To say the least, the events of this week have been devastating.
On Tuesday, we saw the residents of Alexandra Park forcibly removed from their encampments, and a community of people providing mutual support to one another and attempting to survive razed. While Mayor John Tory has touted the removal of Alexandra Park’s encampments as a success, we must understand that the outcome of the city’s approach was unsuccessful, and moreover harmful. Indeed, no one was housed, 15 people were displaced to other locations outdoors, and the Park has since been made inaccessible to the general public – not just to former residents.
Less than 24 hours after Alexandra Park’s removal, we saw unprecedented violence enacted by the City through the grossly disproportionate police use-of-force deployed against peaceful civilians. This includes unhoused people and people living with disability who were both physically and emotionally harmed during the incident. While the events in Alexandra Park were shameful and deeply damaging to unhoused people, what we witnessed at Lamport Stadium goes even further and constitutes a lasting stain on the City of Toronto. That all City Councillors and the Mayor himself have not denounced this violence is a shameful abandonment of the public. It is also tacit support for the approach that we saw, including throttling and pepper spraying civilians, as well as beating subdued individuals with batons. This is not a City that can purport to be compassionate and inclusive when law enforcement, deployed by the hundreds, beats its residents unprovoked. Most important to remember is that the result of this horrific exercise resulted once again in no one being housed. Beyond egregious, the approach of the City is also ineffectual. It must end immediately, and a public inquiry must be initiated regarding the events at Lamport, including police use-of-force. Furthermore, police must not be deployed to encampments, and encampments must be allowed to remain with adequate supports until residents freely accept suitable indoor spaces and housing options. The latter is embedded in A Path Forward.
Beyond the unconscionable and indefensible violence perpetrated at Lamport Stadium, the attempted removal of the media – including issuing trespass warnings to journalists on the scene and preventing access to Alexandra Park – is deeply unconstitutional, and extremely telling. Without their eyes and cameras documenting the situation at Lamport, would the violence have been further escalated? If the City’s strategy for removing encampments is compassionate and ‘human services’ oriented, why would the media be disallowed from documenting it? It is a deeply important question, and we denounce attempts by the Mayor and the City to prevent journalists from performing their duty, which is essential to a free, functioning democratic society.
What is most important to realize about the events this week is that none of it was necessary – ever, but also since we at the Toronto Drop-in Network, alongside 206 other signatories, presented A Path Forward to Mayor Tory. As you know, this letter is a roadmap for the Mayor and the City which not only espouses a more compassionate, human rights compliant approach to supporting unhoused people, but an effectual means to reduce the number of people living outdoors.
Councillors Matlow, Layton, Perks, Carroll, and Wong-Tam have openly supported this letter, and have called upon the Mayor to adopt it as City policy. We agree, as do an additional 2,400 members of the public who have signed on to a petition.
Violence does not end homelessness. A human rights compliant approach can. Mayor Tory: adopt A Path Forward, and end the violent approach to encampments now.
If you believe this to, continue to sign and share this petition, and keep watch: we need your eyes continually on the City and its next moves, as Moss Park is still pending eviction. We cannot let this happen.