Homelessness has been described as a crisis within Canada; yet little published research has desc... more Homelessness has been described as a crisis within Canada; yet little published research has described the extent and nature of homelessness within communities in northeastern Ontario, Canada. A period prevalence count was conducted of the homeless population using emergency shelters, social service agencies, and other services in the City of Timmins, in northeastern Ontario, Canada. The total homeless population (high-risk and absolutely homeless) identified in the study (n=720) included 257 infants, children and adolescents under age 15 even though the majority of homeless people were adults. Overall, more than a third of homeless people reported Indigenous background. The most frequently reported source of income was the Ontario Disabilities Support Program (31%). Taken together, the central reasons pertained to structural and systemic problems of unemployment, problems with social assistance, and the lack of affordable housing accounted for the largest proportion of homelessness. Absolutely homeless people made up close to a third of the homeless people who used the services of the participating agencies. Nearly half were women. Children and youth up to the age of 19 comprised half of this population. When the number of women with children and youth under age 20 are combined, they constitute about two-thirds of those who are absolutely homeless in Timmins. The findings are discussed in relation to the potential for raising awareness of this issue at the local and regional levels.
Spaces and flows: an international journal of urban and extraurban studies, 2013
Place and space are central to human ways of organizing the experience of living. Homelessness is... more Place and space are central to human ways of organizing the experience of living. Homelessness is an experience of displacement that profoundly modifies a person’s sense of self and place. This paper examines the forces that propel the flow of migratory homeless people into urban communities in northern Ontario, Canada. In order to advance knowledge in the area of place attachment among homeless migrants, the paper addresses three objectives: (i) to examine the proportion of migratory persons in the homeless population (ii) to describe the characteristics, including the gender, culture and language among homeless, migratory persons as well as their reasons for homelessness and migration and (iii) to explore the meaning of and attachment to places among migratory homeless persons. The study utilized quantitative and qualitative data gathered in Sudbury, Ontario. The data were from a period prevalence count of homeless people and focus groups with service users. In addition, an analysis of interviews with fifteen homeless individuals who had experienced migration was carried out to acquire a deeper understanding of their sense of place and belonging. The quantitative data, based on a sample of 349 homeless adults, revealed that 28% (n=98) self-identified as migrants. The profile of migrants indicated that they tended to be Aboriginal, male, absolutely homeless and without custody of dependent children. Analysis of place attachments among migrant homeless individuals revealed that various spaces were transformed into meaningful places when homeless migrants forged bonds with others andmet their existential needs. The bonds migrant homeless individuals formed with places they inhabited were central to their identity and a sense of belonging; hence along with race, class and gender, elements of place should also be considered in virtually any study, particularly those examining issues such as power, exclusion, and inequality within so-
The international journal of social, political and community agendas in the arts, 2015
A photovoice approach was used to enable homeless and precariously housed people to speak, throug... more A photovoice approach was used to enable homeless and precariously housed people to speak, through their photographs and narratives, to the community at large about their housing conditions and the effects on their health. Participant photographers in three communities - one of European origin and two First Nations in northern Ontario, Canada - were provided with cameras and invited to take photographs of their living circumstances. Each photograph tells its own story about couch surfing, sleeping rough, overcrowding, and substandard or inadequate housing. The comparison of remote Indigenous and urban communities makes this study unique. Not withstanding their cultural, linguistic and geographic differences, common themes, evident in their photographs and narratives, allowed for a comparison of understandings regarding the negative impacts of housing on their physical and mental health. The findings from this arts-based project are similar to results of medical studies on the effects of poverty and housing on health. An art-based approach using the photovoice method can be a powerful tool to engage the homeless community in sensitising both health professionals working with this population and the larger community to such issues, and it can enhance the possibilities for social transformation based on social justice. The arts become a tool in the struggle for social justice by revealing hidden aspects of life at the margins and the living conditions of poor and homeless people. A photo exhibit will tour galleries in the three communities.
Research utilizing the individual case study method examined the complex issues related to pathwa... more Research utilizing the individual case study method examined the complex issues related to pathways into and out of homelessness for an Aboriginal man from a First Nation community on the western James Bay in Canada. This instrumental case study focused on an individual’s story, rather than on a site or a group of individuals, an incident or a series of incidents, or a program [6] [15]. First, as a research tool, it provides insight into the issue of homelessness and some of its causes from the perspective of an Aboriginal person. Second, the in-depth data gathered allowed us to understand some of the factors that work and those that do not work in facilitating transitions out of homelessness. Third, as an educational tool, it allows people from the outside to have a better understanding of how systemic disadvantages contribute to individuals falling into homelessness.
Homelessness has been described as a crisis within Canada; yet little published research has desc... more Homelessness has been described as a crisis within Canada; yet little published research has described the extent and nature of homelessness within communities in northeastern Ontario, Canada. A period prevalence count was conducted of the homeless population using emergency shelters, social service agencies, and other services in the City of Timmins, in northeastern Ontario, Canada. The total homeless population (high-risk and absolutely homeless) identified in the study (n=720) included 257 infants, children and adolescents under age 15 even though the majority of homeless people were adults. Overall, more than a third of homeless people reported Indigenous background. The most frequently reported source of income was the Ontario Disabilities Support Program (31%). Taken together, the central reasons pertained to structural and systemic problems of unemployment, problems with social assistance, and the lack of affordable housing accounted for the largest proportion of homelessness. Absolutely homeless people made up close to a third of the homeless people who used the services of the participating agencies. Nearly half were women. Children and youth up to the age of 19 comprised half of this population. When the number of women with children and youth under age 20 are combined, they constitute about two-thirds of those who are absolutely homeless in Timmins. The findings are discussed in relation to the potential for raising awareness of this issue at the local and regional levels.
Spaces and flows: an international journal of urban and extraurban studies, 2013
Place and space are central to human ways of organizing the experience of living. Homelessness is... more Place and space are central to human ways of organizing the experience of living. Homelessness is an experience of displacement that profoundly modifies a person’s sense of self and place. This paper examines the forces that propel the flow of migratory homeless people into urban communities in northern Ontario, Canada. In order to advance knowledge in the area of place attachment among homeless migrants, the paper addresses three objectives: (i) to examine the proportion of migratory persons in the homeless population (ii) to describe the characteristics, including the gender, culture and language among homeless, migratory persons as well as their reasons for homelessness and migration and (iii) to explore the meaning of and attachment to places among migratory homeless persons. The study utilized quantitative and qualitative data gathered in Sudbury, Ontario. The data were from a period prevalence count of homeless people and focus groups with service users. In addition, an analysis of interviews with fifteen homeless individuals who had experienced migration was carried out to acquire a deeper understanding of their sense of place and belonging. The quantitative data, based on a sample of 349 homeless adults, revealed that 28% (n=98) self-identified as migrants. The profile of migrants indicated that they tended to be Aboriginal, male, absolutely homeless and without custody of dependent children. Analysis of place attachments among migrant homeless individuals revealed that various spaces were transformed into meaningful places when homeless migrants forged bonds with others andmet their existential needs. The bonds migrant homeless individuals formed with places they inhabited were central to their identity and a sense of belonging; hence along with race, class and gender, elements of place should also be considered in virtually any study, particularly those examining issues such as power, exclusion, and inequality within so-
The international journal of social, political and community agendas in the arts, 2015
A photovoice approach was used to enable homeless and precariously housed people to speak, throug... more A photovoice approach was used to enable homeless and precariously housed people to speak, through their photographs and narratives, to the community at large about their housing conditions and the effects on their health. Participant photographers in three communities - one of European origin and two First Nations in northern Ontario, Canada - were provided with cameras and invited to take photographs of their living circumstances. Each photograph tells its own story about couch surfing, sleeping rough, overcrowding, and substandard or inadequate housing. The comparison of remote Indigenous and urban communities makes this study unique. Not withstanding their cultural, linguistic and geographic differences, common themes, evident in their photographs and narratives, allowed for a comparison of understandings regarding the negative impacts of housing on their physical and mental health. The findings from this arts-based project are similar to results of medical studies on the effects of poverty and housing on health. An art-based approach using the photovoice method can be a powerful tool to engage the homeless community in sensitising both health professionals working with this population and the larger community to such issues, and it can enhance the possibilities for social transformation based on social justice. The arts become a tool in the struggle for social justice by revealing hidden aspects of life at the margins and the living conditions of poor and homeless people. A photo exhibit will tour galleries in the three communities.
Research utilizing the individual case study method examined the complex issues related to pathwa... more Research utilizing the individual case study method examined the complex issues related to pathways into and out of homelessness for an Aboriginal man from a First Nation community on the western James Bay in Canada. This instrumental case study focused on an individual’s story, rather than on a site or a group of individuals, an incident or a series of incidents, or a program [6] [15]. First, as a research tool, it provides insight into the issue of homelessness and some of its causes from the perspective of an Aboriginal person. Second, the in-depth data gathered allowed us to understand some of the factors that work and those that do not work in facilitating transitions out of homelessness. Third, as an educational tool, it allows people from the outside to have a better understanding of how systemic disadvantages contribute to individuals falling into homelessness.
En common law canadienne, la bonne foi dans les obligations contractuelles se limite à des domain... more En common law canadienne, la bonne foi dans les obligations contractuelles se limite à des domaines précis ; il n’y a pas d’obligation générale. Dans Bhasin c. Hrynew, la Cour suprême du Canada à cherché à pallier cette insuffisance en posant un principe directeur général de bonne foi et une obligation d’agir honnêtement dans l’exécution de ses obligations contractuelles. Elle laissait aux cours inférieures la tâche de déterminer les modalités de mise en application du nouveau principe. La Cour a utilisé la méthodologie de la common law pour sortir des limites analytiques restreintes de la common law et élargir la portée de la bonne foi. Or ce précédent n’a pas eu l’effet escompté. La définition limitée de la bonne foi donnée par la Cour suprême du Canada a conduit les cours inférieures à réduire Bhasin c. Hrynew à un cas d’espèce. Devant l’indétermination du principe et de sa portée, les cours d’appel ont utilisé une gamme de techniques pour le distinguer, entre autres, un recours aux règles de la common law pour limiter son champ d’application au lieu d’un recours à la nouvelle décision pour modifier les règles de la common law. Le Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) et le Code civil du Québec (CCQ), auxquels la Cour s’était référée pour justifier l’introduction du principe directeur général en common law fournissait une feuille de route pour son élaboration que les juridictions inférieures ont refusé de suivre.
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