Encampments

See also: Encampments Correspondence

Jan.2, 2025

At Dufferin Grove park there are, at the moment, 42 tents put up in various spots in the park by people who can't afford rent. Some are double-walled tents, and most campers have been able to obtain extra-warm sleeping bags. Some of the campers have jobs and come and sleep here, rent-free. Some came to the city on a plane but without a workable plan, maybe even without papers. Some seem to be in an altered state. Drinkers still outnumber fentanyl users slightly.

There seems to be enough food available. Sources range from twice a week visits from a Ve'ahavta truck, to pop-up groups, to food brought over by neighbours (beef stew and sandwiches yesterday), to food banks, to the food court at the mall.

Clothes are fairly easy to get. Daily concerns revolve around food stations and showers and clean clothes and sleeping and getting correct documentation and manoeuvring locked doors (although, unlike prisons, this is about doors for keeping people out, instead of locking them in). And of course where to get beer or some other substance that feels right. And how to help each other out.

There's companionship, and sometimes arguments, around the campfire at the south fire site

Rain is tougher than cold and snow. The new building in the park was renovated for millions of $, and it has a big industrial kitchen, still not much used. The kitchen is not available for use by the campers, although occasionally, evening rink staff have let one or two people cook their food there. A microwave has recently been installed on a table out in the main change room, available for public use.

A roster of four security guards are on shift duty around the clock. Two guards work for a traditional security company called Gardaworld. Their website says they have 35,000 security staff across Canada. The other two shifts belong to a newer agency that's called OneCommunitySolutions. Their motto: "Where compassion meets safety." They carry naloxone kits with them. Part of their job is to talk to neighbours as well as campers. The guards walk up and down the park paths and they can warm up inside the building after hours and use the washrooms, i.e. during their night shifts. But none of the campers are allowed in the building at night, no matter how cold it is.

On January 8 at 6.30 pm City Councillor Bravo is holding a neighbourhood meeting about the situation. It's at New Horizons Tower, 1140 BLoor ST. West (NW corner of Bloor and Dufferin).

If Mr.Trump carries out his intention of evicting 12 million undocumented immigrants, Canada is nearby and the number of tents in parks will rise. But the issues fan out a lot further.

Neighbourhood non-profit housing

There's been quite a bit of correspondence on Erella Gagnon's dufferingrovefriends list calling for housing to be made available to the people in the tents. At the same time, attempts by local nonprofits to enlarge the spaces in existing neighbourhood non-profit housing have run into opposition. Most recently, efforts by Madison Community Services to increase the number of apartments at 118 Havelock St. are still blocked.

A sample of newsletter excerpts about homeless people at Dufferin Grove in the past:

From 2002: Mimo, and also here and here and also here.

From 2003: Mystery man, as well as Jane Doe and here and here and here. (This story seemed to end well, but it turned out that the "mystery man" -- despite the persistence of the street workers -- froze both feet on his final visit to the park, and had to have a double amputation.)

From 2005: LOST SOULS AT THE PARK AND THE FEAR OF STRANGERS

From 2019: Toni

From May 2024: page 4

From August 2024: pages 3 and 4

A proposal: an idea for how to use the Dufferin Grove kitchen

Carolyn Oei, a PhD student from Singapore studying community development in Toronto (who's also a park friend), sent a link to a remarkable book by the writer Pat Capponi: Upstairs in the Crazy House: The Life of a Psychiatric Survivor, about her time living in a cheap rooming house in Parkdale in the 1980's. On page 54 - 55 of the book, Capponi recounts a conversation with a fellow roomer who was also a good cook:

"I do have an idea. You know how many of us go hungry after the cheques are gone? Some people can stand on the street corners, beg for change. I'd rather cut my throat than ask anyone for anything. It's a terrible thing, having to chose between your self-respect and starving. It wouldn't take a lot, all you would need is a small space, a few hundred to start. Not a fancy restaurant, but not a soup-kitchen, either. Could serve healthy sandwiches, keep a big pot of spaghetti or chili on the stove, some thick, homemade soup with leftover meat, potatoes, vegetables. Lots of coffee, too. You know how quick the money goes, but if people knew there was a place they could go as soon as they got it, put down five bucks and be able to get coffee or hot soup and sandwiches all month! Wouldn't you join up?"
Remembering my own hungry times, my own refusal to panhandle when the money ran out, I was quick to agree.
"People, regular people, we could charge full price," he continued. "Others who have nothing could peel potatoes, wash windows, straighten up, anything so they don't feel it's charity. Begging, charity, can destroy a man faster than anything else."
"It's a damn good idea," I said, already working on how we could bring it about.
"No chance though," he added, looking down at his empty hands. "I do have lots of ideas, but that's all they'll ever be."

At this moment, parks and rec management say that the kitchen can only be rented out by the hour, for private permits, or be used to run paid cooking classes. But what if -- instead -- it could be used as a radical inclusive economic development opportunity, for a camper group to run a snack bar similar to what used to run before? The menu suggested here is very similar to the former snack bar....

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