Turn On The Tap - Water for all in Memorial Park NOW!
Turn On The Tap - Water for all in Memorial Park NOW!
The Issue
In Spring/Summer of 2020, the City of Greater Sudbury decided not to turn on city park drinking fountains. This decision was made without the consultation of the city's Public Health Unit. In the summer of 2019 (last summer) the City of Greater Sudbury forcibly removed a homeless encampment from Memorial park, where a community had managed to build small non-permanent living structures in an age of mass homelessness. Memorial Park is the site of Downtown Sudbury's only source of free drinking water.
Recent investments in policing (see below article) and cuts in supportive infrastructure for the homeless community in Sudbury (there is currently no youth shelter) make clear the city's goal of pushing homeless presence out of the downtown core. This is in the midst of a homelessness crisis, police violence crisis and death by overdose crisis, all forms of state violence which low-income people must endure in day-to-day life.
Let us remind the City of Greater Sudbury, water is a human right. Water is life.
This fountain is the ONLY SOURCE OF FREE DRINKING WATER in downtown Sudbury. Various community members and service agencies have called for the fountain to be turned on, yet the fountain remains off.
When questioned, the city had told us that they want to "stop the spread of COVID," and that somehow turning off the ONLY source of free, safe water in downtown is necessary. Meanwhile, the splash pad is on.
***UPDATE: the city now claims that their decision to turn off the fountains was due to "high operation" costs. Let us remind the City of Greater Sudbury, there is very limited shelter space in Sudbury. There is no youth shelter. These cuts to social services have been experienced violently by our community, this is one more action the city has taken in which results in denied access to the basics of human rights: shelter and water.
Let us remind the City of Greater Sudbury, homeless people do not have the option of an alternative spot to access water. Alternative measures could have been taken to ensure full access to water. They were not. In fact, the fountain has no signage saying it is not in use, so people touch it regardless (touching the buttons), thinking it is an operating fountain, which it should be.
This simple action, of turning off water fountains (and refusing to keep them off), is an example of the exploitation of COVID measures as policing. This water fountain is the difference between life or death for some without access to the basic human right of shelter.
Research on homelessness has shown that more homeless people die in summer due to heat-related illness. This is readily accessible information, available for the people who made this decision.
As mentioned, the city has invested over $200,000 in a policing/surveillance project with the goal of removing people experiencing homelessness from downtown Sudbury. This article discusses the city's project, in partnership with the BIA and city councilor Ward 4 Coun. Geoff McCausland. The project was also supported by Sudbury's Mayor, Brian Bigger. I do warn, however, of the articles triggering nature and choice of language, especially the use of a humiliating image of a person experiencing a mental health crisis who was pinned down by police and photographed. The use of this image has been called out by local organizations for its inappropriate use and violent nature, as it depicts the criminalization of someone in crisis. However, the newspaper has decided to keep the picture in use.
Sudbury's homeless population is disproportionately Indigenous, as homelessness is a crisis 300 years in the making. Many folks have left communities that have no access to clean drinking water or any water infrastructure at all. Thus, drinking water has been historically denied to some members of our community - a colonial violence now repeated in Memorial Park.
This is a human rights infraction. Turn on the tap NOW!
The Issue
In Spring/Summer of 2020, the City of Greater Sudbury decided not to turn on city park drinking fountains. This decision was made without the consultation of the city's Public Health Unit. In the summer of 2019 (last summer) the City of Greater Sudbury forcibly removed a homeless encampment from Memorial park, where a community had managed to build small non-permanent living structures in an age of mass homelessness. Memorial Park is the site of Downtown Sudbury's only source of free drinking water.
Recent investments in policing (see below article) and cuts in supportive infrastructure for the homeless community in Sudbury (there is currently no youth shelter) make clear the city's goal of pushing homeless presence out of the downtown core. This is in the midst of a homelessness crisis, police violence crisis and death by overdose crisis, all forms of state violence which low-income people must endure in day-to-day life.
Let us remind the City of Greater Sudbury, water is a human right. Water is life.
This fountain is the ONLY SOURCE OF FREE DRINKING WATER in downtown Sudbury. Various community members and service agencies have called for the fountain to be turned on, yet the fountain remains off.
When questioned, the city had told us that they want to "stop the spread of COVID," and that somehow turning off the ONLY source of free, safe water in downtown is necessary. Meanwhile, the splash pad is on.
***UPDATE: the city now claims that their decision to turn off the fountains was due to "high operation" costs. Let us remind the City of Greater Sudbury, there is very limited shelter space in Sudbury. There is no youth shelter. These cuts to social services have been experienced violently by our community, this is one more action the city has taken in which results in denied access to the basics of human rights: shelter and water.
Let us remind the City of Greater Sudbury, homeless people do not have the option of an alternative spot to access water. Alternative measures could have been taken to ensure full access to water. They were not. In fact, the fountain has no signage saying it is not in use, so people touch it regardless (touching the buttons), thinking it is an operating fountain, which it should be.
This simple action, of turning off water fountains (and refusing to keep them off), is an example of the exploitation of COVID measures as policing. This water fountain is the difference between life or death for some without access to the basic human right of shelter.
Research on homelessness has shown that more homeless people die in summer due to heat-related illness. This is readily accessible information, available for the people who made this decision.
As mentioned, the city has invested over $200,000 in a policing/surveillance project with the goal of removing people experiencing homelessness from downtown Sudbury. This article discusses the city's project, in partnership with the BIA and city councilor Ward 4 Coun. Geoff McCausland. The project was also supported by Sudbury's Mayor, Brian Bigger. I do warn, however, of the articles triggering nature and choice of language, especially the use of a humiliating image of a person experiencing a mental health crisis who was pinned down by police and photographed. The use of this image has been called out by local organizations for its inappropriate use and violent nature, as it depicts the criminalization of someone in crisis. However, the newspaper has decided to keep the picture in use.
Sudbury's homeless population is disproportionately Indigenous, as homelessness is a crisis 300 years in the making. Many folks have left communities that have no access to clean drinking water or any water infrastructure at all. Thus, drinking water has been historically denied to some members of our community - a colonial violence now repeated in Memorial Park.
This is a human rights infraction. Turn on the tap NOW!
Victory
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Petition created on July 26, 2020