serendipityoucity

In the spring of this year I attended a conference in Calgary on the topic of homelessness in Canada.  I attended all the francophone sessions since, well, they were not going to be well attended in that town, and also I wanted to hear about how researchers in Quebec think about this issue.  I listened in to a session given by Celine Bellot on Judiciarisation et criminalisation des populations itinérantes à Montréal.  This research is the result of the Collectif de recherche sur l’itinérance, la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale (CRI) that has produced much interesting trans-disciplinary work on the topic.

In Calgary Bellot reported the fines homeless people had received in Montreal, the fine arrears that homeless people accumulated and how eventually these unpaid fines lead to jail terms.  The fines are for spitting, sleeping on a park bench, etc.  Her research demonstrated that it is incredibly expensive, let alone regressive, to imprison and administer these accumulated fines and that it might in fact be cheaper to find a way to house these people!  Go figure!  Her research also led to a reduction in arrests.

Today I read an Op-Ed on the same topic Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor? The issues are the same as those discussed by Bellot and cities are jumping on the bandwagon of criminalizing corporeal necessities, public addiction and mental illnesses performed in public spaces.

But what of the absence of public washrooms, water fountains, community showers, coop laundromats, clean safe spaces for people to rest, the reduction in mental health beds and the lack of a social and health infrastructure?  The Op-Ed was inspired by a new report Homes Not Handcuffs by the The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and The National Coalition for the Homeless.

And if that is not bad enough, as institutions are banding against the homeless, society is lashing out with an increase in violence against them (e.g. bum Fights, random murders, setting them on fire, rapes and easy targets for teenage violence).  These Attacks on Homeless Bring a Push on Hate Crime Laws in US Cities.

Wot! In both instances we revert to the law and not social change!  What have we become? 

Last night my son and I walked through a bunch of shortcuts to get to the Bytowne Theater.  We walked through small greenspaces on the edge of overpasses, through parking lots, construction zones and by the Shepherds of Good Hope.  We saw a woman using the park as a washroom, a group of drunken men hanging out behind the shelter along a chain linked fence surrounded by trash, we saw a few men laying about Rideau street watching the construction.  On the way home, we walked along Rideau street toward the Rideau Centre.  My son mentioned that it seemed like every other person we walked by looked like a criminal, and he was right, at least like the stereotypes. We saw a couple of drug deals, we saw a fight, lots of public drunkenness, beggars, and there were plenty of disenfranchised and rough looking youth hanging around, some with babies in carriages.  The bus shelter no longer had windows with trash and cigarette butts everywhere!  Woooo!  Ottawa!  What have we become, the Nations capital, but 3 blocks from parliament, there is hell on the streets.  The city is empty of Ottawa locals, full of tourists and people who cannot afford to leave town for the weekend and the homeless.  My son asked me why we took these routes?  I mentioned that we need to see all sides of the city, the good with the bad, the beautiful with the ugly, and we need to remind ourselves or our good fortune and to not forget to work for the less fortunate because in the end it is us who have created this.  Yes us!