Canada is the twentieth most prosperous country in the world, that is why it is the dream of thousands of people
who emigrate here each year, but this is the other view of the country, a reality that no one wants to
see through the eyes of more than a million of Canadians living in extreme poverty, living on the
streets for them the Canadian dream is just that, a dream according to Statistics Canada the
official number of homeless people in the country is more than 235,000 but the organization falls and
a survey conducted by Nanos Research they say otherwise more than 5% of Canadians have been
homeless at some point in their lives this is equivalent to more than 1.6 million
Canadians while 31% of Canadians have a relative who has been or you are
homeless addiction problems are not the only causes that generate this street situation for
hundreds of Canadians, each year thousands of people are left homeless here for reasons they never
imagined toronto occupies the lu gar number 13 of the richest cities in the world only after
Chicago and San Francisco and is also the home of Paul, a 43-year-old Canadian who has lived on the street
for six years he owned a company with which he builds houses In Toronto, everything was going
very well until he had an accident while working after his injury, a depression came,
family problems and he was on the street, many people would not imagine that he is part of the more
than a million Canadians who have become homeless. The same happens with Frank and he is 28 years old and
for the last six months he has slept in a tent under a bridge in Toronto he lives in
extreme poverty in the middle of one of the most expensive cities in the country Frank and lost his job
in a restaurant During the pandemic and without a stable job he lost his home after that
things only got worse but they are not exceptional cases the reality is that only
the city of Toronto has more homeless people than n never before in its history and what you see here
is a reflection of what happens in the country, but how is it possible that the country to which many emigrate to
prosper has more than a million Canadians in these conditions of extreme poverty?
There are many reasons why people are left homeless in Canada but the main ones
always start with the same pattern, job loss, divorce, mental illness, health
problems and unfortunately the people most at risk of being homeless are the women
children and Canadian indigenous communities in fact 27 percent of people who use
shelters are women according to statistics Canada nationwide almost 2 million women live on
low income and are in danger of not having the money to rent a home
but the most alarming thing is that 1 in 4 homeless people are indigenous, the reality
is that they are 8 times more likely to stay on the streets especially in Toronto and
Vancouver this is mainly due to the historical generational trauma of which they have been victims.
Basically their lands were stolen by the British and French, even thousands of
children were killed and others separated from their families forever in the so-called residential
schools of the Canadian government where another language was imposed on them, another culture, they were relegated
to the most inhospitable areas of the country. And on top of that, many of them are victims of discrimination
and racism, which keeps them in the most extreme poverty line that the country has another alarming data
revealed by Statistics Canada is that of homeless children who are growing at an
alarming rate to have a better idea one in seven living in a homeless shelter
is a child. Approximately 20 percent of homeless people are between
13 and 25 years old, this problem affects the education of children who are in this condition,
their development and also their medical care, as a result, there are rates
among children who are homeless. extremely high dropout rates, participation in crimes and victims
of human trafficking, the vicious circle that prevents them from leaving the streets is the lack of money
to pay for a home and when they stay on the street and face depression and hunger, many people steal
in order to subsist and with a criminal record and without a valid address it is almost impossible for
someone to give them a job and once they enter that impasse the next step
is drugs and alcohol on that road to get out of there is almost impossible but people who
do not have a home in Canada face a mortal danger unlike other countries in the world the
climate according to Environment Canada more than 80 people die each year overexposure to the cold and the
homeless are at exceptional risk. Just last year 34 people were frozen to death
on the streets of Toronto earlier this year in Saskatchewan the story of a
homeless person shocked the country by a 49-year-old man who was trying to enter a
business to take refuge from the cold and who died of hypothermia after I ran him despite the fact
that during the winter Canada providing shelters are often not available for the
homeless and with the space limitations that the pandemic has produced, things
have only gotten worse for them in the beginning This year in Montreal, the body of a homeless man
was found in freezing temperatures a few meters from a shelter that had closed early
due to a Covid outbreak Rafael Andrew, 51, was pronounced dead early on a Sunday
after being discovered next to a portable toilet where he had stayed the day
before, Montreal health officials had forced to close the open door shelter that
normally It was open 24 hours, Rafael did not have a place to sleep that night and
the increase of thousands of Canadians more homeless aggravated by the uncomfortable pandemic,
many people in the country bothered the city authorities when they saw their
parks invaded Streets and public spaces with tents or makeshift houses under bridges
also make city residents uncomfortable under the huge contrast that exists between
the city's luxury condos and the people who sleep on the streets. In Toronto a man
named Khalil who is dedicated to building houses decided to build these
small insulated wooden houses for free against the cold to keep warm the homeless
Canadians of Toronto, in this way he would prevent them from dying of cold soon the small houses
started to be seen more and more in the midst of parks, streets, bridges, and in public spaces, this
bothered the city and its inhabitants who complained not only about the urban image but also about the
invasion of public spaces, so the city of Toronto sued Khalil to stop
building these houses for the homeless, arguing that the small mobile homes were
a fire hazard to the city, Khalil stopped building these free houses and the
city ​​of Toronto removed the mobile shelters evicting all homeless people. home that
inhabited them, to compensate them the city of Toronto undertook an initiative that at
first seemed extraordinary, this sun It would have been a quiet neighborhood but now the phones of
those who live here are full of photographs and videos like these needles used for the use of
substances thrown in piles on the streets near the hotel, piles of garbage on every
corner and even human waste in the streets. Smelly streets some residents
of this place say they come across these things every day since the city decided to
turn this prestigious 4-star hotel into a temporary homeless shelter,
formerly called Novotel, for a long time this The building had functioned as a four-
star hotel that received tourists and travelers from all over the world, but during the pandemic, the city
of Toronto rented everything to give temporary shelter to people living on the
streets, which at first seemed an extraordinary news has become a real
nightmare for the neighbors and for the owners of this hotel in the networks social the residents
of this hotel have uploaded hundreds of videos of riots caused by the new guests of the
four-star hotel, from street fights, open use of drugs, overdose in the street and even
stabbings that have generated frequent visits by the police and paramedics to this place almost
every day, Home F, irst, the non-profit organization in charge of operating the facilities,
refused to confirm the authenticity of the photos, arguing that giving any statement
would violate the right to privacy of its residents, but the decoration from the walls
the carpets and curtains match the photos available in what was once a hotel
according to documents on the toronto website the city is paying more than $ 600 15 thousand a
month to rent 205 rooms for the homeless but this amount it is nothing
compared to this, the document also says that the city will cover the cost of all damages
and repairs It is the hotel's and will continue to pay rent for as long as it takes
to do so and the cost of the trash the new guests have done could even be
higher than the cost of the accommodation, even though neighbors have continually complained to
The Home First organization that operates the old hotel and with the mayor of the city John Tory
have not obtained a clear answer while the mayor said trying to balance the
attention of the most vulnerable of the city and at the same time maintain the stability of the
neighborhoods and residents is an easy problem and although it is important to say that not all
people living on the streets are addicts or generate conflicts for which if leaving them on
the streets puts their lives at risk putting them in luxury shelters generates social instability