Why do discussions of homelessness at City Hall seem to always draw police, barricades and increased security?
When homeless activists including nuns, outreach workers, lawyers, and the Raging Grannies converged on City Hall on Feb. 1, hoping to watch City Council debate this report, they were surprised to see barricades at the main door, dozens of yellow-jacketed police and at least 8 more police on horses. Once inside council chambers, hundreds of people voiced their opinion on the most alarming aspect of the report – the proposed change to the Nathan Phillips Square bylaw which would ban homeless people from sleeping at City Hall square. When the spirited group was asked, they left peacefully. Labeled as screaming Trotskyites, loony leftists and depicted as a tame riot by the media, the group in fact included homeless people, workers from legal clinics, drop-in centres, shelters, community health centres, parents with young children, seniors, and nurses. The next day, a much smaller group returned to watch the Councils debate. We not only faced barricades again, but a human wall of security
