Opinion Piece: Toronto City Government’s Handling of Homeless Encampments is Symbolic in the Worst Way Possible

Daiem believes the City of Toronto needs to step its game up when it comes to dealing with its housing crisis.

Over the last few years, many homeless and unhoused people have been sleeping in tents and setting up large encampments in public parks around the city. An extremely large one at Trinity-Bellwoods Park, Lamport Stadium, Moss Park, Allan Gardens, and so many more.

Earlier in the year, the city issued multiple eviction notices to these people citing that they were trespassing and making the park unsafe.

A number of weeks ago, the city acted on their eviction notices and sent large numbers of police officers to evict the people staying at the encampment, forcefully if necessary. After a bit of a standoff with protestors, law enforcement put action to their words and began forcefully clearing the encampment. In the process, many protesters were maced, hit with batons, choked, and arrested.

It’s a disgusting use of authority, and the city’s refusal to acknowledge that is horrible. The city is claiming to provide options to the people being evicted, offering space in shelters. This sounds promising until you learn that many homeless people feel far safer in an encampment than in shelters. This city has been also offering rapid housing, but the fact is, it’s not a long-term, systemic change. A bandaid on a gunshot.

Despite this, Toronto Mayor John Tory has stood by his actions, calling it a “compassionate, but firm” approach, and even going as far as to claim that protesters have been “obstructing” and “harassing” city staff. The city has been claiming that the parks need to be open for “everyone” but apparently “everyone doesn’t include unhoused people.

A big talking point coming out of these events is that of “housing as a human right”. In my interviews and conversations, the term “hard-working people” comes up a lot (even though many homeless people do have jobs and still can’t afford housing). The terms contradict each other. It becomes an issue of labor, as Canadians, are our human rights only given to us, so long as we’re “hard-working”? Where is the value in human life, or are we only judged based on what we provide?

It’s a fundamental question that I believe shapes our culture’s core identity: do we really believe someone deserves a place to stay, just by being a person? Or is the preservation of wealth inequality under capitalist rule the most valuable thing? If housing really is a human right, in the same vein as education, shouldn’t it be provided in a way catered to them?

In Canada, education is made available and mandatory for all young people, and the system exists (ideally) to cater to their needs. Regardless of their social or economic position. It says a lot, then, that when unhoused people ask for the same decency, they are met with police presence. With force, not a show of compassion or understanding, but a display of power, and from it, we’ve learned the true priorities of the city. What matters to them, and who doesn’t.

Written by
Daiem Mohammad

Journalist
FOCUS Media Arts Centre