A protest was held on Friday night at the Integrated Care Hub (ICH) in Kingston, Ontario, to alert the community of the potential for impending evictions.
Sayyida Jaffer, a member of Mutual Aid Katarokwi-Kingston (MAKK), thinks that nobody should be made to go somewhere they don’t want to.
Residents of a nearby encampment community and a few of its supporters came together to protest the evictions mandated by the campsite protocol.
According to Margaret Halliday, a Kingston resident without housing, “We were forced to relocate out of here, and being kicked out of here, has brought up a lot of stress.” And we’re under enough stress already from spending so much time outside in the cold.
The organisation is urging the city to abandon its intentions to evict those who are camping on city property during the fall and winter.
According to Jaffer, “We know that if the city moves forward with an eviction, we know that additional individuals will likely migrate further into the woods and away from one another and services.” And such services, like the ICH, keep people alive, which raises the possibility that someone will die from a drug overdose while in the woods.
Locals supported their homeless downtown neighbours by attending the event, like business owner Justine Scala.
The co-owner of the Minotaur says, “I extend an invitation to anyone who does spend time begging on Princess Street to come by the store, grab some water, use the restroom, whatever they need.”
“I think of downtown as a community, and I think everyone deserves to be treated with respect regardless of where they are from,” Scala continues.
Things are moving toward politics for Halliday.
“None of us cast regular votes. I’m talking about everybody that lives in a tent.
We don’t generally vote because we just lack identification, but you may register and cast your ballot online, according to Halliday. We can probably change things if we vote.
Halliday claims that she could get at least 100 non-voters to cast ballots in the upcoming municipal election.
Sue Deuchars, an overdose prevention support worker at the ICH, says the municipal government needs to provide the unhoused with the necessities.
We’re discussing supportive, low-barrier housing. We’re discussing tailored to income,” Deuchars claims.
We’re discussing a wide range of options to meet the various requirements in our neighbourhood.
The event comes at the same time as a letter asking the city to suspend the encampment procedure, which has been signed by numerous encampment occupants and supporters, as well as a petition with 600 signatures from the larger community.
Kingstonians without homes and their allies protest the encampment procedure outside the ICH.
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