12 hours and investigated by the police.
If it was Street View it was probably taken at the height of the COVID lockdown which was also the height of our encampment crisis. We were still learning how do deal with it.
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