By Arthur Weinreb
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
On Sunday June 3, about 150 women with the Women Against Poverty Collective marched to purportedly call for an end to violence against women. When the group came across 4 Howard Street in the Bloor and Sherbourne Street area of downtown Toronto, they occupied the abandoned building, arguing that housing is a "human right" (isn't everything?). The women demanded that abandoned buildings be transferred by law to the city that would then be required to use the properties to house women who have been victims of violence. Why women who experienced violence should be the only ones who could take advantage of this proposed legislation that would abolish private property rights was not made clear.
After the "occupation" began, police were called and after unsuccessfully negotiating with the occupiers, the women were removed. Four members of the group were charged with break and enter and mischief under $5,000 and a fifth was charged with obstructing police.
This is a clear example of the two tiered justice system that we now have in the province of Ontario. What the Toronto police did was in sharp contrast to how police handle situations such as the Douglas Creek Estates in Caledonia that has been occupied by aboriginals for over a year. When native groups occupy someone else's property, the police simply back off and let the various levels of government enter into negotiations at a snail's pace. The rights of the present owner (in Caledonia, before the government used our money to buy the property) are forgotten along with any adverse affect upon those who live on adjoining land. Neighbours of the land near the occupied site are left with no legal remedies or recourse.
Of course it is always argued that the aboriginals may have valid claims to the land but that's hardly the point. Until such matters are resolved the land belongs to the registered owner but the owner loses the land the minute that it begins to be occupied.
As the property on Howard Street is located in the centre of Toronto, the women in the "collective" have a valid argument as to why the property should revert to the city for use by victims of violence. There is a shortage of affordable housing in Toronto and it's not inconceivable that the left wing socialist Toronto City Council would pass a bylaw that would transfer abandoned property to revert to the city that would then use it to house victims of violence as well as other victims of our evil capitalist society. Yet all they got for their "occupation" was their rights read to them and an all expense paid trip to the police station.
Then again, the Women Against Poverty Collective chose to engage in their occupation in the city of Toronto and within the jurisdiction of the Toronto Police Service. Come to think of it, when aboriginal groups blockade railway lines, they never seem to do it in Canada's largest city. Despite numerous criticisms of Toronto's finest including allegations of corruption and racial profiling, no one has ever accused them of not acting like a police force. The force seems to carry out their duties without dancing to the tune of their political masters. There's no comparison between the Toronto Police and the OPP. The OPP are nothing more than puppets of the government at Queen's Park whose prime directive is not to do anything that might lead to another Dudley George, innocent victims be damned.
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