CANADIAN POLITICS-TORONTO:
SAVE STREET HEALTH:





Molly has blogged about the campaign to save the Street Health services and to reinstate Gaetan Heroux before. Here's a last minute appeal from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) for a demonstration at 12 noon on Wednesday May 12 for both causes.
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May 12th: Defend the East Downtown Neighborhood:
Bring Back Street Health Services, Re-Instate Gaetan!
Wednesday, May 12th
12 Noon
Allan Gardens (Carleton and Sherbourne)
*FREE BBQ in the PARK!

On Wed. May 12 we will gather in Allan Gardens at 12noon for a Community BBQ and Rally. We will then march on Street Health and remind Laura Cowan, Mary McCowan, and Eleanor Lester that they are accountable to the community and that the needs and demands of this community will not be ignored. Bring back the services to Street Health and Re-instate Gaetan at his job in East Downtown Toronto!

The Downtown East-End is experiencing rapid transformation, as are many poor neighborhoods in Toronto. In this transformation, poor people and services for poor people are being displaced. It is important that we defend the need for public services and access to these services within our neighborhoods; that we confront this process of displacement. Street Health began as a project by homeless people and has been an important space in this neighborhood for over 20 years. Gaetan Heroux has been a dedicated and much loved anti-poverty activist within this neighborhood for over 20 years as well. We need to send a message loud and clear: Street Health belongs to the community and NOT to corporate consultants!

Four months ago Street and Neighbourhood Link moved the administration office of the PAID I.D. Project out of Street Health, where it had been for the last ten years, and relocated 5 miles away from the Dundas and Sherbourne neighborhood, where most of the identification clinics were located. Making people travel five miles to access the administrative office is cruel and harmful to people who don’t have the money for TTC tickets needed to get all the way out to Danforth and Victoria Park.

On December 8, a petition with over 500 names was given to Laura Cowan, Street Health’s Executive Director, and Eleanor Lester, Chair of the Street Health Board. The majority of the people who signed the petition were homeless men and women who had used the I.D. service.They demanded that the administration office be returned to Street Health and that Gaetan be reinstated at his job in the downtown core. On December 29, a dozen people walked for over three hours from Street Health to Neighbourhood Link and delivered another petition with over 850 names on it to Mary McGowan, the Executive Director of Neighbourhood Link, again demanding that the administrative office be returned to Street Health and that Gaetan’s job be reinstated in the downtown core.

Many times the community has rallied outside of Street Health to voice our concerns and our demands. Despite these numerous demonstrations, several public meetings, and two petitions signed by homeless men and women, community workers, and anti-poverty activists, the people who run Street Health and Neighbourhood Link continue ignore the demands of the community. Defend your neighborhood and services:
JOIN EAST DOWNTOWN FIGHTBACK on May 12th, 12Noon at Allan Gardens Park.
FOR MORE INFO, CONTACT THE DOWNTOWN EAST FIGHTBACK CAMPAIGN
416-760-6579 eastfightback@gmail.com

EVENTS- TORONTO:

PEOPLE'S HISTORY TOUR OF TORONTO EAST END:

Here's an interesting event coming up next Wednesday down Toronto way. From the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) ...

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People's History of Downtown East End:

Wednesday, April 28th‏

**Next Wednesday:

Historical Walk of Downtown East End

with anti-poverty activist Gaetan Heroux

Wednesday April 28, 2010

6pm to 8pm

Meet in front of 51 Division (South East Corner of Parliament and Front Streets)

East Downtown Toronto is home to one of the city's oldest working class neighbourhoods. East Downtown Toronto was once the home to some of Toronto’s wealthiest residents. Today, Toronto's "skid row" is located in the heart of East Downtown Toronto, and the area has one of the largest concentration of social housing in Canada. The current gentrification of the area threatens the very existence of this working class neighbourhood. During the Great Depression and in the mid 1990's East Downtown Toronto became a staging ground for some of the most militant anti-poverty demonstrations in the country.

How did this transformation happen? What was the relationship of Toronto's wealthy philanthropist and the various church organizations to the"vagrants", "tramps", and "unemployed" who were flooding the city in the 1830’s and onward? What role did the House of Industry, Toronto’s first poor house, play in the lives poor people and the unemployed? How did this poor house come to dominate the lives of Toronto's poor for over a hundred years? What was the city's response to slums which emerged in East Downtown Toronto shortly after the industrialization of the city? How did a local church, All Saints Church, which at one time claimed some of city’s richest citizens as its parishioners, come to open its doors to Toronto’s poorest residents? How did a local park, Allan Gardens, go from being the playground of the rich to being the staging ground for some of the most militant anti-poverty demonstrations in the country? Why are the poor now being displaced and from their own community by the city?

Come and walk in East Downtown Toronto with Gaetan Heroux and find out how the poor survived, organized and fought against relief policies that often left them destitute. Gaetan is an anti-poverty activist with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. He has worked in East Downtown for the last twenty years. Over the last five years Gaetan has been researching the history of how the poor in East Downtown Toronto have resisted and organized.

More information?

Contact the Downtown East Fightback Campaign

eastfightback@gmail.com

416-760-6579

Visit: http://www.ocap.ca/

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

SOLIDARITY MARCH WITH GAETAN HEROUX:

Just a little reminder about an upcoming march in solidarity with Toronto social worker Gaetan Heroux who has been fired for solidarity with his clients. Here's the callout from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).

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REMINDER, TUESDAY: Reinstate Gaetan Heroux: March to Scarborough from Street Health:‏
Reinstate Gaetan Heroux: March to Scarborough from Street Health Homeless Contingent to walk from downtown east to Neighbourhood Link

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** Sign Petition to Reinstate Gaetan (see below) **

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ACTION: March from Street Health to Neighbourhood Link

DATE: Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

TIME: 9 am

LOCATION: Meet at 338 Dundas Street East (Street Health

)Walk approximately two hours to 3036 Danforth Avenue (Neighbourhood Link)

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On December 8th, 2009, much-loved and respected community advocate and activist Gaetan Heroux was fired from his job as a PAID ID worker, by his employer, Neighbourhood Link. Gaetan's dismissal came after he refused to comply with sudden relocation of his office from Street Health, in the downtown east end, to a new location at Victoria Park and Danforth.

The move would have meant Gaetan's work providing identification to poor and homeless people in the downtown east would have been severely compromised, as clients of the PAID Project necessarily require access to workers and their ID at unpredictable times and often on an urgent basis, given the instability of homelessness.

The attempt to move Gaetan came after he spoke up in defence of his colleagues at Street Health, who have been trying to negotiate a fair contract with management for 1.5 years, and have been subject to harassment, threats, and intimidation as a result.

The relocation efforts mean that his employer, Neighbourhood Link, in apparent cooperation with Street Health management, is effectively going to deny people access to a service that is essential to their lives. Gaetan would not stand for this and refused to move. He was subsequently fired.

-------------------------

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

COME OUT AND JOIN THE WALK:

Join a community delegation of homeless people and friends, as we walk to Neighbourhood Link from Street Health in the depth of winter. This long journey is the one which will be required of homeless PAID Project clients if management persists with the plan to move services to the Scarborough offices. When we arrive at Neighbourhood Link, the delegation will requesting a meeting with Executive Director Mary McGowan (a request already sent in writing), to demand the following:

1) respond to the articulated needs of homeless clients and return ID services to the downtown core on a full time basis;

2) reverse the decision to terminate Gaetan Heroux and relocate him back to his office at Street Health.

SIGN THE PETITION:

We will be presenting signatures already collected in support of Gaetan and the return of PAID ID work to the Street Health location. Add your name to this new electronic petition and join all of us in calling for an end to the loss of the heart of Street Health: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/12/petition-in-support-of-gaetan-heroux ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sponsored by Friends of Street Health & the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

REINSTATE GAETAN HEROUX:

The following appeal for solidarity comes from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). The case of the dismissal of Gaetan Heroux has been mentioned before here at Molly's Blog.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Reinstate Gaetan Heroux: March to Scarborough from Street Health:‏
Reinstate Gaetan Heroux: March to Scarborough from Street Health Homeless Contingent to walk from downtown east to Neighbourhood Link

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** Sign Petition to Reinstate Gaetan (see below) **

-------------------------------

ACTION: March from Street Health to Neighbourhood Link

DATE: Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

TIME: 9 am

LOCATION: Meet at 338 Dundas Street East (Street Health)Walk approximately two hours to 3036 Danforth Avenue (Neighbourhood Link)

-----------------------------

On December 8th, 2009, much-loved and respected community advocate and activist Gaetan Heroux was fired from his job as a PAID ID worker, by his employer, Neighbourhood Link. Gaetan's dismissal came after he refused to comply with sudden relocation of his office from Street Health, in the downtown east end, to a new location at Victoria Park and Danforth.

The move would have meant Gaetan's work providing identification to poor and homeless people in the downtown east would have been severely compromised, as clients of the PAID Project necessarily require access to workers and their ID at unpredictable times and often on an urgent basis, given the instability of homelessness.

The attempt to move Gaetan came after he spoke up in defence of his colleagues at Street Health, who have been trying to negotiate a fair contract with management for 1.5 years, and have been subject to harassment, threats, and intimidation as a result. The relocation efforts mean that his employer, Neighbourhood Link, in apparent cooperation with Street Health management, is effectively going to deny people access to a service that is essential to their lives. Gaetan would not stand for this and refused to move. He was subsequently fired.

-------------------------

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

COME OUT AND JOIN THE WALK:

Join a community delegation of homeless people and friends, as we walk to Neighbourhood Link from Street Health in the depth of winter. This long journey is the one which will be required of homeless PAID Project clients if management persists with the plan to move services to the Scarborough offices.

When we arrive at Neighbourhood Link, the delegation will requesting a meeting with Executive Director Mary McGowan (a request already sent in writing), to demand the following: 1) respond to the articulated needs of homeless clients and return ID services to the downtown core on a full time basis;

2) reverse the decision to terminate Gaetan Heroux and relocate him back to his office at Street Health.

SIGN THE PETITION:

We will be presenting signatures already collected in support of Gaetan and the return of PAID ID work to the Street Health location. Add your name to this new electronic petition and join all of us in calling for an end to the loss of the heart of Street Health: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/12/petition-in-support-of-gaetan-heroux

------------------------------

Sponsored by Friends of Street Health and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

-----------------------------

&&&&&&&&&&&&

THE PETITION:

Please go to the linl above to sign the following petition addressed to Neighbourhood Link management.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

PETITION IN SUPPORT OF GAETAN HEROUX
Target:
Neighbourhood Link 3036 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON
Sponsored by:
Friends of Street Health
PETITION IN SUPPORT OF GAETAN HEROUX'S REINSTATEMENT AS AN ID WORKER IN THE DOWNTOWN EAST END

By firing Gaetan, his employer, Neighbourhood Link, in apparent cooperation with Street Health management, is effectively denying people access to a service that is essential to their lives. What will happen to people who need to access their ID outside of clinic hours? What will happen to people who cannot afford or are literally unable to travel to Scarborough to get their ID? What will happen to people who urgently need their ID to access social assistance or PNA, who need to be within walking distance of the PAID Project in order to meet their basic needs? Will people be provided with the transit fares they cannot afford, in order to travel to Scarborough? How will they access the additional essential support and services they were able to access when they would come to Gaetan in the downtown East end? Please sign the petition to re-instate Gaetan in the downtown East end!

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

SOLIDARITY RALLY WITH STREET HEALTH WORKERS:

Well, this is definitly more than slightly "last minute", in fact well past it. The demo mentioned below is probably going on at this very moment, but if you live down TO way you might be able to catch some of it. This notice came in late last night from the Ontario Coalition against Poverty (OCAP).

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Rally Tomorrow: GAETAN HEROUX FIRED - WORKERS FACE POSSIBLE LOCK OUT:‏
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WORKERS FACE POSSIBLE LOCK OUT

GAETAN HEROUX FIRED

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RALLY - TUESDAY DECEMBER 15 - NOON

Outside Street Health - 338 Dundas St.East

Solidarity Action to Defend Street Health Workers & Services

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Workers at Street Health in Toronto have been fighting for justice, fair working conditions and a first collective agreement, for over a year and a half. During this time pro-union workers have been pushed out, services understaffed/ and programs have been lost. The latest target is Gaetan Heroux and the PAID ID Project. After defending workers' right to organize and refusing to compromise his program, he has now been fired.

Currently the Street Health management has applied for a "No Board" - to put pressure on workers to take a crappy first collective agreement. It also means they could lock out workers and shut down the agency if they want. No one should be placed under such a threat and vital programs and services CANNOT be placed at risk.

Workers go back to bargaining on December 16th and 17th with management; stand in solidarity with them on Tuesday December 15th at 12 noon to demand:

• FAIR Contract NOW for Street Health Workers

• Give Gaetan his job back – Keep the Services at Street Health

• Board of Directors to Meet with the Friends of Street Health

Fighting for the Heart of Street Health - Friends of Street Health –friendsofstreethealth@gmail.com A coalition of former employees, allies and other supporters of Street Health

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO:

WELFARE WORKER FIRED-POSSIBLE LOCKOUT-DEMONSTRATION:

As was reported earlier here at Molly's Blog City of Toronto welfare worker Gaetan Heroux has refused to go along with his 'strategic transfer" out of the area where he has serviced many clients well. In retaliation he has been fired. Like Gaetan other front line workers in Toronto are being pressured, and a possible lockout looms. The following story and appeal for support at an upcoming solidarity demonstration comes from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).

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Rally: GAETAN HEROUX FIRED - WORKERS FACE POSSIBLE LOCK OUT:‏
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WORKERS FACE POSSIBLE LOCK OUT

GAETAN HEROUX FIRED

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RALLY - TUESDAY DECEMBER 15 - NOON

Outside Street Health - 338 Dundas St.East

Solidarity Action to Defend Street Health Workers & Services

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Workers at Street Health in Toronto have been fighting for justice, fair working conditions and a first collective agreement, for over a year and a half. During this time pro-union workers have been pushed out, services understaffed/ and programs have been lost. The latest target is Gaetan Heroux and the PAID ID Project. After defending workers' right to organize and refusing to compromise his program, he has now been fired.

Currently the Street Health management has applied for a "No Board" - to put pressure on workers to take a crappy first collective agreement. It also means they could lock out workers and shut down the agency if they want. No one should be placed under such a threat and vital programs and services CANNOT be placed at risk.

Workers go back to bargaining on December 16th and 17th with management, stand in solidarity with them on Tuesday December 15th at 12 noon to demand:

• FAIR Contract NOW for Street Health Workers

• Give Gaetan his job back – Keep the Services at Street Health

• Board of Directors to Meet with the Friends of Street Health

Fighting for the Heart of Street Health - Friends of Street Health friendsofstreethealth@gmail.com

A coalition of former employees, allies and other supporters of Street Health

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-TORONTO:

EMERGENCY RALLY FOR GAETAN HEROUX:

The following appeal for an emergency demonstration on the 7th (next Monday) is from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).

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EMERGENCY RALLY:

December 7th ~ Ultimatum To Gaetan Heroux:MOVE or be FIRED!‏:
** please forward widely **

EMERGENCY RALLY!! EMERGENCY RALLY!!

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ULTIMATIUM TO GAETAN HEROUX:

Employers threaten: Move or you will be fired

--------------------

EMERGENCY RALLY!! EMERGENCY RALLY!!

---------------------

!! COME OUT TO SUPPORT GAETAN IN HIS REFUSAL TO LEAVE THE DOWNTOWN EAST!!

DATE: Monday, December 7th, 2009

TIME: 9 a.m.

PLACE: Street Health

338 Dundas Street East

(just east of Sherbourne, on Dundas St., north side)

----------------------

URGENT: Gaetan Heroux has been told he must move to a new location at Victoria Park & Danforth office this coming Monday, December 7. He has been told that he will be FIRED if doesn't show up at the new office on that day.

Gaetan is refusing to go. He has informed Neighbourhood Link and Street Health that, on the morning of December 7th, 2009, Gaetan will be going to work at Street Health as he has been doing for the last ten years.

Street Health & Neighbourhood Link have issued this serious ultimatum which puts Gaetan in a very real danger of losing his job. It is essential that we all come out to support Gaetan!

For more information, call OCAP: 416.925.6939 / ocap@tao.ca / www.ocap.ca

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Please join us in supporting Gaetan Heroux, a deeply respected, much-loved, and invaluable mentor, leader, and friend in the struggle for dignity and justice for homeless and poor people, who has been a front-line worker at Dundas and Sherbourne for the past 20 years. Gaetan has provided ID clinics and drop-in services, and fostered deep relationships with community members, for years - all of this is now in jeopardy.

By moving Gaetan, his employer, Neighbourhood Link, in apparent cooperation with Street Health management, will effectively deny people access to a service that is essential to their lives. What will happen to people who need to access their ID outside of clinic hours? What will happen to people who cannot afford or are literally unable to travel to Scarborough? What will happen to people who urgently need their ID, to access social assistance or PNA, who need to be within walking distance of the PAID Project in order to meet their basic needs? Will people be provided with the transit fares they cannot afford, in order to travel to Scarborough? What about the additional essential support people have gained by accessing Street Health for other services, when they have come to the agency to access Gaetan?

It seems illogical that ID clinics located only minutes away from Gaetan's administrative office at Street Health will now be more than an hour away from his new location. It also seems illogical to sever Gaetan's deep and consistent connection with those he has worked with for years. The move to relocate Gaetan away from the east end comes after he and fellow ID workers wrote a letter of support for the unionized staff at Street Health. This decision will greatly decrease Gaetan's access to the people who need his services, as well as cause a great disruption to his own life. Please come out next Monday to support Gaetan and all the workers at Street Health who are fighting for a fair and timely contract!

------------------------

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Street Health is an agency in Toronto that provides health, outreach, support, and ID services to homeless and under-housed people, primarily in the downtown east end. It is seen by many as providing some of the most innovative and user-friendly programs for poor and homeless people in the city. Many OCAP members and supporters rely on Street Health and its staff on a regular basis, and we view this agency as an essential part of the downtown east community.

We are greatly concerned with union busting activities that have been taking place at Street Health. Since the workers at the agency joined CUPE Local 4308 in April 2008, Street Health management has delayed bargaining a first collective agreement, has created an atmosphere of intimidation towards those who signed union cards, and overseen a recent failed attempt to decertify the union by staff members who have management's open and visible support. Since March 2009, Street Health has lost over 50 years (at least 12 staff members) of experience and connection with the community it serves. In particular, we are shocked at the most recent reprisal against one of OCAP's own members, for supporting his peers at Street Health in their efforts to unionize.

Several days after Gaetan Heroux and his co-workers at the PAID ID Project (a Neighbourhood Link agency program that has a worker operating out of Street Health - Gaetan) sent a letter supporting the unionized workers to the Street Health Board of Directors, Gaetan was informed that he would be forced to relocate to Scarborough. Gaetan has provided ID clinics and drop-in services, and fostered deep relationships with community members, for years. This decision not only means a cut to services to new immigrants, poor and homeless people in the downtown east, but it also means the driving out of a deeply respected activist who has dedicated his life to fighting poverty and injustice.

Gaetan is an invaluable, experienced worker whom Street Health should have protected at all costs. This mean-spirited relocation will pose a significant hardship on him and his clients. Recent actions taken by management toward the staff at Street Health are creating a negative effect on the important services that Street Health provides.

For more information, call OCAP: 416.925.6939 / ocap@tao.ca / www.ocap.ca

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-TORONTO:

EAST DOWNTOWN TORONTO:

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Here's a notice from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) about a lecture coming up this Thursday down Toronto way.

Thurs April 9: Gaetan Heroux Talk on the Downtown East End at U of T‏:
The Department of Planning at the University of Toronto is hosting Gaetan Heroux as a distinguished community planner.Please come out!

**** please forward widely **** ----

"Relief and Resistance: A Poor People's History of East Downtown Toronto"

Gaetan Heroux, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

When: Thursday April 9th, 2009 4.00-6.00pm

Where: Room 2125, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street

East Downtown Toronto is the city's oldest working class neighborhood. It was once the home to some of Toronto's wealthiest residents. Today, Toronto's "skid row" is located in the heart of East Downtown Toronto, and the area has one of largest concentration of social housing in Canada. The current gentrification of the area threatens the very existence of this working class neighborhood which has become a staging ground for some of Canada's most militant anti-poverty demonstrations in since the mid1990's.

How did this transition happen? What was the relationship of Toronto's wealthy philanthropists and church organizations to the "vagrants" and"tramps" who were flooding the city and East Downtown Toronto at the turn of the 19th century and onward? What role did Toronto's poor houses play in the lives of poor people in the area? What was the city's response to slums which emerged in the area shortly have the industrialization of Toronto? How did a local church, which at one time was the church of some of Toronto's most affluent residents, come to open its doors to some of Toronto's poorest residence? How did the local park go from being the playground of the rich to the rallying grounds of the poor? Why are poor people being displaced from Toronto's oldest working class neighborhood?

These are the questions that the presentation will attempt to answer.

*About Gaetan Heroux:*

Mr. Heroux is an anti-poverty activist with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and an Identification Outreach Worker with the Street Health Community Nursing Foundation. For the last twenty years he has worked with homeless and low-income people in East Downtown Toronto, has served on a number of steering committees related to poverty, homelessness and violence and has been a featured speaker at public events, panel discussions, rallies and workshops on poverty in cities across Ontario and Quebec. Mr. Heroux is currently working on a book on the history of East Downtown Toronto.

For more information, contact Ayesha Alli, alli@geog.utoronto.ca * 416-946-0269