Activists to use Pope's visit to spotlight homelessness

By SARAH KENNEDY, The Globe and Mail
Monday, July 8, 2002

The so-called Pope squat, organized by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, is aimed at taking over the building and setting up permanent homes for people without shelter.

Organizers are hoping the attention on the city during the Pope's visit this month in celebration of World Youth Day will force police to handle their action gently.

"We're looking to create a situation where it would be universally regarded as grotesquely inappropriate for them to take this down," said OCAP organizer John Clarke.

Mr. Clarke would not disclose the location of the planned squat but said it is an important building that would be of significance to a community.

Toronto police officials said the activists' tactic of aligning the action with the Pope's visit may not be so effective.

"We don't have authority to let them stay," Detective Constable Branko Novinc said. "The only authority to let them stay would be the actual owner of the building."

Supporters of the squat include anticapitalist advocates and activists, the Student Christian Movement of Canada and the Elementary Teachers of Toronto.

As of May, the Toronto Social Housing Connections had 60,870 applications for affordable housing, but only 337 homes were available

Squats have been used before to try to help homeless people.

In 1997, a squatting settlement was set up in two abandoned buildings at 88 and 98 Carlton St. The two apartments are now used for social housing. In 1998, the Doctors Hospital was taken over for the winter as a haven for the homeless.

Squat organizers have clashed with police in the past.

In March, during the Ontario Tory leadership convention in Toronto, the Ontario Common Front -- an umbrella group for anticapitalist organizations -- arranged a squat in a building at Victoria and Dundas streets. About 60 people had entered the building when tactical officers surrounded the area. Tear gas was fired and participants were forced out and handcuffed.

Det. Constable Novinc said tear gas was used only as a last resort

"The common thing to do is advise people that they're in contravention of laws and ask them to come out. And if they don't, then decisions are made by the commanding officer of what his options are."

Police have tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to set up meetings with OCAP regarding the Pope squat, Det. Constable Novinc said.

"We felt that at this time to have a meeting with police would probably not be the most productive thing for anybody concerned," Mr. Clarke said. Although they are hoping authorities will turn a blind eye, the activists intend to go ahead with or without police co-operation, he said.