Staffing updates!

The Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO) has hired two part time Summer Project Coordinators to assist with our project Access to Housing Needs for Diverse People with Disabilities, funded by The Inspirit Foundation.

This project will conduct online and in-person roundtables, social events and workshops about mobilizing people with disabilities around access to affordable, accessible and dignified housing. These events will specifically centre people with disabilities who are black, Muslim, indigenous, people of colour, new immigrants. The project will consist of three interconnected components, round-tables, workshops and a campaign. We already have several initiatives in place, but we hope to create more sustainable year-long programming and advocacy around disability, race and access to housing.

This project is in partnership with the Ontario Coalition for Agencies Serving Immigrants, and will be completed in Hamilton!

Ruby Hye is a student at UWCiM (United World College in Mostar) and former Westdale Secondary student. They are the co-founder of Model City Hall Hamilton, were a staffer in former Ward 3 City Councillor Matthew Green's office, and have organized LGBTQIA+ events such as the first LGBTQIA+ arts show in Mostar.

Ruby has a passion for anti-racism in LGBTQIA+ spaces and communities. They have been learning and healing through coming to understand that disability justice is interwoven in all liberation movements. Ruby is currently looking forward to finishing high school.

Mike Wood is active in Hamilton as Chair of Hamilton ACORN downtown he likes to push for change on Housing, Disability, Rental issues and much more for low-moderate income people, Mike believes with good change makes Hamilton a more inclusive city for everyone and that nobody should be left behind.

We have also hired an Administrative Assistant who, for ten hours a week, will assist with our growing volume of calls and emails.

Monisha Gupta is a graduate of the Honors Life Science's program at McMaster University. Her role is to create sustainable supports for the Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO). Visit Monisha on Thursdays and Fridays from 10AM to 3PM

For more information about Monisha, Ruby, and Mike, please check out the page: https://www.djno.ca/leadership

DJNO Youth Action Council stands in Solidarity with Hamilton's 2SLGBTQ+ Community

Monday, July 8, 2019

“Who keeps us safe?”

“We do!”

By now, news of the white supremacist attack that took place at Hamilton Pride three weeks ago has spread widely. Far from an isolated incident, it is part of a disturbing escalation in far-right activity that we have been witnessing in the last few years, in our own local communities and around the world. We denounce this and express our support and solidarity with the community members who defended Pride attendees on June 15th, 2019.

First and foremost, we call for the unconditional release and dropping of any charges against the Pride defenders and their supporters. This criminalization of self-defence, which we see again and again from the state, is absolutely unacceptable. It is insulting and blatantly disrespectful that Mayor Fred Eisenberger has now released a statement “commemorating” the Stonewall riots, an uprising against police violence, while Cedar Hopperton remains in jail over fabricated and politically motivated charges. Despite the extensive documentation available online, Detective Sergeant Ben Thibodeau claimed that criminal charges were “difficult” to pursue against the people who attacked Pride without witness testimony, yet the police rapidly mobilized to intimidate and arrest a single queer woman for a protest on June 28. Eisenberger’s actions and those of the Hamilton Police Service show us once again that marginalized people facing violence cannot expect any support from law enforcement. When police and city officials make excuses for white supremacist, anti-2SLGBTQ+ violence, all the while arresting the people who dare oppose it, that white supremacy is state-sanctioned.

On June 26th, 2SLGBTQ+ residents were expelled from a Hamilton city hall meeting after Ward 4 Councillor Sam Merulla characterized white supremacists as being disenfranchised people struggling with addiction and mental health, suggesting that they are a small fringe group that should be ignored. We denounce these fascist-sympathizing comments as being inaccurate, harmful, and dismissive of the concerns of 2SLGBTQ+ people in this city. As disabled people, we know that mental illness is not the cause or an excuse for the vicious assaults that were perpetrated towards members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community at Pride. Statistics show that people experiencing mental illness are no more inclined to violence than anybody else, and are if anything, more likely to be victimized. We are also intimately aware of the violence that white supremacy entails. Eugenics programs and other state policies that have historically targeted disabled people, particularly disabled people of colour, are inseparable from white supremacist ideology.

Earlier last month, researchers with McMaster University and the AIDS Network released “Mapping the Void,” a report on the state of the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Hamilton. Nearly 40% of the 906 total survey respondents identified as living with a disability. Anecdotally, our lived experiences within the community strongly suggest that 2SLGBTQ+ people are more likely than the general population to experience disability. We know what it means to be subject to harassment, even assault, for simply daring to exist and live our lives. We deserve to be safe from the threat of violence, whether that be from white supremacist militias or agents of the state itself.

According to “Mapping the Void,” only 10% of respondents who had experienced harassment or violence reported it to law enforcement. Additionally, a third recounted unjust treatment from the police. With events like those of the last few weeks, it should be no surprise that this is the case. Police and the carceral criminal justice system do not prevent harm, but perpetuate it. Rather, it was the power of Hamilton’s 2SLGBTQ+ community that was able to drive away the white supremacists at Hamilton Pride. It is this brave, resilient community, not the state, that we must look towards as we move forward, organizing together for our collective safety and well-being.

Signed,

Youth Action Council

Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO)

www.djno.ca

905-906-DJNO (3566)

Sources:

“Mapping the Void: Two-Spirit and LGBTIQ+ Experiences in Hamilton” by Suzanne Mills, Michelle Dion, Daniel Thompson-Blum, Chris Borst, and James Diemert. Released on June 11, 2019: https://labourstudies.mcmaster.ca/documents/mappingthevoid.pdf.

“No victims have come forward after Pride violence: Hamilton police” by Nicole O'Reilly. Published on June 25 in the Hamilton Spectator: https://www.thespec.com/news-story/9452044-no-victims-have-come-forward-after-pride-violence-hamilton-police/.

Survived and Punished, a US-based national coalition to support and free criminalized survivors: https://survivedandpunished.org/.

“The Myth of Violence and Mental Illness” by CMHA Durham. Available online: https://cmhadurham.ca/finding-help/the-myth-of-violence-and-mental-illness/.

“The Saga Continues: Updates on Queer Resistance and Repression in Hamilton” from Anonymous. Posted on North Shore Counter-Info on July 3, 2019: https://north-shore.info/2019/07/03/the-saga-continues-updates-on-queer-resistance-and-repression-in-hamilton/.

Tweet thread about Moka Dawkins and #JusticeForMoka by Maggie’s Toronto. Posted on Twitter on November 6, 2018: https://twitter.com/MaggiesToronto/status/1059944643083857920.

Tweet thread on the City Hall meeting by Samantha Craggs. Posted on Twitter on June 26, 2019: https://twitter.com/SamCraggsCBC/status/1144001275719311360.

Death by Wait List: Eating Disorder Treatment in Canada

A post by Youth Council member Olivia Watkin-McClurg

In March 2015, I had an illness that was getting worse by the day. Despite my best efforts, my health was declining, and I required treatment. But I didn’t qualify for the treatment options in my city and faced a long wait for a program an hour away. While I waited helplessly, my illness destroyed my health and my life. Unfortunately, my situation was not unique. For Canadians with eating disorders, deteriorating on wait lists is the unfortunate reality.

Approximately 150,000 to 600,000 Canadians are affected by an Eating Disorder. (Eating disorders on the rise, 2013) And according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, at least 73 Canadians died from eating disorders from 2007-2011. (Kapelos, 2014) Eating Disorders are serious conditions that require urgent intervention-it is estimated that 10% of Anorexics will die within 10 years of onset of the disorder- and yet sufferers are often forced to wait months or years for treatment(Sullivan, 2002). At Homewood, Canada’s largest inpatient treatment centre, patients with private or supplementary health insurance wait 2-5 months while those relying on OHIP wait an average of 2-3 years for their services. (Sagan, 2014) During this time, a patient’s health can greatly deteriorate, even to the point of death.

This situation is the direct result of a lack of available treatment programs. Canada is a country of 37 million people, and yet there are just 21 intensive treatment centres. And there are parts of the country where no treatment is available at all.Blake Woodside from the Eating Disorders Program at Toronto General Hospital, where I attended the Day Hospital Program, lamented that there are parts of Canada with no specialized treatment programs even though eating disorders have a death rate around 15%. (Eating disorders on the rise, 2013) “I’m talking about Toronto here with three to four months. There is no treatment in New Brunswick, there is no treatment in P.E.I., there is limited treatment in Labrador, there are no in-patient beds in Quebec, limited treatment in Alberta and B.C., and no treatment in the North.” This inadequate and unequal access to treatment needs to be addressed.

So where do we go from here? Eating disorders are serious illnesses that often require intensive treatment, and yet this treatment is not adequately available in Canada. Experts agree that patients across the country are waiting too long to access care they desperately need, and some aren’t receiving it at all. The Canadian government has a duty to respond to this dire situation. In 2014, the Standing Committee of the Status of Women in Canada compiled a report on eating disorders in girls and women and provided 25 recommendations for Harper’s federal government (Government of Canada, 2014). The government’s response listed existing commitments to related but separate initiatives and committed no further support.(Government of Canada, 2015) The current Liberal government also hasn’t implemented the recommendations, which included a national eating disorder strategy and limits on wait times.Inaction condemns patients to hellish wait times, lack of available treatment options, and even death. In failing to act, the Government has blood on its hands, the death toll will only continue to rise.  

Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Response to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. (2015) Eating disorders among girls and women in Canada. 41st Parliament, Second Session. Available: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/41-2/FEWO/report-4

Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Standing Committee on the Status of Women. (2014) Eating disorders among girls and women in Canada. 41st Parliament, Second Session. Available: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/parl/xc71-1/XC71-1-1-412-4-eng.pdf

Eating disorders on the rise in Canada, as sufferers wait for treatment. (2013). CTV News. Retrieved from https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/lets-talk/eating-disorders-on-the-rise-in-canada-as-sufferers-wait-for-treatment-1.1151323

Kapelos, V. (2014). Fears grow as wait lists for eating disorder treatments lengthen. Global News. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/1566860/fears-grow-as-wait-lists-for-eating-disorder-treatments-lengthen/

Kapelos, V. (2014). Top doctor sounds alarm on lack of treatment for eating disorders. Global News. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/1569023/top-doctor-sounds-alarm-on-lack-of-treatment-for-eating-disorders/

Sagan, A. (2014). Eating disorder patient seeks $60K online for health care. CBC. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/eating-disorder-patient-seeks-60k-online-for-health-care-1.2497052

Sullivan, P. (2002). Course and outcome of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In Fairburn, C. G. & Brownell, K. D. (Eds.). Eating Disorders and Obesity (pp. 226-232). New York, New York: Guilford