Solidarity with Encampment Support Network of Toronto (ESNTO) statement on Lamport Stadium Eviction

ID1: @Wyld_Wych (found on Twitter) sits in a wheelchair surrounded by three officers. Wafa is leaning forward, moving away from the officer on the left who has their hand on her. Wafa is in an electric powerchair, and has their mouth open, likely shouting. They are wearing rainbow coloured arm length finger gloves, and a rainbow coloured flower crown. In the background of the photo, there are a sea of officers assaulting other protesters. In front of Wafa, an officer is arresting another person who is lying face down on the ground.

We have signed onto the Encampment Support Network of Toronto and Encampment Support Network of Parkdale's statement on the Lamport Stadium eviction and echo their calls for an end to all encampment evictions.

The full statement can be viewed here

ODSP legislates people into poverty, forcing evictions. Most shelters/housing options aren't accessible, meaning parks for many are the only option. Shelters also don't allow drug use, creating ableists standards that say you must change how your body functions in order to even be allowed in. Police brutalize disabled people daily, simply for existing in public. In reference to this we name Abdirahman Abdi, Ejaz Chowdhury, and so many others.

We express solidarity with @Wyld_Wych (found on Twitter) who is in this picture, and who was one of many disabled people brutalized at #LamportStadium

Abolish The Psych Ward Panel featuring Dr. Ameil Joseph and Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware

Recording of our second panel Abolish the Psych Ward: June 30th 2021 at 6:00 PM

This panel discussed the history of madness in Canada and the ways in which madness continues to be policed. Too often, conversations about defunding the police rely on the mental health system as an alternative. The psychiatric or “mental health” system is a fundamentally carceral system. The psychiatric system forcibly confines through the Mental Health Act, which has always been used to forcibly incarcerate Black and Indigenous people. Psychiatrists, security guards, social workers and healthcare workers police disability & madness and respond with medical and/or physical violence.

Abolition means an end to all forms of policing and incarceration. Abolition means futures where disabled & Mad people are cherished and supported, not isolated away.

This panel featured Dr. Ameil Joseph and Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware from Black Lives Matter Canada.

Cops out of Care Work Panel ft. El Jones, Souheil Benslimane, Cyree Jarelle and Megan Linton

Cops out of Care Work: May 27th 2021 at 6:00 PM

This panel was the first panel in our Cops out of Care Work Summer Series and took place in May 2021.

Triage protocol, the tragedy of long-term care, and the ongoing deaths of disabled people at the hands of state violence demonstrate the endemic role of police and policing in the lives of disabled people. Disabled people are subject to policing across the carceral, psychiatric, medical and geriatric system. The Mental Health Act positions cops as medical transit. Greeting the cops at the door are security guards, armed with policing powers. Once inside the hospital, medical personnel police who deserves access to care. Once deemed too “deviant”, or too disabled, disabled people are forcibly institutionalized, locked in long-term care institutions, group homes, prisons and psychiatric institutions.

View the first panel of our summer series to learn about the interconnection between disability, policing and prisons. This panel featured El Jones, Souheil Benslimane, Megan Linton, and Cyree Jarelle