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UPDATE — Monday November 29, 2011:

Police in 15 squad cars arrived at the squat location — 238 Queen Street West — yesterday around 3:00 pm to evict the Occupy Food team. It is ironic that this occured the same day that Rob Ford announced in his city budget that he was closing three homeless shelters.

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The Occupy Toronto food team — which was responsible for serving over 1,000 meals a day when located at St. James Park — has moved indoors to keep up its commitment to continue the community kitchen.

The new basement location the group is currently squatting is located at 238 Queen Street West in Toronto. There, the Occupy Toronto community kitchen plans to continue feeding those who go hungry every day in Toronto.

The location was abandoned when the Occupy Squat Squad moved in on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. The Toronto Star reported that sprawling space is roughly 4,500 square feet wide with a large communal, accessible room, and holds the possibility for a cooking area, meeting rooms and small sleeping quarters in the back.

The Queen Street West location has been the subject of legal dispute — failure to pay rent — between the city and its lessor, Queen St.-Patrick Market Inc. Market Inc. was granted a 50-year lease in 1989 and was abandoned. It was also once leased to a non-profit food organization at a cost of $1.00 in rent per year.

Occupy Toronto spokesperson Antonin Smith, wants the sublease transferred over to Occupy Toronto for $0.99 for at least 36 months.

You can view a Toronto Media Co-op video interview with Antonin Smith here.

In a public statement, Occupy Toronto squat squad declared, “We are taking Toronto back one space at a time. They can keep the parks, we’ll take the squats.”

 

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...