Article content
When I lived in Toronto, around Dufferin Street and St. Clair Avenue, every other night an unhoused man would trudge barefoot down my street. He’d scream in broken Italian and rifle through my recycling.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or Manners: It isn t the unhoused who are sullying Ottawa s ByWard Market Back to video
Except that’s not the whole story. Through an unspoken agreement, this man would also roll my garbage bins to the curb every Wednesday. He’d search for bottles that I had cast aside so he could exchange them for coins. When not screaming, he’d be singing and talking and keeping himself company. He’d wander into the backyard of my elderly Portuguese neighbour and they’d garden together. I eventually learned that he had always lived on this street. I was renting; he was home.
Article content
Students are organizing a drive at the University of Ottawa to collect PPE, blankets and other supplies for people living in the city’s shelters for the homeless.
The drop-off is at Marion Hall, 140 Louis Pasteur Private, on Saturday March 13 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or Ottawans can drop off PPE, cleaning supplies for homeless shelters on Saturday Back to video
Donors can either drive up to an unloading area in front of the building, or drop off items in person, said organizer Mayur Tailor.
Article content
The Ottawa Mission is again accepting new admissions, as long as those individuals have not been in the shelter over the past two weeks to protect against new infections of COVID-19.
“As you know, we were in outbreak status for part of this past month due to positive cases of COVID-19 identified earlier by testing, and therefore our intake was paused accordingly,” spokeswoman Aileen Leo said Wednesday.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or The Ottawa Mission once again accepting new admissions Back to video
“Our capacity to accept new clients is limited, and therefore, if we exceed this capacity, additional new clients will be diverted to the Tom Brown arena.”
Further testing is planned for all emergency shelters in the upcoming days.
Contact tracing will be conducted for each positive case, with Ottawa Public Health (OPH) and Ottawa Inner City Health taking the lead and providing guidance.
Due to the frostbite advisory, we are providing service on weekends at Tom Brown Respite Centre, 141 Bayview Road, for people needing a warm place to go during the day. Residents needing overnight shelter can call 3-1-1 for assistance. https://t.co/j7DELbbgyP—@ottawacity
According to the public health unit s COVID-19 dashboard, there are five outbreaks at the city s homeless shelters.