The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) is an anti-poverty group in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, which promotes the interests of the poor and

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

. The group uses publicity-generating

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

techniques such as

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

and demonstrations which can be confrontational, for example the 2000 Queen's Park protest.

Composition and early history

The coalition was founded in 1989 by activists in the Toronto Union of Unemployed Workers, coming out of a mass "March Against Poverty". The coalition officially began its operations in 1990 with the premise of promoting concern and action around poverty,

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

, and

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

in downtown

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. The group is headquartered in Toronto.

Queen's Park protest and aftermath

On June 15, 2000, OCAP staged a large demonstration on the lawn at Queen's Park in

, during which violent altercations took place between the demonstrators and security officials, police officers, and police horses. The protestors were asking to address the Ontario Legislature in order to demand a repeal of the new Tenant Protection Act which limited tenant rights, to demand increased social housing, to demand an end to the Safe Streets Act which was targeting the homeless and poor, and to reverse the 21.5% cut to welfare payments instituted by the Conservative government. The protestors, which included large numbers of homeless people directly affected by Premier

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

' policies, tore up cobblestones to use as projectiles. Mayor

Mel Lastman Melvin Douglas Lastman (March 9, 1933 – December 11, 2021) was a Canadian businessman and politician who served as the third mayor of North York from 1973 to 1997 and 62nd mayor of Toronto from 1998 to 2003. He was the first person to serve ...

, the

Toronto Police Services Board The Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) is the civilian police board that governs the Toronto Police Service (TPS). The board is responsible for approving the annual police budget, defining objectives and policies for TPS, and hiring Chief of the ...

and the

Toronto Police Association The Toronto Police Association (TPA), founded in 1944, is a labour organization representing the approximately 5,500 uniformed and 2,500 civilian members of the Toronto Police Service in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While police officers in Ontari ...

argued that the police response was proportionate, but seventeen community groups which included

Ontario Public Service Employees Union The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU; french: Syndicat des employés de la fonction publique de l'Ontario EFPOlink=no) is a trade union representing public sector employees in the province of Ontario, Canada. It claims a membership ...

, Parkdale Community Legal Services and the

National Action Committee on the Status of Women The National Action Committee on the Status of Women was a Canadian feminist activist organization. History It was founded in 1971 as a pressure group to lobby for the implementation of the 167 recommendations made in the Royal Commission on ...

called for an inquiry to be made by the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services. In the aftermath, upwards of 40 people were arrested and charged, including three high-profile OCAP members — John Clarke, Gaetan Heroux and Stefan Pilipa. The defence argued that videos demonstrated police brutality. The eventual trial of these three was declared by the presiding judge to be a mistrial due to a

hung jury A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. Hung jury usually results in the case being tried again. ...

. The Crown dropped the charges against Heroux and Pilipa but elected to proceed again against Clarke. All charges against Clarke were eventually dropped when a judge threw them out owing to the Crown's failure to disclose

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

expeditiously. Charges against most other defendants had mixed results; most were either acquitted or had their charges dropped. In all, however, the crown attorney in conjunction with the

Toronto police The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

spent over two years on these cases. In the early 2000s, OCAP's activities were denounced by union bureaucrats and some public officials who have objected to their tactics.

Flaherty eviction

OCAP evicted the Ontario Finance Minister

Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assembly ...

from his constituency office in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

in June, 2001. By this action, OCAP wanted to demonstrate opposition to Flaherty's policies and to show him personally the effects of being evicted. Office furniture was damaged and some OCAP members were arrested. In response, the

Canadian Auto Workers The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW; formally the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada) was one of Canada's largest and highest profile labour unions. In 2013, it merged with the Communications, Energy and ...

union cancelled its funding for the group.

Pope squat

OCAP

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

a house in Parkdale at 1510 King Street West, in July 2002. South Parkdale was undergoing a

process and OCAP had identified 35 longterm empty properties. The selected building was chosen because the ownership was in limbo between the city and the province. It was called the Pope squat because of the concurrent visit of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. The squat was well supported by figures such as

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...

and

Naomi Klein Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...

and the city council passed a motion suggesting the building be converted into affordable housing, but it was evicted in November 2002 by the province.

Diet allowance

OCAP noticed in 2005 that the social assistance regulations mandated doctors prescribing a diet allowance to people who were claiming welfare benefits. Working with doctors such as Gary Bloch, OCAP ensured people were informed about the allowance. In 2006, the provincial government decided that only people with specific illnesses could be prescribed the allowance.

Coronavirus concerns

On March 18, 2020, OCAP called for the city of Toronto to repurpose empty buildings into shelter for homeless people so as to minimise the effects of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

References

External links

Official website

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty - Canadian Political Parties and Political Interest Groups
- Web Archive created by the University of Toronto Libraries
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (Wordpress) – Canadian Political Parties and Political Interest Groups
– Web Archive created by the University of Toronto Libraries
Photographs from the 2000 Queen's Park protest
{{Authority control Political advocacy groups in Canada Canadian anti-poverty activists Organizations based in Ontario Squatting in Canada Homelessness in Canada