We are concerned about the well-being of our neighbours living in park encampments. We demand that the city of Toronto stop spending taxpayers’ money on clearing encampments. Instead, these funds ought to be diverted to include the provision of fire safety equipment, tents, sleeping bags, and access to water and bathroom facilities. Displacing people from their homes during a pandemic is immoral, and a serious public health concern. We implore a moratorium on encampment clearings and urge the city to repeal the by-laws that make it illegal to camp. The city must stop criminalizing people living in encampments.
Nov. 27, 2020
Dear Mayor John Tory, Councillor Ana Bailão, Mary-Anne Bedard, General Manager of
Shelter, Support & Housing Administration and Janie Romoff, General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department,
Pleasure Dome is an artist-run presentation organization and publisher dedicated to experimental media operating in Toronto since 1989.
We are concerned about the well-being of our neighbours living in park encampments. We demand that the city of Toronto stop spending taxpayers’ money on clearing encampments. Instead, these funds ought to be diverted to include the provision of fire safety equipment, tents, sleeping bags, and access to water and bathroom facilities. Displacing people from their homes during a pandemic is immoral, and a serious public health concern. We implore a moratorium on encampment clearings and urge the city to repeal the by-laws that make it illegal to camp. The city must stop criminalizing people living in encampments.
For many people, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, living in an encampment is their safest option, compared to overcrowded shelters often far from community and support services, including the dehumanizing glass prison-like ‘shelters’. Pleasure Dome asserts unhoused people should be allowed to live close to their families, services, and places of work, free from the fear of contracting COVID-19. Clearing these encampments pushes citizens into more vulnerable hidden spaces like ravines.
The government must stop treating those living in encampments as an eyesore or legal risk, and recognize that encampments are the result of the decades-long housing crisis in Toronto. We need the city to uphold everyone’s right to affordable housing, particularly to create long-term solutions in the downtown core including the development of permanent Rent-Geared-To-Income housing, and better conditions in safe shelters.
Sincerely,
Pleasure Dome Board of Directors
Shahbaz Khayambashi (Co-Chair)
Andrea Creamer (Co-Chair)
Rupa Morzaria (Secretary)
Jennifer Laiwint
Katie Connell
Clare Samuel
Miles Rufelds
and
Theresa Slater, Operations and Development Manager
