Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josee Houle, who released a report Tuesday on tent encampments across Canada, wants to see the implementation of a response plan by Aug. 31. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
A new report on tent encampments across Canada calls for urgent action from all levels of government to end what the federal housing advocate describes as a “life and death crisis.”
Marie-Josée Houle said her report, released Tuesday, is the first of its kind in Canada. The report — titled Upholding Dignity and Human Rights — outlines six calls to action to address ongoing homeless encampments across Canada.
“It is a physical manifestation of exactly how broken our housing and homelessness system is from coast to coast to coast in Canada. It needs urgent measures,” Houle told CBC News.
“Government must act immediately to save lives.”
Houle launched a review into homeless encampments in February 2023 and released an interim report in October. The final report comes as communities across the country grapple with encampments and residents without safe, consistent shelter.
According to the final report, an estimated 20 to 25 per cent of homeless people across the country live in tent encampments, affecting not just many cities but also rural regions, including northern Saskatchewan, Labrador and Nunavut.
Houle’s report calls for the implementation by Aug. 31 of a national encampments response plan that would ensures that those living in encampments have access to basic necessities, like clean water, food and health care.
It also calls for speedy solutions to permanent housing issues that are driven by federal, provincial and local governments, and that are based on people’s living experience.
“It is an issue of life and death for a lot of people. And so we need immediate action and then we need some long-term action,” said Houle.
“Government is … really good at responding on the immediate but then they forget the last piece, which is about the permanent solutions.”
‘People are dying’: Co-ordinated response needed to housing crisis, advocate says
Lorraine Lam, a housing outreach worker in Toronto, says encampments will keep growing until systemic issues are addressed.
Housing supply not only cause of crisis
While the federal government has “really couched” housing supply issues as the main cause of homelessness, said Houle, more complex issues — including colonialism, trauma and poverty, as well as barriers to the shelter system — are at fault.
While some temporary housing solutions are better than others, she said, they are often unsanitary and cause people to lose sight of the need for long-term measures.
Crews remove possessions from an Edmonton encampment in January, in the wake of eviction orders. The city and local police tore down 2,417 encampments in 2023. (Natasha Riebe/CBC)
“Shelters are important. They’re there for emergencies. That’s not a place for people to live,” said Houle.
“Just because people experiencing homelessness are no longer visibly experiencing homelessness to the public, [it] doesn’t mean that they are not vulnerable anymore or that the issue is solved.”
In St. John’s, concerns about shelters aren’t new. A tent encampment sprang up across the street from Confederation Building, the seat of the provincial government, in October. The encampment later moved to Bannerman Park in the downtown area, and has been reduced from 40 at its height to about a dozen people.
Mark Wilson, a housing advocate who has been volunteering his time with the city’s encampment, said it’s no surprise some people prefer a night in a tent to an overnight stay at a shelter.
“Some of them are disgusting. So why would you want to be there? There are issues of safety in the shelters, as well. People have their stuff stolen,” he said.
“There’s a reason that people are still here and whatever that reason is, they believe it’s better than what they’re being offered.”
‘Give me a door I can lock … and hot water,’ says tent city resident who says for-profit shelters aren’t answer
Gregory McCain says he’s worried a new task force — which was formed to find local solutions to homelessness and housing — will offer rooms in for-profit shelters to people living at the Bannerman Park tent encampment. McCain warns there are safety issues, including drug use, and says he feels much safer living in a tent than accepting that option.
He agrees that for those choosing a tent over a shelter, adequate support needs to be provided instead of taken away — as happened in St. John’s at the end of November, when city hall briefly closed public washrooms in Bannerman Park, citing increased vandalism. The city reversed its decision a couple of days later, after a public outcry.
“People need water, people need food, people need heat. And these are basic human rights,” said Wilson. “We had to fight for bathrooms here. That kind of thing just shouldn’t happen.”
New solutions needed for broken system, St. John’s advocate says
While a report on tent encampments is “a step in the right direction,” he said, everything hinges on the political will to find solutions.
“Here in St. John’s, this problem is only going to get worse if the federal, the provincial and municipal governments don’t work together to eradicate this issue,” said Wilson.
Housing advocate Mark Wilson says governments must work together to ensure people have access to long-term housing. (William Ping/CBC)
“Folks here at this encampment are being offered the same solutions that they’ve been offered for months. So they’re not being listened to. What they want is a home. What they want is a locked door that they can feel safe in.”
Listening to people across the country who have experienced homelessness, Houle said, will be critical in successfully addressing the issue.
“What they’re saying is valuable because they do hold a very unique perspective of what it is that they’re living and what the solutions need to look like,” she said.
Houle says she’s hopeful the report’s recommendations will spark meaningful discussions.
“It’s not about politics. It is about saving lives. And lives matter. And no one thinks that encampments are a solution. They absolutely are not. But this is what people are choosing. And Canada has to have something in place to make sure that this is no longer what people are choosing,” she said.
“There’s a lot of people watching. There is a lot at stake. And so, I think there’s a lot to get right here.”
The report will now be submitted to federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who, according to the National Housing Strategy Act, has to respond in writing by June 12.
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Lions coach Dan Campbell is selling his suburban Detroit home to get more privacy.
“There’s plenty of space, it’s on two acres, the home is beautiful,” Campbell told Crain’s Detroit Business. “It’s just that people figured out where we lived when we lost.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Campbell and wife Holly listed the 7,800-square-foot house in Bloomfield Hills for $4.5 million this week. A deal was pending within 24 hours, Crain’s reported.
Campbell was hired by the Lions in 2021. After a 3-13-1 record that season, the team has become one of the best in the NFL, reaching the NFC championship game last January.
Campbell’s home was built in 2013 for Igor Larionov, a Hockey Hall of Fame member who played for the Detroit Red Wings.
The likely buyers are “huge” Lions fans, said Ashley Crain, who is representing Campbell and the buyers in the sale.
Ariella Kimmel and Mandi Johnson were grabbing a bite to eat in Vienna, when their August trip to the Austrian capital was upended.
The Canadian duo had travelled to the city to see Taylor Swift in concert only to learn her shows would be cancelled because of two men plotting to launch an attack on fans outside the venue, Ernst Happel Stadium.
While Kimmel and Johnson were disappointed they weren’t going to be able to see Swift perform, they made the most of the remainder of their trip. However, the experience serves as a buyer’s beware for Canadians considering jet setting to see their favourite artists or teams.
“If you’re travelling to these concerts, it’s really hard to protect yourself,” said Kimmel, a Toronto-based vice-president at a public affairs firm who had previously travelled with Johnson to see Swift in Las Vegas, Nashville and Stockholm.
Such trips can make lifelong memories when they go off without a hitch, but cancellations and rescheduled events are common because of artist illnesses, poor ticket sales, security threats, unruly weather and natural disasters.
In the last year alone, Jennifer Lopez and the Black Keys scuttled touring plans after tickets had been sold, while Bruce Springsteen, Usher and Pink had to tell fans they couldn’t take the stage mere hoursbefore show time.
Between airfares, hotels, travel expenses and tickets, last-minute cancellations can leave globe-trotting eventgoers out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
“Regrettably, unpredictability has always been a reality of the industry but it’s increasingly common that there might be things that are going to interrupt your plans, especially plans that you’re really excited about,” said Jenny Kost, the Calgary-based global director of strategic sales initiatives at Corporate Traveller Canada.
“It’s a tricky one because the airline or hotel understands the reason behind your travel but its likelihood of happening or not happening is a little bit outside of their purview.”
Because Swift is known to power through shows even when sick, Kimmel never imagined a concert she was headed to would ever be cancelled, but she always booked plane tickets and hotels that could be rescheduled or refunded — a move she recommends to others travelling for events.
“It’s like common sense, you never know what’s going to happen,” Kimmel said.
However, making use of the rescheduling and refund options her hotel booking and airline tickets had weren’t an option for Kimmel this time because she had already been in Austria for a few days and had very little of her stay left when Swift cancelled.
Had the show been nixed before Kimmel left home, the flexibility baked into the bookings would have been useful, though Kost said such arrangements aren’t cheap.
“There is a cost associated with that that’s not insignificant,” she warned, estimating these kinds of bookings can add hundreds of dollars to your bill and have lots of quirks in the fine print.
The better bet is travel insurance, Kost said. It’s often cheaper than flexible fares and hotel bookings and can reimburse customers for accommodations and flights they have to drop or swap when an event gets cancel or an emergency strikes.
Kost opted for such insurance when she journeyed to Paris to see Swift over the summer and bought it again in a cab on her way to Mexico for a wedding. The insurance cost her about $150 for a week, but when she had to extend her stay because she fell ill, it covered the cost of all of her accommodations.
She doesn’t encourage people to wait until the last minute to buy the insurance like she did because buying it early can provide some reprieve when an event you’re travelling to is cancelled well in advance.
Travel costs aside, people heading out-of-town for events that wind up cancelled also have to consider whether they will get the money they spent on entry fees and tickets back.
In Kimmel and Johnson’s case, they paid Ticketmaster about $300 per seat. They learned just after the cancellation that they would be refunded — but not for an $85 transaction fee they were charged when purchasing the tickets.
“We paid $85 to not see her but I guess that in the grand scheme of what we were going to pay, it’s not a lot at all,” Kimmel said.
They did not opt to buy insurance on their tickets, which Ticketmaster offers through Allianz Global Assistance for $8, plus tax. Allianz’s vice-president of marketing and insights Dan Keon said the insurance offers coverage up to $1,000 per ticket.
In addition to offering refunds if an event is cancelled by a venue or promoter, the coverage can provide a reimbursement for a variety of situations. Those include if you are facing a serious medical issue or death, have a family member in life-threatening condition, are summoned by the military or are delayed in arriving at the venue because of a common transportation carrier.
If you’re going to opt into the insurance, Keon said review the terms ahead of time, so you understand exactly what scenarios you will be covered in.
The insurance, for example, can’t be used in the event of a pandemic, war or natural disaster.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
