OCAP MASS PANHANDLE OF ‘THE PATH’

Wednesday December 12 2007
11:00am
Meet in the Park just west of the King and Bay intersection
Breakfast will be served

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) is preparing to mobilize
homeless people and their supporters to come down into the showpiece
underground PATH system for a mass panhandle. We want to make clear why
we are carrying out this action and what users of the PATH can expect from
us.

Huge cuts to social programs and a desperate lack of affordable housing
have fueled a crisis of homelessness in Toronto. Instead of meeting the
needs of the homeless, those in power are looking to drive them out.
Hostels have been closed and people forced onto the streets to beg. Then,
police are used to harass and criminalize people trying to survive.

It is the developers, the major merchants and suchlike who press for a
policy of sweeping homeless people under the rug. They don’t want their
money making to be interrupted by destitute people seeking the basic
necessities of life. OCAP is organizing to stand up to this process of
harassment. We are bringing homeless people and those who support them to
panhandle in the very heart of the commercial showpiece they seek to drive
people from.

No doubt, attempts will be made to portray our mass panhandle as something
people should feel threatened by. We want to make clear that our anger at
the injustices homeless people face is not directed against ordinary
people eating or shopping in the Path. We will ask you for some change if
you wish to give it and we will ask for your support and understanding of
the situation facing the homeless.

Our mass panhandle is about people under attack demanding their rights.
We hope you will agree with the stand we are taking and that we will have
your support and solidarity when we visit the PATH.

** If you or your group want to participate in this action please contact
OCAP at 416 925 6939

** Check our website frequently for updates including information on
finding your way around the PATH system and more ways to get involved

**
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
10 Britain St. Toronto, ON M5A 1R6
416-925-6939 ocap@tao.ca www.ocap.ca
**
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OCAP has asked all Ontario Common Front groups to come down; It would be really good if Common Cause used this as an opportunity to build links with the anti-poverty movement.
I would like to see all CC come out if possible.

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