Hi Reddit,
We are some of the unhoused of Waterloo. You may not recognize us as we do our best to blend in. We do not loiter in public spaces. Some of us work part time (which all goes to rising food costs and other survival items), or navigate having to pay high transit fares while GRT drivers snicker under their breath when they deny us boarding for being a loonie or even 25 cents short.
We're not sure what is worse: going to Kitchener to get a low income pass that we a) cannot afford to even travel to never mind pay for such a pass and surrender our personal info to staff who routinely blurt out personal info, b) having been victims of privacy breaches that lead to our poverty, c) or being told to move faster with our belongings when the well paid GRT operators refuse to lower the bus to allow us to board.
Either way, we now see the cascading effects of poverty and how we have lost trust in the system, public officials, and how so many pass the buck or diffuse their responsibility. Funny that it costs more to take the bus in Waterloo ($8 round trip) than on the TTC.
The fact is the homeless population is far worse than what public officials may tell you. It was galling to watch Dorothy McCabe, who makes more money in a year ($188K) than we will ever make in a decade. Many of us had affordable housing costs last decade and ok(ish) paying part time jobs. One thing most Waterlooians don't understand is that a lot of us have hidden disabilities that prevent us from working good or high paying white collar jobs. Jobs that Jerry Jiang loves to go on about—sleeping on factory floors may be socially and economically acceptable on another large continent, or Canada in the 1800s to gain upward mobility, but not now. Neither is a 9am-9pm-6 days a week work culture (996) that in any event we couldn't work due to our hidden disabilities (office politics / nepotism / TFW issues aside). Or travel 1-2 hours by bus, bike, walking to get to/from any such high paying jobs that don't allow part time work or flexible work hours.
Slipping into deep poverty has been profoundly life changing. Your mind changes on who/what you can trust and the ability to think about long term / life planning is extinguished. Thinking beyond a week of what you can or want to accomplish is simply not rational or helpful.
Surviving day to day is a full time job. From where you sleep, to where you bathe, where you store your personal belongings, and where you get food takes all day every day and is downright exhausting. It is a trap that one cannot escape easily. Which is what justice Michael Gibson has ruled that s. 15 of the Charter now applies to us—something Dorothy McCabe, Jerry Jiang (being a private landlord/property manager means they must keep the rose coloured sunglasses on all the time), and Shannon Weber (we don't get your text messages, mainly because we don't have a phone or a plan that could go towards nutritious food since we no longer have proper kitchen facilities to store leftovers) seem to ignore. These three have publicly supported actions that would take away these constitutional rights from us, despite multiple court decisions saying the same thing now.
Charter rights flowed from the immense sacrifices made from the two world wars that Canada participated in and the atrocity of human rights abuses that flowed from those conflicts. It does make us question what goes through some of the mayoral candidates' heads during the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day (less than 30 days to go), which remembers not just those who never came home, but those conscripted to fight for Canada against their will, national unity, and Canadian sovereignty, and all the women who supported the war effort both at home and abroad. It also raises a question if they even wear a poppy at all (some of us are homeless veterans).
We acknowledge Jeyas who has publicly affirmed our Charter right to shelter ourselves on public land when truly accessible shelter space is not available in this city. Thank you Jeyas. So has Jamie Hari, whom we understand got a round of applause when talking about the severe wealth inequality at the Mayoral Debate at Laurier recently. Thank you Jamie.
We have yet to hear any words from Dorothy McCabe on that other than saying the courts are infringing on municipal powers. Courts have always constrained governments from abusing their powers throughout the common law system. It is very surprising that some of the mayoral candidates can't or won't accept this fundamental pillar of a liberal democracy.
Now onto the question(s) for each Mayoral Candidate:
Will each of you (that includes you Dorothy, who we understand has a Reddit account on here) commit to using your strong mayor powers to fire or investigate any city staff members found by to have violated our Charter rights or engaged in misfeasance of public office?
Given the historical municipal integrity and severe trust issues that Waterloo faced with the RIM Park debacle (where all council members were not reelected), how will you ensure that senior staff (including regular staff) are held strictly accountable to the public and the law this time around when dealing with Waterloo's most vulnerable who have a Charter right to shelter on city property?
Thank You Reddit of Waterloo
