The Toronto Homeless Memorial is a memorial to people who died while living on the streets, or in
homeless shelters
Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously re ...
, in
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 ...
, Canada. The memorial includes the names of those who died and is updated monthly.
Memorial
The memorial is located outside the
Church of the Holy Trinity and it is maintained by church staff and community members. As of December 2021, it included approximately 1,200 names
of people who died while living in homeless shelters or the streets of Toronto.
The names of the deceased are added on the second Tuesday of every month.
History
The memorial was started in 1997 by
Bonnie Briggs
Bonnie Briggs (1952/1953-2017) was a Canadian affordable housing advocate and poet. She created the Toronto Homeless Memorial in 1997.
Early life and education
Briggs was born in Brampton, Ontario in 1952 or 1953.
She studied community work at ...
, a housing advocate.
The list of names on the memorial reached 1,000 in the year 2020.
[1,000 names are now listed on the Toronto Homeless Memorial. The Toronto Star (Toronto, Ontario), '' . l.', 14 jan. 2020. DisponÃvel em: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgin&AN=edsgcl.711352628&site=eds-live&scope=site. Acesso em: 14 ago. 2022.]
In December 2021, memorial organisers added 34 names to the memorial, the highest ever added at once; names included
John Doe
John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...
and
Jane Doe
John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are ofte ...
placeholders as the names of some of the deceased were unknown.
See also
*
Homelessness in Canada
Homelessness in Canada was not a social problem until the 1980s. Canadian government housing policies and programs in place throughout the 1970s were based on a concept of shelter as a basic need or requirement for survival and of the obligation o ...
*
Affordable housing in Canada
The continuum of affordable housing in Canada includes market (affordable rental housing and affordable home ownership), non-market (affordable rental housing and affordable home ownership), and government-subsidized housing ( emergency shelters ...
References
{{Authority Control
Homelessness in Canada
Monuments and memorials in Toronto