Keep the OTC Emergency Shelter Open Beyond March 3st!
The Emergency Out of the Cold Homeless Shelter is set to close on March 31st, 2015. There has been very high demand for the Emergency Shelter services, with upwards of 50 people having used the shelter on some nights this winter. The shelter is the City's responsibility and if things go as the City plans, all of these people will be thrown back out onto the streets on April 1st despite record low temperatures for this time of year.
The Emergency Shelter was set up as a result of members and supporters of the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty demanding that a place where anyone can sleep every night of the winter with no questions asked be opened last winter. This is the second partial winter that the emergency shelter has been opened, and this year it was moved to a more accessible space that is owned by the City. However, it is still not a shelter that meets all the needs of the people.
S-CAP organized a speak-out for homeless folks and shelter users on March 19th, 2015 to talk about ways we can defend, expand, and improve our shelter options in Sudbury. The over fifty homeless folks and shelter users who attended voiced some very clear demands.
The shelter must be an independent shelter: it must be run for the people and meet all their needs; it must not be run by the Salvation Army; and it must have respectful and well trained staff that treat everyone as human beings. The shelter must always be open: it must be open 24 hours a day; it must be open all year round; and it must be a non-commercial community space that is open to everyone. The shelter must also be inclusive: it must be a no questions asked shelter that does not turn people away based on any criteria; it must allow people who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol; it must have no registration process and have no barriers to accessing the services.
In order to voice these demands, S-CAP is organizing a Rally and March to Defend and Expand our Emergency Homeless Shelter. The event will take place on Friday March 27th, beginning at 2pm outside the Samaritan Centre at the corner of Elgin and Shaughnessey street. All homeless folks, shelter users, and supporters are called on to attend.
For more information, please contact S-CAP at 249-878-7227.
The site for the Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
The Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op was formed to create independent media in the North, to speak to our issues and outlooks on our communities as well as the world around us. Independent media provides an avenue for people who are wishing to gain critical perspective on the issues that matter most to us, and to give a voice to those people and stories that you won't find in the mainstream media.
The Sudbury working-group site is no longer being updated and has been archived.