Tickets

Press Conference and Court Support

Thursday November 20th, 2008

8:30 am

Old City Hall

(Queen & Bay)

Free coffee & doughnuts

Matthew Rickwood, a young Toronto man, is appearing in court on Thursday with his lawyer, after being charged under the Safe Streets Act this summer for "encumbering of street".

In June, Matthew had just sat down on the sidewalk in Toronto's downtown east end, when he was approached by cops and served with a court summons. He had already been given multiple tickets, carrying fines he simply cannot pay. More to the point, he had done nothing wrong. Living on social assistance, after paying his rent and board each month, Matthew is left with $56 to survive.

Check out OCAP's Map of the PATH. Click Here

Click Here to download OCAP Radio's field audio from the action.

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) is preparing to mobilize homeless people and their supporters to come down into the showpiece underground PATH system for a mass panhandle. We want to make clear why we are carrying out this action and what users of the PATH can expect from us.

Huge cuts to social programs and a desperate lack of affordable housing have fueled a crisis of homelessness in Toronto. Instead of meeting the needs of the homeless, those in power are looking to drive them out. Hostels have been closed and people forced onto the streets to beg. Then, police are used to harass and criminalize people trying to survive.