Sjw struggle session6/9/2023 These include broader screening and testing of people experiencing homelessness instead of finding and arresting them in encampments, mask surveillance screening at city shelters that are also congregate hotspots, and making sure that people in shelters are provided proper masks and encouraged to wear them. In what she calls a battle for equity, activists are fighting for basic protections that aren’t being offered to people in shelters. ![]() However, there was less focus on what was going on in homeless shelters or prisons.Ĭathy Crowe, a street nurse and a Ryerson Distinguished Visiting Practitioner in the Faculty of Arts, shared how the discrimination has been evident since the pandemic hit. ![]() In the early days of the pandemic, there was growing public concern for long-term care homes and other types of congregate living settings. ‘A social X-ray’ that highlights inequities “Racialized people, immigrants and refugees in Canada experience disproportionately higher levels of homelessness and poor housing because of higher rates of poverty, systemic discrimination, cuts to income security programs they may or may not be able to access, and simply a lack of housing,” said Shalini Konanur, lawyer and executive director at the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario ( SALCO (external link) ). Since then, homelessness has worsened every single year across the country. Steven Teekens, a member of Nipissing First Nation and the executive director at Na-Me-Res (external link) (Native Men’s Residence) said that according to the (PDF file) 2018 Toronto Street Needs Assessment (external link) , Indigenous people made up less than 2.5 per cent of Toronto’s population, but 16 per cent of all people who are experiencing homelessness and 38 per cent of those outdoors on the streets were Indigenous.Īccording to the panellists, the impact of systemic racism on housing and homelessness became undeniable in 2017 when the government’s new National Housing Strategy ignored race and the concerns of marginalized groups. The intersection of race and colonizationįor Indigenous people in Canada, adequate housing has been a decades-long struggle. One key takeaway? The panellists agreed that the lack of a COVID-19 plan for people who are experiencing homelessness is a continuation of years of neglect on housing and shelter issues. Instead, it’s exacerbating the various inequalities that exist in our communities.Īt the virtual opening session (external link) of the Ryerson Social Justice Week (SJW) organized by the Unifor National Chair in Social Justice and Democracy, an expert panel discussed the plight of the homeless population and the Canadian government’s failure to adequately address their needs and concerns. ![]() Organizations and governments often use this phrase to provide hope and comfort to the millions of people facing physical, psychological and economic hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.īut are we really in it together? The one-size-fits-all approach to the pandemic hasn’t helped the marginalized and racialized communities who are disproportionately affected by the crisis.
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