By John Bonnar

A sombre memorial vigil marked by both song and silence commemorated three more homeless deaths in Toronto during the monthly vigil held Tuesday outside the Church of the Holy Trinity.

More than 30 people cupping candles that flickered in the cold morning air gathered in the courtyard of the Eaton Centre at noon, as they do on the second Tuesday of every month.

Homeless people, affordable housing advocates and others stood below the steps near a small wooden structure at the south entrance of the church that now contains over 600 names of men, women and children who have lived and died on the streets of Toronto as a direct result of homelessness since 1990.

The one hour event was sombre as long stretches of speeches were mixed with the crowd listening to poems and music.

Housing activist Tanya Gulliver said one of the names added was from a homeless death in 1996.

Toronto Homeless Memorial. ( Photo by HiMY SYeD, on Torontopedia.ca )

“I think this speaks to the importance of the memorial because this was a family member who came to the church and asked that her sibling be added to the memorial,” she said.

Every month for the last ten years, the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) has tracked and monitored homeless deaths in the City of Toronto and held a vigil at the Homeless Memorial in downtown Toronto.

TDRC is a group of social policy, health care and housing experts, academics, business people, community health workers, social workers, AIDS activists, anti-poverty activists, people with homelessness experience, and members of the faith community who provide advocacy on housing and homelessness issues.

In 1998, they declared homelessness a national disaster and demanded that Canada end homelessness by implementing a fully-funded National Housing Program.

In 2009, there were 29 names added to the Homeless Memorial.

“We know that these are only a fraction of the names of homeless people who have died,” said Gulliver. “I was in a shelter recently that said they have at least one death a month and I know we don’t have their names on here.”

Former United Church of Canada moderator Bruce McLeod, in referring to the homeless, said, “They are shadows cast on the sidewalk as we rush by, cell phones in our ears, human shadows beneath our golden towers, our endless stadiums, opera houses, theatres, shopping malls, our rent gouging rooming houses.”

We refer to the homeless in distant, abstract terms, said McLeod.

“There is no such thing as the homeless,” he said.

“There are only people without homes, people with names and dreams and memories.”

This story and photo originally appeared on Rabble.ca and is cross posted here with permission from John Bonnar.

By John Bonnar

Dozens of protesters holding signs demanding freedom for Iranian students and political prisoners marked National Students Day in Iran with a solidarity rally Saturday outside Hart House at the University of Toronto.

Every year on December 7, Tehran campuses mark the 1953 killing of three students by the armed forces, just months after a US-backed coup toppled popular prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq.

Campus gatherings have since been replaced with protests on officially sanctioned holidays to show opposition to the June 12 election results that gave a “tainted” victory to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran has banned foreign media from reporting on a student rally next week, fearing a new round of protests against June’s disputed presidential election.

“All permits issued for foreign media to cover news in Tehran have been revoked from December 7 to December 9,” the Culture Ministry’s foreign press department said on Saturday in an SMS text message sent to journalists, photographers and cameramen working for foreign media in Iran, reported Reuters.

“In the past few days, Internet connections in Tehran have been either very slow or completely down,” said Reuters. “An official at Iran’s telecommunications ministry told Reuters that Internet access and cellphone lines would be disabled on Monday.”

Reuters said, “When the June 12 presidential election returned hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power by a wide margin, his reformist opponents cried foul and thousands of Iranians took to the streets in the biggest anti-government demonstrations in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic.”

“Iran has plunged into one of its worst political crisis after the June 12 poll, which the opposition said was massively rigged to keep hardline Ahmadinejad in power,” said AFP. “At least 4,000 people were arrested for attending and instigating the protests including leading reformist figures and journalists, many of whom have been sentenced to several years in jail and some released on hefty bail.”

In Toronto, rally organizer Tayaz Fakhri told Rabble.ca that the protests have moved beyond the Iranian universities to include support rallies from students around the world.

“Freedom of speech and other human rights are being continuously invaded,” he said.

Niloofar Golkar read a statement at Saturday’s rally on behalf of all in attendance requesting the Iranian government to release all student and political prisoners.

“On November 4, when Iran marked the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy by radical students, thousands of protesters shouting “death to the dictator” clashed with security forces in central Tehran, who made more than 100 arrests,” said AFP. “Dozens of demonstrators were killed and thousands arrested in June when the regime cracked down on a wave of protests against the official election results giving Ahmadinejad victory.”

Many different groups including students, women and labourers are under pressure right now from the government in Iran to stop their movement for freedom of speech and human rights, said Golkar.

At their general national assembly in November, the 550,000 members of the Canadian Federation of Students officially endorsed Iranian students and their quest for human rights. The National Executive also sent letters to the Office of the Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Iranian ambassador to Canada urging the protection of students’ rights through “proper channels.”

Amnesty International Canada also called on the Iranian authorities to release all political prisoners and imprisoned activists and respect the human rights of all Iranian citizens.

“I think it’s very tough (for students) as it has been for the last thirty years, but this is definitely a boiling point,” said Nila Zameni. “People are really fed up. Before Ahmadinejad there was Hotami and people had a lot of hope for change, especially young people.”

Zameni was in Iran during and after the June elections.

“I didn’t really leave the house,” she said. “But you often saw truckloads of police officers going down the street. My sister-in-law saw people getting hit in the face with a baton and falling to the ground like a cartoon character.”

Zameni said she was amazed at how politically active the people were in the face of repression. “They’re risking their lives at gatherings and rallies,” she said. “They’re doing it in the millions, not thousands of students.”

But it’s about more than just freedom of speech and voting rights, said Zameni, adding that “it’s up to the people to decide what kind of democracy they want.”

This story originally appeared on Rabble.ca and is cross posted here with permission from John Bonnar.

Photo of Panhandler on Sparks Street in Ottawa courtesy of  Rick Carroll on Flickr.

By John Bonnar

People who have experienced homelessness or inadequate housing are the experts in what is needed in a housing strategy, according to a new report from the Housing Network of Ontario (HNO).

Those living in poverty should, said the HNO “be consulted on an inclusive basis throughout the development of the long-term affordable housing strategy, and be involved in the evaluation of its implementation.”

“It is not sufficient to just continue existing programs, it is clear that the system that exists does not fairly, equitably or adequately address housing needs in Ontario, added the HNO, a network of anti-poverty activists, homelessness and social housing advocates, equity and human rights groups, non-profit organizations and tenants with lived experience of poverty.

“There must be sustained, on-going investment in affordable housing programs. There is no quick-fix, but urgent action is needed.”

The new report says:

• According to the 2006 Census, 1 in every 5 Ontario tenants spends more than 50% of their income on rent.
• Across Ontario 627,000 households are in core housing need, living in housing that is unaffordable, substandard, over-crowded or all three.
• In 2009 there are over 129,000 households on the waiting list for social housing where rent is geared to income. Wait times can be as long as 20 years.

According to the HNO, housing insecurity, homelessness and poverty are “inseparably linked” making Ontario’s housing crisis “both a housing problem and an income problem.”

“Housing helps people participate in the economy, and solutions to poverty and economic problems will help provide people with the means to access housing,” said the HNO.

Across the province, the report said, participants in consultations and meetings identified the top areas for policy action and inclusion.

Their recommendations include:

• Introduce a universal housing benefit provided monthly to all low-income Ontarians, whether they are on social assistance or not, to address the gap between tenant incomes and housing costs.
• The Ontario government must invest in a permanent program with annual funding to develop new rent-geared-to-income, affordable and supportive homes across Ontario.
• The provincial government needs to invest in supportive housing programs.
• Change the rent-geared-to-income subsidy from 30% of gross income to 20 or 25% of gross income, or at a subsidy sufficient to allow enough left over for living expenses.
• Widen the priority list for social housing to include individuals from equity seeking communities, such as Aboriginal and racialized peoples, people with disabilities, mental health consumers and others.
• The Province should fully upload the cost of social housing from municipalities.
• Clear targets should be set, with benchmarks and timelines so that outcomes can be reliably and adequately assessed.

This story originally appeared on Rabble.ca and is cross posted here with permission from John Bonnar.

By John Bonnar

It was a rainy night in Toronto, damp enough to keep most people indoors. But not Paul Croutch, who was wrapped in garbage bags and sleeping on a bench in Moss Park where he was attacked by two army reservists who broke his ribs, fractured his back, ruptured his spleen and kicked him repeatedly in the head.

At the time of his assault, Croutch was carrying a Salvation Army Gateway business card in his pocket. Gateway counselors were immediately called to the hospital and stood by his side until he was finally unplugged from life support systems. At the request of his family, Croutch’s ashes still remain at the Gateway, a shelter and drop-in center for adults experiencing homelessness in the downtown core of Toronto.

Croutch lived some of his last days at the Gateway, where he and Dion Oxford became friends. “It was a painful, bittersweet honour to be a part of his life,” says Oxford, who spoke Tuesday at the First Annual Day of the Homeless and Memorial for Paul Croutch. “The reason I stay doing this work after 20 years is because I get the privilege of meeting people like Paul.”

Because Croutch was unable to take care of his appearance and hygiene in the latter stages of his life, it was easy, says Oxford, “to right him off as someone with very little value, shrug him off as just another man on the streets and underestimate his abilities.”

But as Oxford grew to know Croutch, taking the time to peel off those surface layers, it became clear to him that this homeless man was a lot more than a disheveled man on the street.

“He was a man of brilliance,” says Oxford. “A man with an incredible memory of names, facts and dates. He was an educated journalist. A father. A son. A friend. A man respected by the street community.”

So how did this well respected journalist end up living in the streets of one of Canada’s wealthiest cities?

Paul Croutch’s life was difficult right from the beginning. Abandoned by his parents at the age of five, he was placed in an orphanage and grew up in a succession of foster homes. Later, he worked at industrial jobs until co-founding a company that produced plastic manufacturing machines. After a disagreement with his business partner, he and his wife Marilyn moved to British Columbia where Paul eventually launched a weekly newspaper.

As Croutch’s battle with mental illness became more severe, he sold the newspaper, began to drift and eventually ended up on the streets of Toronto near the end of the 90’s.

“Paul had an artistic side and during good spells he would create artwork with supplies provided by Street Health,” says Charles Hill, Chair of the Good Neighbours’ Club where Croutch was a member. “Even though he thought little of himself he was known to help people who were in the same situation.”

But as is the case with many homeless, Croutch was vulnerable and became an easy target for the strong and the angry. “The Paul Croutches of Toronto have to have better options than their best option being sleeping on a park bench,” says Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy.

On August 31, 2005, while sleeping on that bench in Moss Park, he became a casualty of intolerance and senseless violence against the city’s homeless population. Like many homeless, Croutch was dealing with poverty, isolation and poor health.

“But he is a catalyst for us to remember all the men who have died on the streets,” says Charles Hill. “One death is one too many.”

By remembering Croutch, the Good Neighbours’ Club promises to rededicate itself to helping the older men in downtown Toronto. Since 1933, the Club has committed to provide services that promote well-being, personal growth and community integration to older men addressing issues of homelessness, social isolation and health in a safe and supportive environment.

About 200 men come to the Club every day to share a good meal, to use the showers and laundry facilities, to get fresh clothes or just to meet other older men. “When one is poor or alone, having a pleasant place to go during the day is the next best thing to having a home,” says Executive Director Bruno Scorsone. “For many, the Club is the only home they have where they can go every day and be welcome.”

Former Lt.Gov. James Bartleman, a strong supporter and patron of the Club, remembers his first meeting with Croutch during one of the Salvation Army breakfast runs. “He was sleeping on a bench,” says Bartleman, in a written statement read by Chief of Staff and Private Secretary of the Lt.Gov. of Ontario Nanda Casucci. “I offered him a cup of coffee which he accepted.”

The two quickly became friends.

“One of the reasons we hit it off so well was that he suffered from a mental illness, an illness I myself suffer and continue to deal with,” says Bartleman. “Like so many others who battle the demons we call paranoia or schizophrenia or depression, Mr. Croutch spent years on the streets but he found a way to survive in part thanks to Gateway and the Good Neighbours’ Club.”

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says he’s learned a lot about the vulnerable population served by the Good Neighbours’ Club. “Homeless people are victimized far more often than other members of our society,” he says. “And when they are victimized the consequences can be far more devastating than to others who have stronger social safety networks.”

The Memorial Service for Paul Croutch on Tuesday not only commemorated a life that should not be forgotten, but was a grim reminder that the most vulnerable members of our society often live cruel and dangerous lives.

“It’s important to remind ourselves and each other of our responsibilities to the people on the street who need our help the most,” says Blair.

This article first appeared on Rabble and is reprinted here with permission from John Bonnar .

By John Bonnar

Two days before the June 12 elections in Iran, it already seemed possible that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could lose to his main rival, Mir Hussein Moussavi. On the eve of the election, Iranian Presidential candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi told a hastily assembled, late-night press conference in Tehran that he had won the election. Later, Iranian state media declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner, with only 19% of the votes counted.

And so began the great debate over Iran’s election results.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the country’s election was a great success and “has once again approved its result.” Moussavi supporters, on the other hand, said the election was rigged, calling it a “coup”, and called for it to be cancelled. Mr. Moussavi called for organized peaceful demonstrations in major cities across Iran on Monday and a general strike on Tuesday.

Since then, a standoff between protestors and the government has played out in the streets, claiming at least 13 lives (other reports say 19) and causing countless injuries. Police and militia forces have used guns, truncheons, tear gas and water cannons to beat back thousands of demonstrators for the past week. Since the crisis broke open with massive streets protests the government has declared its refusal to compromise.

Instead, the Iranian government continued its efforts to block all coverage of events, but information began to trickle out from eyewitnesses and on social networking sites, much of it in the form of amateur video and photographs said to show the force of the government crackdown. Foreign journalists were banned from leaving their offices to report on the protests.

In a sign that the crisis in Iran threatened to spill far beyond the nation’s borders, the speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani, on Sunday called for reconsidering relations with Britain, France and Germany after their “shameful” statements about the presidential election, Reuters reported.

The New York Times reported that Mr. Moussavi again called for nullifying the election’s results, and opposition protesters swore to continue pressing their claims of a stolen election against Iran’s embattled and increasingly impatient clerical leadership. On Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei, reaffirmed the election results as valid and said there would be “bloodshed” if street protests continued.

On Father’s Day, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Queen’s Park in Toronto to show their solidarity with the Iranian people. But tension between Iranian expatriates was running almost as high as the temperatures, on this first day of summer. Hundreds of men, women and children, supporters of Iran’s deposed shah, were draped in the pre-Islamic Revolution Iranian flag.

Like the country’s current flag, the former one contains horizontal bands of green, white and red. But the emblem in the middle contains a lion, sun and sword, rather than the four crescents and sword introduced by the Islamic regime in 1980.

Rally organizers weren’t pleased with the show of flags considering, they said, the purpose of the rally was to support the people who are fighting for their freedom in Iran as opposed to supporting a particular regime.

“We called for a flag free demonstration where we try to unite regardless of political affiliations in support of all Iranians who are risking their lives,” said Sima Zerehi of Shahrvand , the largest Persian language newspaper in North America serving the Iranian and Afghani communities across North America. “Unfortunately, some of the supporters ignored the wishes of the organizers.”

From the makeshift stage on the front lawn of Queen’s Park, Iranian Canadian and Liberal MPP Reza Moridi addressed the demonstrators. “We are gathered here from all political stripes for only one purpose: To raise our voice against atrocities and bloodshed which is happening on the streets of cities and towns in Iran.”

Moridi emphasized the primary issues facing Iranians today: bloodshed in Iran, fraudulent presidential elections, and democracy in Iran. “Be united under one thought, under one slogan,” said Moridi. “Democracy is our issue.”

Moridi shared the stage with Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, Liberal MPP’s Kathleen Wynne, Mike Colle and David Zimmer, and federal NDP leader Jack Layton.

Layton called for the Canadian government to speak out in favour of democracy in Iran and to become a strong voice in support and solidarity with their Canadian allies. He acknowledged how difficult it is for Iranian Canadians as they watch the violence play out on the streets of Iran, as they listen to the death reports, especially for those who still have family back home.

“It’s time for Canada’s voice for peace to be heard once again,” said Layton. “And we call on our government to indicate very clearly that Canada is willing to work towards the achievement of democracy and peace in Iran, including if there were to be further elections that there would be an international presence there to monitor with Canada in a leading role.”

Layton promised to work with the Conservative government to convince them to take the necessary action.

On Monday, Prime Minister Harper made the following statement on the situation in Iran. “The reaction of the Iranian authorities to the demonstrations in Iran is wholly unacceptable.  The regime has chosen to use brute force and intimidation in responding to peaceful opposition regarding legitimate and serious allegations of electoral fraud.

“Basic human rights, including freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, are being ignored.  Demonstrations have been banned and demonstrators beaten.  Injured protestors have been arrested when they arrive at hospitals for treatment.  Journalists have been prevented from covering protests and subjected to arbitrary detention and arrest.  Foreign press credentials have been revoked.

“Canada calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately cease the use of violence against their own people, to release all political prisoners and journalists – including Canadians – who have been unjustly detained, to allow Iranian and foreign media to report freely on these historic events, and to conduct a full and transparent investigation into allegations of fraud in the presidential election.  The voices of all Iranians must be heard.  I have directed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to ensure that Canada’s views are conveyed to Iran’s top representative in Canada.”

“Canada continues to be a strong and consistent voice calling on the Iranian regime to fulfill all of its human rights obligations, both in law and in practice.  For six consecutive years, Canada has led a resolution on the human rights situation in Iran at the United Nations General Assembly.  Canada continues to support freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Iran and around the world.”

Click here to see photos from the rally.

Click here to listen to a one on one interview with federal NDP leader Jack Layton .

This article first appeared on Rabble from the Toronto Social Justice Magazine and is reprinted here with permission from John Bonnar.

On a dull late spring Saturday morning at Regent and Dundas in Toronto, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and supporters have come to Regent Park with a clear message: We must defend the communities we live in and stop their being obliterated by developers and the politicians that serve their interests.

Behind them, roughly 19 months after the ground-breaking ceremony, sits the 293-suite One Cole Condominiums with prices starting from $189,000 for a 497 sq.ft. studio that’s roughly the size of a two car garage. One Cole has suites in two separate buildings: the 9-storey West Building has 92 suites and the East building has 19-storeys with 201 suites.

“We are excited to be putting One Cole on the map, signaling the start of the transformation of Toronto’s east downtown neighbourhood,” said Martin Blake, vice-president of project implementation, The Daniels Corporation in their October 30, 2007 press release. “With homes being built to the highest energy performance standards and the creation of a mixed use community that will attract residents of all income levels, the vision of transforming this part of the city is becoming a reality.”

OCAP doesn’t share Blake’s excitement about the renewal of the downtown east side. “David Miller and the developers are working to gentrify this area and destroy it as a home for poor people,” says OCAP.  “They have similar plans for other Toronto Housing communities.”

The Daniels Corporation has a slogan: Love where you live. In this part of Cabbagetown, low income people have loved where they’ve lived for over 100 years. “Yet the number of rent geared to income units in this first phase of “redeveloped” Regent Park is less than was promised and the continuing gentrification of this area will only increase the pressure to push out public housing tenants,” says OCAP. “In US cities, where similar plans have been put into effect, this has been the experience.”

“In 1992, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched its Hope VI program, designating mixed-income communities as the way to redevelop and revitalize public housing,” said authour Kari Lyderson in a story published in the May-June 2008 of The Chicago Reporter . “Significant funding was made available for housing authorities nationwide to carry out this model. And it soon became de rigueur for public housing redevelopment from New York to New Orleans to Chicago to Oakland.”

Although a “healthy” mix of incomes is one of the selling points of mixed-income communities, Lyderson said, “census numbers show that the difference between the income levels in naturally occurring mixed-income neighborhoods are much narrower than the spread that occurs in Chicago Housing Authority redevelopments.”

Lyderson continued: “Intentionally created mixed-income redevelopments are marketed with rosy images of people from vastly different backgrounds and income levels sharing barbecues and front porch chats. But relationships between people of different income levels in many neighborhoods are strained and hostile, according to various residents across the city. Higher-income new residents are afraid and annoyed with their low-income neighbors, blaming them for crime and failing to maintain their property. And lower-income residents are threatened by their wealthier neighbors who might force them out through higher property taxes and rents associated with the more valuable property.

“Alejandra Ibanez, executive director of the Pilsen Alliance, a community rights and affordable-housing group, said she sees no way a mixed-income community can exist without intentional programs that promote, protect and subsidize affordable housing. And, she said, these projects must include a homeownership component for low-income people, since someone renting their house will always be less stable and have less of a feeling of ownership of the community.”

In the fall of 2007, “35 first-year graduate students in the university’s Master of Public Policy program analyzed the pluses and pitfalls of Baltimore’s mixed-income neighborhoods to help city leaders better understand the implications of a recently enacted inclusionary housing ordinance,” said authour Amy Lundy Homewood in her story Does Mixed Income Work? published in the December 17 JHU Gazette .

“The students set out to determine whether there is hard evidence demonstrating that mixed-income environments — generally defined as having a blend of low-, middle- and high-income households — are beneficial to the lower-income families in the neighborhood. Overall, the students concluded that making universal assumptions about the desirability of mixed-income neighborhoods is unwise.”

The One Cole Condominiums, part of the Phase One revitalization of Regent Park, aren’t about to win any architectural design awards. At least not by any public opinion standards. These drab, grim-looking, irregular windowed, black bricked, shoebox structures resemble grimy 19^th century East End London houses. Not much to inspire the prospective homebuyer. Except for the fact that any space under $200,000 at record low interest rates represents a “good deal” in downtown Toronto.

There appears to be more police officers outside the presentation centre than prospective buyers and poverty activists. OCAP congregates on the sidewalk around their “Housing for All” banner chatting with community residents.

In response to the OCAP demonstration, Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) sent a letter to their tenants Friday outlining their revitalization plans for Regent Park: replacing all 2083 rent geared to income units with quality new homes, building an additional 700 new affordable rental units, creating a healthy, mixed income community with improved community amenities, facilities and services for residents, and working together with tenants to improve housing, access to city services and create employment opportunities.

“What’s been found (especially in redevelopment projects in the U.S.) is that the people who move out don’t come back, making it possible to erode the rent geared to income component in a community like Regent Park,” says OCAP organizer John Clarke outside the One Cole presentation centre. “And there’s no question that’s what the overall situation is going to be.”

Clarke explains to me that the Regent Park project is taking place in the context of a broader agenda of redevelopment and gentrification. “In these so called “mixed neighborhoods” what happens is the middle class home buyers based on property values and quality of life want to see the social housing component reduced over time,” he says.

“The pressure to destroy the rent geared to income component is going to be enormous. Over time, you’ll have homeowners lobbying, tensions rising. Eventually, you’ll see the rent geared to income component wiped out entirely.”

Eleven o’clock Tuesday morning at the Workers’ Action Centre. Media and supporters are jam-packed into a room to listen to representatives of the newly formed Caregivers Action Centre, comprised of former and current caregivers working for change in Temporary Foreign Worker programs including the Live-In Caregiver Program and the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program.

Several organizations are supporting this press conference: Adhika-Philippine Development Concerns, Caregivers Action Centre, Caregiver Resource Centre, Filipino Centre-Toronto, Gateway Centre for New Canadians, Good Jobs for All Coalition, Independent Workers Association, Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario, Justicia for Migrant Workers, Migrante-Ontario, No One is Illegal, Parkdale Community Legal Services, Silayan Community Centre, United Food and Commercial Workers-Canada, United Steelworkers and the Workers’ Action Centre.

Behind me, two women are holding a banner demanding the resignation of Ruby Dhalla, the Liberal MP accused by two Filipino nannies last month of abuse and mistreatment, alleging that they were underpaid, overworked and made to do non-nanny jobs such as washing cars and cleaning shoes.

A Commons committee report leaked before its presentation next week, recommends that “the provincial and federal governments investigate allegations of the former live-in caregivers in the Dhalla residence and take measures as appropriate.”

But the issue is bigger than Dhalla. Much bigger.

Pura Velasco is a former caregiver and one of the organizers of the Caregivers Action Centre (CAC), composed of former and current caregivers who came to Canada under the federal government’s Live-In Caregiver program (LCP). The CAC assists and supports caregivers often abused and exploited by their employers and employment agencies, and encountering difficulties navigating LCPs regulations and requirements. The CAC is also advocating for vigorous protection and fundamental changes to the LCP.

“The Dhalla case is just one of the many that need to be investigated,” says Velasco. “So many employers violate the rights of their live-in caregivers. So we need to investigate all employers who exploit their caregivers.”

Velasco wants a federal inquiry to look at the core problem of the LCP: the temporary work permit system and the requirement for caregivers to live with their bosses for 24 months within 36 months of arriving in Canada. She accused past and present federal governments of abdicating their responsibility to protect caregivers from abuse and exploitation.

“The Liberals and the Conservatives have trivialized and ignored fragrant violations of foreign workers, labour and human rights. Both parties try to soften the rough edges of the LCP as a delusion by continuing to enshrine the interests of the Canadian government and employers with their failure to create a universal child care, elderly and disabled care system. No amount of work and workers’ rights education can eliminate the systemic violations inherent in the LCP.”

Fearful of employers’ reprisals, Velasco says caregivers cannot fight for their rights inside the home where they work and live. Their precarious immigration status coupled with the mandatory requirement to live with their bosses gives employers the upper hand. Without landed status, improved employment standards won’t boost the confidence of caregivers to stand up for their rights.

Caregiver and president of the CAC, Menchie Cuaresma says caregivers are forced to keep quiet and endure abusive treatment by employers for fear of being deported. In December 2004, Cuaresma was placed with an employer who released her within three months. “My employer and my agent divided the $3,400 placement fee that I paid. This practice is rampant where the agent and the employer collude to collect placement fees from caregivers who are then left on their own to find other employment in order to complete the requirements of the LCP. Sadly, my experience is the norm – not the exception.”

Filipina women routinely endure this abuse in order to feed their families they’ve left behind in the Philippines. Many caregivers suffer silently in the houses of abusive employers: long hours, no overtime, and on-call 24/7.

After working for several employers, Cuaresma found someone who encouraged and supported her to advocate for changes to Canadian laws and policies pertaining to TFWs: Immediate status upon arrival in Canada, optional live-in requirement, stop the deportations of workers who become sick or injured and establish an appeals process, update the Employment Standards Act to provide real protection for foreign workers, and equal access to health care, EI, OAS, CPP and Workers’ Compensation.

While much of the attention in the mainstream media recently has been on the plight of live-in caregivers, many grass roots activists, unionists and community agency workers have known for a long time that the LCP is only one component of the ever expanding TFWs programs in Canada. In 2008, over 250,000 TFWs came to work in this country without the hope of ever achieving permanent residency and equal protection under the law.

The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program matches workers from Mexico and the Caribbean countries with Canadian farmers who need temporary support during planting and harvesting seasons, when qualified Canadians or permanent residents are not available.

Two years ago, Flor left behind her family in Mexico and came to Canada on an 8-month contract as a farm worker in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program for a company in the Leamington Chatham area. After 2 months, when she hadn’t even made enough money to pay for her share of the flight to and from Canada, Flor was fired.

“We work different schedules, sometimes into the night, and we don’t get paid overtime,” says Flor, who spoke through an interpreter and wouldn’t provide her first and last name. “Sometimes the employer doesn’t even give us the appropriate clothing.” A domestic violence survivor and single mother, Flor thought things would be different in Canada.

So do a lot of other temporary foreign workers, who come to this country only to find themselves in “difficult”, often hazardous, working conditions, employed in low paying jobs most Canadians won’t accept. “To remain competitive globally, it seems that the strategy right now is to import a number of these temporary foreign workers,” says Julius Tiangson, a community advocate and executive director of Gateway Centre for New Canadians.

Dr Randy Persaud, an Associate Professor of International Relations and Director of Comparative and Regional Studies in the School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C., says “the new world economy has created a hyper-flexible workforce and diminution of the rights of workers and a concomitant splitting of the labour market with an upper rung of knowledge based workers and a lower rung of unskilled, contingent workers.”

Simply put, the new labour market demands highly specialized workers at the top and low-end service workers at the bottom.

“There was a fantastic rise of a new class of well compensated knowledge and financial sector workers, who demanded personal service – daycare, lawn attendance, personal security for gated communities etc…,” says Persaud in a commentary published Monday in the Caribbean Net News. “While there was a wild scramble for the knowledge workers at the top, there was great permissiveness for foreign workers at the bottom.”

Persaud continued, “While the most important qualification of the upper rung workers is their technical qualification, the qualification for the lower end workers is actually their vulnerability.”

Even though most migrant workers in Canada contribute to EI and CPP, they receive no benefits. “Part of the $57B EI surplus is on the backs of migrant workers,” said Winnie Ng, Co-chair of the Good Jobs for All Coalition. “And to me that’s immoral. We squeeze and abuse them. And at the end of the day we take advantage of them.”

Ng accused Citizenship and Immigration of acting as recruiters for the large corporations. “We use them and when we don’t need them they are being deported,” she said.

“And that’s a fast and easy way of getting rid of workers.”

Pedestrians, cyclists and buskers reclaim the streets in Kensington Market - By John Bonnar

By 1:00 p.m. the barricades were up, streets were swept clean of cars, replaced with pedestrians, cyclists, buskers and street vendors. Just outside St. Stephen’s Community House on Augusta Avenue, two children sat on the grass covered hood of a car.

Couples emerged from the monstrous shadows that stretched across the street, cast by the over-hanging trees. A parking law enforcement officer paced back and forth on the sidewalk beside a black SUV, as he waited for a tow truck to “relocate” the obtrusive car.

From May to October, Pedestrian Sundays are held the last Sunday of every month from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Kensington Market, where the streets become a cultural playground celebrating community, culture and ecology.

“What should we sing about?” asked the Improv Song on Demand gesticulating puppet to a group of children and parents. “We shall sing about your hoody.” The coins clinked together as the audience dropped them into the metal container after the performance.

Businesses moved their products on to the sidewalks outside their stores and restaurants. Shoppers browsed the offerings as they walked up and down the streets. Three teenaged girls stopped at one vendor and tried on pairs of sunglasses while taking turns admiring themselves in the mirror. Calypso music reverberated through the sun-sweetened air. The aroma of beef and chicken empanadas drifted through the billowing breeze of a late May afternoon.

On Baldwin Avenue, two young boys were busy selling pop and water for $1.00 a bottle next to tubs filled with army surplus clothing. Nearby, organic burgers sizzled on the fresh wood grill while chefs and customers did their best to avoid the acrid smoke rising from the barbecue. Across the street, the aroma of barbecued sardines mixed with the swirling air.

Further down the street, an animated hip-hop poet was forced to compete with the clanging wind chimes on a blustery corner in Kensington Market. Outside Sanci’s on Kensington Avenue, a blues guitarist performed for the passersby as the leaves rustled in the nearby trees. Further down, children wrapped hula hoops around their waists and shook their hips back and forth while adults twirled hoops with their index fingers.

At the bottom of the street, an electric bubble blowing machine sent sparkling bubbles flying through the air. Children chased the bubbles trying to burst them with their fingers; others tried to catch them in their hands. A budding portrait artist, no older than ten, sketched a group portrait of three young men who patiently sat in front of him, as he put the finishing touches on their drawing.

Despite the unseasonably cool weather, patrons filled the patios of the local bars and restaurants.

At the top of the street, a stilt walker wearing an oversized jean jacket made his way down Kensington Avenue – his black pants flapping in the wind – before disappearing inside one of the retail shops. Back on Baldwin, in front of a graffiti stained wall, a young violinist’s graceful music mingled with the shrill voice of another poet at the end of the crowded street.

Some pedestrians ventured into the alleys off Augusta Avenue, elaborately decorated by the neighbourhood graffiti artists. At the intersection of Augusta and Nassau, the stilt walker reappeared, dancing to the delicious sounds of Calypso music. Nearby, bicycle mechanics were busy lifting bikes on and off racks to perform minor repairs for riders.

“Would you like a song about monkeys?” asked the Improv Song puppet, further up the street.

“Yeah,” said the children.

“Hurray, Hurray,” said the puppet. “Then we shall sing you a song about monkeys.”

The children stood, wide eyed, mouths hanging open as they listened to the song.

Next door, a woman scored 42 points with one word on the giant Scrabble board, then suggested her opponent admit defeat. “Sounds like a challenge,” he said, as he prepared to make his next move.

Nearby, a diminutive man with a bushy red beard, wearing glasses and a toque twisted balloons into a pink flower with a green stem and handed it to a little girl.

Later, at the giant Scrabble board, four children were scattered all over the tiles, trying to form as many words as possible, with little regard for scoring or taking turns.

At the corner of Augusta and Baldwin, dozens of spectators encircled a group of adults who were playing Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, games, music and dance. Participants form a circle, and take turns playing musical instruments (such as the Berimbau), singing, or ritually sparring in pairs in the center of the circle. The sparring is marked by fluid acrobatic play, feints, and extensive use of sweeps, kicks, and head butts, without physical contact.

At 3:20 p.m., Maracatu Nunca Antes, an Afro-Brazilian percussion group made its way from College and Augusta into Kensington Market. The group was led by four dancers in elaborately coloured costumes who twirled back and forth as they made their way down the street. The lead dancer, wearing a lemon coloured dress, gold hoop earrings and a yellow floral headdress held a miniature figurine, similarly dressed, over her left hand and wrist.

Pedestrian Sunday Kensington Market - By John Bonnar

Pedestrians cleared the street to make room for the percussion group, but a few couldn’t fight the urge to join the dancers. As the drummers approached, clad in bright red shirts, roughly two dozen pairs of drumsticks striking drum skins gave forth a distinctive Brazilian sound that could be heard in all directions.

Click here to see more photos from Pedestrian Sunday on May 31, 2009