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Canada Homeless

HUGE Rate Of Mental Illness Here

CP | Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press | Posted 06.17.2013 | Canada Alberta

CALGARY - A study has found there is an "overwhelmingly high" rate of undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric illness among Calgary's homeless populatio...

Kind Gestures Last a Lifetime

Phil Froats | Posted 05.07.2013 | Canada Impact
Phil Froats

Issac Newton said that for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. While this may be true for physics, it certainly does not carry over into interpersonal matters. Often the gentlest of gestures, smallest of actions or the quietest of whispered kind words will have an avalanche effect on the lives of others.

How Economic Action Plan 2013 Could End Homelessness in Canada

Sam Tsemberis | Posted 04.30.2013 | Canada Impact
Sam Tsemberis

Something largely overlooked by wide media coverage of the federal government's Economic Action Plan 2013 was that it marked a significant change in the way we will tackle homelessness in this country. The policy lens dramatically shifts from supports for "helping the homeless" to "ending homelessness."

Good Neighbours Club: Giving Toronto's Homeless Elderly a Second Chance

Mariah Griffin-Angus | Posted 06.05.2013 | Canada Impact
Mariah Griffin-Angus

With his thick moustache and faded prison tattoos Pierre was no stranger to a life lived rough. But you'd never know it if you sat down and had a coffee with him. He had a gentle bearing and spoke impeccable English and French. He had a rap sheet taller than me but he never hurt anyone.

Experts Give Ottawa Advice On Homelessness Approach

CP | Heather Scoffield, The Canadian Press | Posted 05.31.2013 | Canada Impact

OTTAWA - Canada should not limit its new approach to homelessness to only people with mental illness or those who are perpetually on the streets, says...

My Bullied Daughter's Loneliness Haunted Me

Amber Rehman | Posted 04.27.2013 | Canada Living
Amber Rehman

My daughter would come home sad everyday. She would cry every week. We would have pep talks regularly, but I could not mend her broken heart. I could not take back the words kids said to my child. Her loneliness haunted me. As a mother, I was watching a child dying on the inside. It was like watching a beautiful flower wilting in the cold.

Homeless Youth Get Voice With Digital Media Room

John F. Gray | Posted 04.23.2013 | Canada British Columbia
John F. Gray

With support from Electronics Arts, the Directions Youth Services media room helps street youth find the voice many never realized was inside them. Co-ordinator Colin Ford and the staff teach music, art, audio recording, film-making, computer literacy, digital media skills and teamwork. They provide an opportunity for social inclusion and creative expression where it might not have existed before.

Helping the Homeless Through Winter

Jody Steinhauer | Posted 04.15.2013 | Canada Impact
Jody Steinhauer

Project Winter Survival is a remarkable event where volunteers come together to help the homeless survive the cold winters. With the growing Canada-wide demand for Project Winter Survival's kits, being able to help as many of the homeless as possible is what my Bargains Group team pushes for, and this year were able to pack and distribute 3,000 kits.

Toronto Hospital Forges Innovative Path For The Homeless

The Huffington Post Canada | Dileen Simms | Posted 03.14.2013 | Canada Impact

Despite all the advantages we have in Canada, homelessness is a reality for far too many citizens — and besides being a serious social problem, it's...

In Vancouver: Homeless and Desperate for Help

Jody Steinhauer | Posted 03.31.2013 | Canada Impact
Jody Steinhauer

Despite all my work with the homeless in Toronto, I had never seen such a concentration of people so desperate for help. There were crowds huddled in doorways purchasing and injecting drugs openly. I was scared. And I was ashamed that I was scared amongst the people I had always tried to support.

Fixing Homelessness Means Putting Housing First

Stephen Hwang | Posted 03.25.2013 | Canada
Stephen Hwang

Homelessness is more than a social issue, it's a health issue. At Home/Chez Soi has housed about 1,000 people with mental illness in five cities across Canada. Many of them are thriving. A chronic lack of affordable housing and stable employment opportunities that pay a living wage for low-skilled workers are often the reason people end up homeless in the first place.

Project Winter Survival: Giving the Homeless Hope

Jody Steinhauer | Posted 03.23.2013 | Canada Impact
Jody Steinhauer

Project Winter Survival "Distribution Day" was so inspiring I just have to share the story with everyone!!! On a Saturday morning, my Bargains Group ...

Canada's Emergency Shelters Open

CBC | Posted 03.01.2013 | Canada British Columbia

As the temperature drops in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver's emergency shelters will be open again tonight to provide a safe space for the homeless. ...

What Being Homeless for a Week Taught Me

Taj Hall | Posted 12.10.2012 | Canada
Taj Hall

The hardest part of that week was trying to maintain some semblance of normality in every other aspect of my life. I tell this story for one reason: to highlight the incredible resilience of those living on the streets. I was fortunate. My experience was fleeting, and yet, that brief stint of not having a place to call home impacted me greatly.

WATCH: In the Kitchen with Mr. MadDogg

NFB | Oisin Curran | Posted 12.03.2012 | Canada British Columbia

From the NFB, Here At Home is an interactive documentary offering a look inside At Home, a radical experiment to end chronic homelessness. Led by the ...

What's Cheaper? Giving Homeless Person Shelter Or Services?

CP | Heather Scoffield, The Canadian Press | Posted 11.24.2012 | Canada Impact

OTTAWA - A new study says there's a consensus forming on how to fix one of the most stubborn social problems: homelessness.The study by Stephen Gaetz,...

When You Ask "How's it Going?" Are You Prepared to Hear the Answer?

Taj Hall | Posted 11.03.2012 | Canada Impact
Taj Hall

Until I started working at The Mustard Seed, an organization working with individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty, I asked and was asked "how are you?" a lot. The reply I got was almost always the same: "I'm good, thanks, and you?" But one girl changed my mind, and taught me to listen. As important as I've realized this practice is in everyday relationships, it is even more important when working with vulnerable populations.

A Holocaust Survivor's Message to Homeless Teens: A Better Life is Possible

Avrum Rosensweig | Posted 10.25.2012 | Canada
Avrum Rosensweig

I am sitting in the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto, with Ve'ahavta Street Academy (VSA) students. VSA is a school for the homeless and near homeless. As a Holocaust survivor begins to relay her tale of struggle, I wonder, what are the addicts and former addicts thinking when the presentation is summed up with, "This isn't a very happy story"? But they are alike: They have all survived one more day.

Why Our Family Spent Father's Day With the Homeless

Bernie Farber | Posted 08.18.2012 | Canada Living
Bernie Farber

This past Father's Day our family chose to spend Sunday as volunteers with the Jewish humanitarian relief organization Evangel Hall in downtown Toronto serving meals to the homeless. It was an experience we will not soon forget.

Canada's Housing Crisis Goes Beyond Attawapiskat

Rob Rainer | Posted 03.04.2012 | Canada Politics
Rob Rainer

Housing is increasingly unaffordable for many. Federal support for housing has plummeted and could decrease further in an era of so-called fiscal restraint. The numbers point to more and more households unable to meet, or at risk of not meeting, basic needs including housing. Something's gotta give.

P.E.I. Church Issues Gift Guide For Homeless

CBC | Posted 01.07.2012 | Canada Business

A Charlottetown church is working with Grandmother's House women's shelter to make a few people's Christmases happier. Calvar...

Brian Sinclair Was 'Ignored to Death'

Christopher J. Fries | Posted 11.23.2011 | Canada
Christopher J. Fries

'Medicalization' is the term used by sociologists to describe the tendency to understand aspects of social life as medical issues requiring intervention and control on the part of medicine. In Sinclair's case, he became stigmatized as a homeless person -- mentally ill, an addict.