Wednesday, October 24, 2018

FOLKS, IT IS COLD OUTSIDE ... PLEASE DEMAND SOMETHING BETTER!


I heard that more people are dying from drug overdoses in the streets of St. Catharines over the past few years.  One time, I was sitting with friends at a downtown Tim Hortons, only to be witness to yet another fire engine, an ambulance and a police car careening to a stop in front of the old courthouse downtown.  I watched as somebody carried a body on a stretcher into the ambulance, and slowly the small crowd gathering around there disappeared.  Doug Ford's answer to this was to de-fund existing sites, or refuse to fund new supervised injections sites.  This, in favour of the many unsupervised sites that are now inhabited by many of "the people" that Ford does not speak for,  The "people" are dying everyday; occasionally, saved by somebody that will call fire or police to the scene to get naxalone to the person on time.  Many times, we only have minutes.  This goes on while they continue to "study" the issue in the legislature, as the community tries to bring attention to this issue.


Vigil after vigil attempts to explain to the broken people out there that their lives are valuable and for them not to throw it away; however, Ontario's "government for the people" has quietly shown us just whose lives are more valuable than the rest of ours ... Ford's government has decided that cuts to mental health services is the best way to resolve these issues.  Increased funding to the police at the same time appears the way to go with these folks, so that we can further criminalize the poor and the homeless, thinking this will make these problems go away.

Over the past several weeks, the news brought to our doorstep the reality of what goes on in "the people's" lives.  At least two (the ones that were publicized anyways) people jumped over the Burgoyne Bridge and onto the highway below, leaving the roads blocked by police for hours as they investigate what many of us already know: people are taking their lives more often in the past few months.  Calls for a suicide barrier, a fence or netting have made its rounds, but sadly this is another expensive band-aid for that bridge that has already costed taxpayers about $91 million.  To put barriers up, it would be yet another cost, as folks found out in Toronto when they wanted to stop people from jumping the Bloor Viaduct.  Millions of dollars went into the construction of the so-called "luminous veil", but the suicide rates in Toronto did not go down.  As somebody I knew told me at the time, if somebody really wanted to die, they will simply find another way.

In the meantime, many folks on the front line are literally walking on tenterhooks, worried about what Doug Ford has planned for the most vulnerable people on November 8, 2018, particularly those that rely on Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program.  While many receiving OW can work, there are still too many that fell into that system who are waiting to be placed on ODSP.  To make people on OW suffer, this means it is okay to make many people with disabilities suffer ... Again, these are still part of "the people" of Ontario; henceforth, with lives that are not nearly as valued as the well heeled that will be needlessly rewarded with cuts to their taxes, as less revenue is generation to provide vital health and services other "people" need.  

Some of us believe that Ford is planning to create a crisis of sorts. He followed former Premier Mike Harris' playbook by cutting deep, acting fast and blocking as much opposition before it can be formed, even daring to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to force a mid-election change in the number of Toronto council seats.  The news adds a type of contagion in the community that puts a black cloud over the heads of every person who works with those folks in the community, on the streets and in the mental health "system" (if we can call it that).  Some of this is certainly playing in the minds of at least few who have taken their lives, while most anticipate a bigger spike after November 8, 2018, if all that is being predicted with Ford's new 'social assistance system' rears its ugly head, as believed.  Those of us who were around back in the days of Harris know about the inquests, public inquiries and contempt for the public, while a number of people who died under Harris' iron fist.  We try to tell people who refuse to remember history, that they are bound to repeat it.  Sadly, many of us believe this may be too late, at least as far as Ford is concerned.

Poverty costs us a lot of money.  It costs more on a per capita basis to keep any individual poor, than it would to get that same person out of poverty.  Some say it can cost up to $100,000 a year or more to keep one person living on the streets, as opposed to putting them into safe, affordable housing.  Poverty costs us as well in terms of safety in our communities as well, both real and perceived.  It is also easy to understand that minor thefts and property crimes also go up dramatically in response to community impoverishment.  How do we know that poverty is costing us?  The signs would include hearing about how funds appear to be added to the police budget, when everything else is cut.  There appears to be louder cries for harder, tougher sentences for anybody caught on the wrong side of the law.  These things also cost us money, yet do nothing to stop the crime.

At the current time, the UK Government has been internationally criticized and monitored by human rights groups for its deep cuts it made to people with disabilities.  There has been a report of over 120,000 people dying as a direct or indirect result of these cuts over the past few years.  Reports such as this should get the International Criminal Court and groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch interested, as it was not that long ago in the 1930's that the Nazis saw fit to directly kill approximately 300,000 persons with disabilities (others say over 400,000), given that such persons were seen as non-productive and of no value.  In fact, it was reported that at one of the six facilities involved, after staff cremated their 10,000th body, they celebrated with beer.

While it would be certainly unacceptable today to take people with disabilities to gas chambers or to take them behind the woodshed to shoot them, our modern governments have created new ways to control this population.  That is through denial of basic needs, cutting necessary services for survival and attempting to force them into their definition of what passes for "productive".  This is what is happening in the UK today and leading to a disproportionate number of deaths among people with disabilities.

The whole concept of valuing human lives comes with its own irony.  Many of those in the anti-abortion movement press for laws that would protect the unborn from a mother that seeks to terminate her pregnancy.  They argue that the unborn child has "rights" and that one of those "rights" is the right to be born and to live.  However, many of these same people in the anti-abortion movement also support political parties that promote deep cuts to welfare, health care programs, supports to single mothers and mental health services.  It is almost as though that a "right to life" exists upon conception, but disappears shortly after birth, especially if that child is born into a family that is poor, disabled or of an ethnic minority in certain culturally homogeneous countries.

Our times are changing rapidly, which means many people do not understand the political and socio-cultural changes developing around them.  Most people seem to notice "more homeless people", "more food banks" and some people feel bothered by panhandlers seeking pocket change.  Many of us turn to social media, which often turns us to hateful sites or to posts that serve to denigrate these parts of our community that most need our support.  The concept of dignity and human rights is poorly understood by most.  These principles do not comes with money or celebrity.  They come naturally with any human being that lives.

I've noticed more bullying of homeless people, as well as facilities attempting to push homeless people away.  Banks are routinely locking up their ATM's at night, fences and spike coverings are placed in laneways where homeless often seek to lie down, and panhandlers are chased away from businesses and told to "move along".  They are often unwelcome in coffee shops and enclosed malls due to their appearance.  The idea of "homeless" is too often linked to "mental illness", when it is known that only a portion of those without a home suffer from such disability.  Further, it can be argued that how we treat people who are homeless can often lead to depression, anxiety and a tenuous grip on one's will to survive.

It is these trends that I am fearing, often for good reason.  My own community has had three random shootings this year.  These are the incidents where the shooter aims at anybody at random, and not specific to gang violence as we know it.  There has been a rash of stabbings downtown.  Some people are afraid to walk the street alone at night, especially in some of the seedier areas of the city.  My community has been identified as having at least the second highest rate of opioid deaths in the province.  With Doug Ford turning his attention away from this issue, it indicates to me that this form of genocide is policy.  I have also heard many of his supporters post on social media to say that allowing these people to die or commit suicide will save us all money over the long run, which again sadly reminds me of the Nazi's pre-holocaust extermination of people with disabilities.

For those of you reading this, we need change.  We need to change the attitudes of people in the community to start valuing all of its members, as everybody has a story to tell, something to offer.  We need to move away from the idea that "cutting the bums off welfare" will save us money, but understanding that once this is done, the so-called "bums" are not going to disappear.  We need to call out hate crimes against the vulnerable and hold those that perpetrate them accountable, even if some of them happen to be members of our so-called elected governments.  Lastly, we will leave you with this sad video that has opened my eyes in many ways over the years, and led me to develop an understanding of the word "dignity".

See video.  We are not claiming any rights to this video, but I recommend people watch it after they read this blog, so they can understand what is happening to people today.

Thoughts?