Social Justice and Advocacy

Provincial Advocacy - Help Save Overdose Prevention Sites!

On August 20, 2024, Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced their decision to close 10 of the 17 Safe Consumption/Overdose Prevention site around Ontario, and to prevent any new sites from opening. This decision, if put into effect next March, will have a devastating impact, and lead to thousands of deaths. Legislation enabling this decision still has to be tabled and passed, and also has to survive legal and constitutional challenges, which are already being prepared.

Every 2.5 hours someone in Ontario dies because of a fatal overdose.  Without supervised consumption sites, the numbers will only grow. Hospitals, frontline workers, and an commission appointed by the province all agree that safe consumption sites are a necessary public health service and prevent accidental overdose deaths.

Five of the sites are in our Diocese, within the City of Toronto.  The others are in Ottawa, Guelph, Hamilton, Kitchener, and Thunder Bay. Several faith leaders around the province, including Bishop Andrew Asbil, have signed a letter calling on Ford and Jones to reverse their decision.  You can add your name here.

If you are a neighbour of one of the sites slated for closure, please write to the Rev. Canon Maggie Helwig directly to be added under the section for neighbours of the affected sites.

Federal Advocacy: Migrant Justice and the Canada Disability Benefit

Migrant Justice

The federal government promised regularization – permanent resident status for undocumented people – this past spring.  Since then, the government has distanced itself from that promise, citing a lack of consensus on the issue. Anti-immigration sentiment is rising, with migrants being scapegoated for the housing and affordability crises. Yet migrant and undocumented workers are essential members of our communities, harvesting and often cooking and delivering our food and caring for children, sick and elderly.  Without permanent residency status, they have restricted access to social services and few guarantees of their labour rights, and are thus vulnerable to exploitation and exclusion. Indeed, a recent UN report calls Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Programme “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”

“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself.” – Leviticus 19:33-34

Rallies for migrant justice are being held across the country the weekend of Sept. 14-15, including one in Peterborough on Sat. Sept. 14 at noon and one in Toronto on Sun. Sept. 15 at 1 p.m.

You can also send a message to federal leaders here.

Canada Disability Benefit – Help End Disability Poverty

People with disabilities are twice as likely as other Canadians to live in poverty.  No provincial or territorial disability support program meets the poverty line, and most – including Ontario’s ODSP – fall far below the poverty line.

After passing the Canada Disability Benefit Act to much acclaim in 2023, the federal government introduced the Canada Disability Benefit in its 2024 Budget.  Disappointingly, at a maximum of $200 per month, the benefit is far too low to lift people with disabilities out of poverty.  The benefit is also difficult to access, eligibility being tied to the extremely restrictive federal Disability Tax Credit.

However, there is still time to help build a better benefit!  The draft regulations are open for public comment until Sept. 23, 2024.  You can use one of the following links to call on federal leaders to improve the Canada Disability Benefit:

Send a message to federal leaders here.

Comment on the draft regulations in the Canada Gazette here.

Municipal Advocacy - Toronto Renovictions Bylaw

Toronto is in the process of creating a new bylaw to address renovictions – cases where a landlord illegitimately evicts a tenant by alleging that vacant possession of a rental unit is needed to undertake renovations or repairs. Renovictions can include refusing to allow a tenant to return post-renovation, illegally raising the rent on a returning tenant or not undertaking major renovations after evicting tenants.

There is an online survey which is open till Sept. 30, 2024.  You can find more information and the link to the survey here.