Research conservatively estimates that 35,000 Canadians experience homelessness on any given night, with an average of one person sleeping outdoors for every five individuals staying in a shelter.
As an occupational therapist with front-line experience working on a community mental health team in Toronto, I have witnessed peoples’ daily battles with discrimination, surveillance and policing. And my experiences have taught me that compassion in Canada often depends on who you are or how you are perceived.
For example, the Ontario Safe Streets Act is meant to keep citizens safe from “aggressive solicitation,” but in practice, enforcement of this act targets those who are visibly poor.
Article content
A look at sales of buildings involving the current owner of Vancouver Grace Seniors Home to non-profit groups to build affordable housing reveals how low-income housing for Chinese seniors is being lost.
There is high demand and long waitlists for housing and care options that cater to East Asians of all incomes, according to a 2017 study by social services agency S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and Simon Fraser University’s Gerontology Research Centre. But there is also more pressure to build new, affordable housing for other groups.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Housing units for Chinese seniors being lost as Chinatown buildings are sold vancouversun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vancouversun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.