Join the Call for a National Housing Strategy Canada is in the midst of a major housing crisis. Even the United Nations has called the state of housing and homelessness in Canada a ‘national emergency’ [1]. From students to retirees to middle and low-income families, millions of people suffer because they cannot afford suitable housing. As nurses, we witness the link between inadequate housing and ill health. We have seen poor housing and homelessness cause stress, malnourishment, impaired early childhood development, chronic illness and premature death. As nurses, we know that a housing crisis is a health crisis. Our governments have created this crisis In 1993, the federal government dismantled our national housing program. As a result, over 100,000 affordable housing units were not built during the last 20 years [1]. The provinces and municipalities, now saddled with responsibility for social housing, have never filled the gap. Since 1990, Canada’s population has increased by 30%, yet the annual national investment in housing has declined by over 46% [2]. The crisis has only worsened. Today the crisis is widespread Every year over 235,000 people in Canada experience an episode of homelessness. Homelessness though is the tip of the iceberg. Currently, one in five households struggles with the cost of housing and cannot afford both a home and necessities like groceries, medication, transportation and energy [2]. Meanwhile, the deficit in affordable housing has left hundreds of thousands of inadequately housed people stuck on provincial wait lists. Cost of housing is not the only issue. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians live in unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions. The daily reality for many people living in rental housing includes overcrowding, mold, infestations and faulty plumbing. The housing crisis many First Nations communities experience is exacerbated by the equally dire emergencies of unsafe drinking water and high food costs. We can and must do better. We can take action In 1998, municipalities and community groups across Canada declared homelessness a national disaster and asked the federal government to take action. Some homeless shelters and additional services were gained, but we still don't have a national housing strategy. We must continue to pressure our governments. Safe, affordable housing is a human right As nurses, we call for a national housing strategy. Will you join us? Please sign and share our national petition and Call for a National Housing Strategy. Sincerely, Cathy Crowe, RN, BAAN, MEd- Street Nurse and advocate on homelessness and housing. Co-founder of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee. Author of ‘Dying for a Home. Homeless Activists Speak Out’. Jessica Hales, MN, NP-PHC- Nurse who provides primary healthcare to people who are homeless or precariously housed. Advocate on homelessness and housing. Early Supporters: ORGANIZATIONS: COUNCIL OF CANADIANS, UNIFOR, CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, CANADIAN FEDERATION OF NURSES UNIONS, CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRES, KAIROS CANADA, ABORIGINAL NURSES ASSOCIATION OF CANADA, EDMONTON COALITION ON HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS, ONTARIO NURSES ASSOCIATION, CUPE ONTARIO, ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY, AIDS ACTION NOW, REGISTERED PRACTICAL NURSES ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO, SOCIAL PLANNING COUNCIL OF WINNIPEG, RIGHT TO HOUSING WINNIPEG, ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS OTTAWA, CANADIAN UNITARIANS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, CANADIAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION- OTTAWA BRANCH, ADVOCACY CENTRE FOR TENANTS ONTARIO, NIAGARA POVERTY REDUCTION NETWORK, NURSE PRACTITIONER ASSOCIATION OF ALBERTA, REGISTERED NURSES ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO, BLACK LIVES MATTER- TORONTO INDIVIDUALS: DR. ALEX ABRAMOVICH, PROFESSOR DAVID ALPER, JOHN ANDRAS, MAUDE BARLOW, PROFESSOR AKUA BENJAMIN, PROFESSOR WESLEY CRICHLOW, DR. RITIKA GOEL, PROFESSOR DAVID HULCHANSKI, MICHELE LANDSBERG, TIM MCCASKELL, EMILY PARADIS, ALAN REDWAY, JUDY REBICK, DR. JOHN ROOK, SHELLEY SAYWELL, LINDA HASLAM-STROUD Footnotes 1.OHCHR. (2007, November, 1). United Nations expert on adequate housing calls for immediate attention to tackle national housing crisis in Canada. United Nations Human Rights. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=4822&LangID=E 2. Stephen Gaetz, Tanya Gulliver, & Tim Richter (2014). The State of Homelessness in Canada: 2014. Toronto: The Homeless Hub Press. http://www.homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/SOHC2014.pdf

Over the past year at least 400 childcare spaces have been lost in the Davenport area. The Old Orchard building houses both the West End Parents' Daycare and The Orchard Montessori School, which collectively provide childcare for nearly 200 kids. Without these crucial services, Davenport parents will face a genuine daycare crisis. It's crucial that the province act immediately with the City of Toronto and other stakeholders to ensure this childcare resource and its surrounding greenspace is not lost.

Canada Post and the Harper Conservatives plan to eliminate door to door mail delivery over the next 4 years. We feel these service cuts are unnecessary and specifically targets people with mobility issues and seniors. Canada Post has profited 17/18 years and in 2014 3 Quarter profits of 63 million. Canada Post is a traditional and valuable service to Canadians and we must maintain door to door service. Community mail boxes devalue properties, attract litter, theft, graffiti and are never properly maintained in the winter.

Money creation affects almost every aspect of our lives and is directly connected to almost all public policy, including public and private debt levels, house prices, and rising inequality, but it’s very poorly understood. Currently 97% of our money supply is created by Private Banks through debt. This raises questions of parliament abdicating it's constitutional responsibilities. The government, through the Bank of Canada can request low interest loans for human capital and public infrastructure in order to monetize deficits, we instead borrow from private banks, increasing our national debt and further allowing private industry to hold influence over public policy. This was the very reason, we created, then nationalized our Bank of Canada. It is no longer enough to control the money supply through interest rates alone. It does not begin to address the corruption that comes from allowing private financial institutions the power to create the majority of a countries money supply. “Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit, it matters not who makes that nation's laws. Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of Parliament and of democracy is idle and futile.” William Lyon Mackenzie King - 10th Prime Minister of Canada When we allow private bank to create money out of nothing as interest bearing debt, then let them decide how this money is spent, we end up with a society that reflects the priorities of the banks. We ask that money creation, debt and society be put back on the agenda in the house of commons, and be given a real debate.

Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Provincial Government have recently given a list of directives to the Toronto District School Board. You can see the full list here: http://goo.gl/EPD7gL. School Board Trustees have been given until February 13th to act on these directives or risk the Government taking over. The Government has asked the Board to provide a list of over a hundred of our community schools that the government has deemed to be “under-utilized”, and a three-year plan to deal with them. You can see the full list of schools here: http://goo.gl/psV3tH Unfortunately, the Government’s list of “under-utilized” schools does not take into account the value that community schools bring to a neighbourhood. By not considering the use of schools for other community programs like children’s programming or Adult ESL when measuring utility, the Provincial Government is not looking at the full picture. Schools should be community hubs in our neighbourhoods. In practice, many of our neighbourhood schools are ‘hubs’– schools with daycares, swim lessons, programs for children with special needs and afterschool programming for children and adults. Schools are important public spaces, and valuable beyond just the use of teaching classrooms. The decision to sell schools cannot be made lightly because when we sell schools, we never get that public space back. The Premier herself has mandated that the Ministry of Education look at schools as ‘community hubs’, but is now talking about closing schools that epitomize that model. The School Board has a ten-year plan to study school utilization and consider changes to boundaries, partnerships with community partners and other school boards, before deciding to close a school. The Province wants to speed up that plan, closing the schools within 3 years. Together, we need to make sure that Premier Wynne and her government are looking at the full picture: recognizing the immediate and future needs of growing Toronto communities, and the necessity to use schools as vital community hubs to provide childcare and programs for youth, families and senior citizens. Make your voice heard! Sign the petition calling on Premier Wynne to consider the many uses of public schools, and save our community schools!

Un nombre grandissant de citoyennes, de citoyens et de commerçants locaux sont préoccupés par les conséquences sociales et environnementales de leurs choix de consommation. S’approvisionner en produits certifiés équitables est un moyen simple et efficace de faire des achats responsables. ++ A growing number of citizens, organisations and local businesses are concerned about the social and environmental impact of their consumption choices. A simple and effective way to implement responsible purchasing is to source fair trade certified products.

Vancouver is drowning in an ocean of copy-and-paste corporate chain bars. The Brickhouse is a great independent bar, but now it could be demolished to make way for a new condo development in Chinatown. The Creekside Student Residence and Jimi Hendrix shrine could be taken out with it. Please sign now to call for Vancouver's mayor and council to stop the demolition of the Brickhouse and start a real consultation a real consultation with the Chinatown community to ensure that new developments don't threaten to strip the character of the community and drive more people out of the market. Sources: 1. The heritage battle for Chinatown http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=10384991 2. The Brickhouse might be demolished http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/story.html?id=10384999 Photo by Edward L.