When the first baby was born to a resident of Toronto’s Tent City back in the spring, local Coun. Jack Layton went to visit the infant’s mom in hospital.
Back in 1998, when a group of young people were housing themselves in a derelict building in the city’s old port lands, Layton paid them a visit and asked them to move onto the lot next door. Within a few months, the councillor was back delivering some donated tents to the site.
In due time, the Canadian Foundation for World Development came along to set up permanent shanties.
A streamlined silver trailer or two drove up to the site, parked and set up house on Tent City lands, more accurately identified as the Home Depot property. News of the popular squat reached as far away as New York City, whose newspaper The New York Times reported on it.
Layton, a sort of self-proclaimed patron saint of the homeless, both the real and propagandized variety, made a point of being there for the residents every inch if the way. But as the Toronto Star so aptly put it, he was "three times zones away" in Vancouver when the 100 plus residents were suddenly forced off the property last week.
The councillor who brought the first teenaged residents to the site was in Vancouver campaigning for the National New Democratic Party (NDP) leadership.
There’s true caring for you.
In the publicity surrounding the evacuation of Tent City, no one described it better than Financial Post columnist Terence Corcoran…"Laytonville was a squalid symbol of how far activists like Mr. Layton would go to fabricate a public relations vehicle and use its unfortunate residents as pawns in their cause. In creating Tent City, Mr. Layton and others orchestrated the illegal confiscation of Home Depot property on Toronto’s waterfront and used it as a representation of the plight of Toronto’s homeless."
Layton and company, who may be big on strong rhetoric when it comes to defending the homeless. created false hope and phantom security for some of the most vulnerable members of local society.
With so many now scrambling to find homes, Layton et al will, of course, never be held accountable for smashing the dreams of the needy and the naïve.
In the media hype following the closing of Tent City, those who manufactured it don’t pay much heed to the trouble taken by Home Depot in the personal property claims process: "Special care has been taken to safeguard the personal property of everyone on the site. Each structure on the site will be guarded to protect its contents and video recordings are being made to ensure the integrity of the process.
"Individuals are invited to return to claim any personal property located on the site. The personal property claim process has already begun and will run during daylight hours (8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) every day until October 6, and then on weekdays from October 7 until October 25.
"Home Depot has made a commitment to not remove any structures from the property for at least seven days."
Given their individual tastes and needs, one lady who described the wooden shack with wood stove for winter built by her boyfriend as "romantic" and another Tent City resident who has four kittens, it may be difficult to find them comparable new shelter.
Perhaps they could pitch tents in Layton’s sizeable backyard, or take it up with his council colleague Pam McConnell, who seems to have squatted for years in a taxpayer-subsidized, townhouse co-op while collecting her salary from the public purse.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2024 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2024 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement