Social Justice Advocacy

Our Mission Statement guides all of the activities and outreach that we do both within the church and in our community around us.

As part of this mission we attempt to fulfill this point:

  • Care and advocate for the lonely and marginalized

Through our Social Justice Advocacy efforts, we work to raise awareness of the issues that face our community.

Homelessness in South Etobicoke

One of our current projects is looking at housing in the neighbourhood.
To this end, Sandra and Helen gave a presentation to Eculinks churches in the area at All Saints Kingsway. Here’s the link to that presentation: https://youtube.com/live/3BGROvSUBFk

Other actions include:

  • Active support and engagement with the fledgling South Etobicoke Land Trust.
  • Sending out regular updates on the housing crisis along with templates for letters to elected representatives at all three levels of government to parishioners and others who have asked to be so informed.
  • Budget 2024 – a deputation to the City’s Budget Committee pointing out that those facing homelessness must travel to other parts of the city or into Mississauga for assistance. There is a lack of shelter space and warming centres in Etobicoke. The deputation requests that a portion of the budget line for these services be allocated to finding and establishing a warming centre and shelter space for men within Etobicoke.

As part of our 2024 Vestry motion this spring, we passed the motion calling on both the province and federal governments to take concrete steps to address housing in Canada. To assist in this we have arranged these downloadable templates for you to fill out and mail in to your provincial and federal representatives:

Refugee Crisis Response

Helen Gill and Sandra Fawcett would like to bring to your attention the urgent need for co-ordinated action on the crisis in City shelter space.

Many have seen the media coverage concerning refugees and asylum seekers sleeping on the street outside the shelter intake office, through smoke, heat waves and monsoon-like rain because there is no room in shelters. This problem exists in addition to the ongoing lack of shelter for homeless people in the GTA and beyond.

While in a joint statement issued Wednesday morning, July 19, 2023, Mayor Chow and Premier Ford said that Ontario and Toronto are each providing $6.67 million as a one-time funding top up to the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit to get more people into permanent housing and quickly free up spaces in the shelter system and the federal government announced $97 million would be given to Toronto, these are just stopgap measures. As of December 2023 only one third of the federal monies promised have been delivered. An additional $60 million is needed to address the needs of the 2023 refugees. A comprehensive plan to address growing shelter needs of both refugees and homeless people in our province is required.

You can act by:

  • Speaking Up to your federal, provincial and municipal representatives to say you expect better coordinated care of refugees coming to Canada, including housing.
  • Standing Up by offering space to refugees in your home through Romero House, which runs a matching program.

National Housing Day

Letter to the Diocese from Bishop Andrew:

Dear Friends,

The tents are back.

Yesterday, I parked my car at the Synod Office in my usual spot, up against the fence in St. James Park. On the other side of the fence, the collection of small and colourful tents in the park is growing. Every day there are a few more, erected under carefully chosen trees or alongside benches or other structures for protection. And inside each of those tents, I know, are people who call that tent home.

Today, however, as every Friday, I am working from the warmth and comfort of my house. I am conscious that today, Nov. 22, is National Housing Day. Homelessness is exploding across the province for as many as 234,000 people, according to last summer’s statistics. Shelters across the province are at capacity, and communities large and small – urban, suburban and rural – are all seeing a rise in visible homelessness: people living in tents in parks and ravines, taking shelter in doorways and on heating grates, or living in their cars. In Toronto, over 200 people are turned away from shelters every night because there is no room; many others have given up calling, in despair of finding space. In North Durham, where hidden homelessness was once the norm, staff at North House are finding more and more people unsheltered in public. In Northumberland, a deacon finds seniors living in their cars. In Wasaga Beach, people turn to summer rentals for shelter over the winter months but have to vacate before the summer tourist season starts.

There are far more people who may not be homeless now but are precariously close, spending 30% or more of their incomes on housing costs. Rents across Ontario have surged by 54.5% over the last decade, and many people spend almost everything they have to keep a roof over their heads. Nearly 180,000 Ontario households are waiting to access subsidized housing, but the wait times can be years, even decades, long.

There are things you can do. This past year, more than 70% of parishes in our Diocese passed vestry motions supporting an end to rent control loopholes: get involved in campaigns like Fair Rent Ontario to amplify that call. You can raise your voice to tell the provincial government not to override the rights of unhoused people but to invest in housing for those most in need. When a shelter or supportive housing project is proposed for your community, find ways to support it rather than obstruct it. Visit our website for more information on how you can help.

This Sunday, Reign of Christ Sunday, our Diocese observes FaithWorks Sunday, and perhaps your parish will have a particular emphasis on FaithWorks also. As we come to the end of the Church’s year and anticipate what the world calls “the season of giving” at Christmas, we can remember that we are the humble recipients of so many gifts from God, and we are called as disciples of Jesus to share our gifts with the poor and those in need.

Though we may focus on FaithWorks for this one day, housing and food insecurity, personal danger and instability, loneliness and isolation, persist every day. FaithWorks Sunday is a reminder that we are to use our time, talents and treasure to be the hands of Jesus, and that we can usher in the Reign of Christ by helping one person at a time, in the here and now.

Please do what you can do and give what you can give. The tents are back, and the need continues to grow.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto