The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), refusing to do squat about Toronto’s housing crisis, occupied a formergovernment office and police station owned by the City of Toronto in its“Use it or lose it” campaign. The premise is simple, convert emptybuildings into housing or OCAP will.
The latest in the squatting — other addresses include 558 Gerrard StreetEast (Gatekeeper Squat) and 1510 King Street West (Pope Squat) — saw anti-povertyactivists occupy a six storey, former government building on November 13.The property in question is owned by the city of Toronto and is slated tobe sold off to condo developer Great Gulf Homes, Inc.
Gaetan Heroux of OCAP is furious that the city “has the audacity to selloff surplus housing when people are dying on the streets” for a lack ofaffordable housing. Compounded by the recent tuberculosis scare in Toronto’sovercrowded shelters, there couldn’t be a better time to open thesebuildings up.
Buildings don’t shiver in the cold
Demonstrators first enjoyed a feast of beef stew, rosemary bread andcandied apples before exiting the church into the crisp November sun. Themarch of 500, a parade of flags, placards, and a fleet of shopping carts,wound its way North through Toronto’s East End before its sudden rush tosurround 590 Jarvis Avenue.
The doors flew open and roughly 40 people rushed in to join thesquatters who had occupied the building overnight. They reported thattheir stay was comfortable with access to water, electricity and heat.According to space estimates, the site would be a perfect spot for atleast 200 people to crash and hopefully, eventually, call home.
The police, on the other hand, had other plans for the building — for itto remain vacant. Through the chemical yellow cloud of pepper spray, theydispersed the crowd and took control of the main doors; locking peopleboth out or in.
The activists inside braced themselves for the inevitable as the helplesscrowd watched from the street. The police escorted the squatters one at atime from a rear door to jeers from the crowd which were met with theoccasional puff of pepper spray. Fourteen people were arrested as darknessfell and were charged with trespassing; all but one were released thatnight, the last person, the following morning.
Like OCAP’s other squatted buildings, 590 Jarvis Avenue found itselftemporarily haunted, and then empty again.
No unexpected saviour
At last year’s Gatekeeper squat action, OCAP was surprised by an unlikelyally arriving at its doorstep, Federal MP Dennis Mills. With much flourishand scripture quoting, Mills promised to resign his seat in cabinet if 558Gerrard Street East wasn’t converted into social housing within a month,thus averting a mass arrest at the site (The promise was never met andMills no longer holds his seat in cabinet).
This time around, no Dennis Mills appeared, or Jack Layton or Olivia Chowfor that matter, despite Layton’s controversial statement where he put theblame for Canada’s homeless deaths squarely on Prime Minister Paul Martin.
Considering the smallness of the other squat locations, taking over such alarge building was a bold move by OCAP. Keeping with their strategy, theyare seeking out and occupying buildings that are owned by the city orprovincial government, but have been abandoned or have liens against themdue to unpaid taxes. In fact, according to a Toronto hydro bill recoveredfrom the squat, the city owes $8,102.75 (current total due November 04,2004), and yet the lights and heat were both functioning in the building.
Squatting repetitions
The act of squatting has become a legitimate sub-section withinthe anti-poverty movement as a way of symbolically highlighting andpractically alleviating the housing crisis facing major cities in Canada;the public embarrassment towards the government has been the moresuccessful of the two outcomes. Squatted buildings are rarely held forlong before police chase the demonstrators back out into the street.
The outstanding exception to this rule was the 2002 Pope Squat which lasted from July to late September — a revolutionary act andsummer slumber party all wrapped up inside an unassuming little brownhouse at 1510 King Street West.
While demonstrators were not successful in holding the squat on November13, it highlighted the ridiculousness of having such a large, functionaland easily habitable building sit empty. If there was a criminal actcommitted at 590 Jarvis Avenue, the crime is not with the people enteringthe building, but that such a building is sitting empty in the firstplace.
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