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No Fixed Address:A Talk About Homelessness and Encampments
February 22, 2024
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Guest speakers included:
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Margaret Capes
Legal Education Coordinator, Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton)
Margaret Capes grew up on the farm she still lives on in St. Clair Township being a 3 rd generation steward of the land. Both sides of her family were pioneers in Sombra and Moore Townships including several generations of mariners on the Great Lakes.
She received her undergraduate degree from Huron College at the University of Western Ontario in history and political science in 1984. After attending the University of Ottawa Law School, she received her LL.B. in 1987 and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1989. She received a Master of Adult Education degree from St. Francis Xavier University in 2005.
She received her undergraduate degree from Huron College at the University of Western Ontario in history and political science in 1984. After attending the University of Ottawa Law School, she received her LL.B. in 1987 and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1989. She received a Master of Adult Education degree from St. Francis Xavier University in 2005.
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Prior to her retirement from 30 years as a legal aid lawyer in May, 2018, she taught at Western Law, acted as Counsel at Western’s student legal aid clinic and its mediation centre, coordinated and taught in the Law Society of Upper Canada Bar Admission course (London Site), and served as Staff Lawyer/Executive Director at Community Legal Assistance Sarnia.
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Margaret currently teaches at Lambton College and the Community Law School (Sarnia- Lambton) Inc. with a focus on social justice issues and social welfare laws. She is also currently the Co-Director of the Deerhaven Centre for Social Justice, a public policy centre which focuses on social welfare issues.
Dr. Erin DejAssociate Professor, Department of Criminology, Wilfrid Laurier University
Dr. Dej is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University. She brings fifteen years of research and advocacy experience on homelessness, having been led by the lived experts she works with. Her focus is on the social exclusion of unhoused people, including the criminalization of homelessness, and she promotes homelessness prevention and meaningful social inclusion. In 2020 she published her book A Complex Exile: Homelessness and Social Exclusion in Canada, through UBC Press.
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Jaime StiefCommunity Advocate
Jaime Stief (she/elle) is a local communications professional and community advocate regarding homelessness. She is a member of the Unsheltered Campaign and the Region's Prototyping Project, and regularly collaborates with FightBack KW. Her professional background includes nonprofit communications work for organizations that champion community engagement and the social determinants of health at the national and international levels. She is a firm believer in harm reduction, upstream thinking, grassroots advocacy, and leaning outside her comfort zone.
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"There are a lot of misunderstandings about encampments, why they exist, and their impact on encampment residents and the community at large. If we want to truly address encampments we need to ground our response in the evidence and an understanding of the reality of homelessness in 2024." - Dr. Erin Dej
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Fiona YorkCrab Park Advocate, Vancouver, BC
Fiona has worked in community services and non-profit organizations for over twenty years, and for the past 13 years in the Downtown Eastside. She is the former coordinator of the Carnegie Community Action Project, which focussed on development, gentrification and housing in the DTES, and authored the 2019 and 2020 Hotel Reports about SROs, rents and gentrification.
For the past five years, she has provided frontline support and advocacy for tent cities in so-called Vancouver and currently volunteers full time for the encampment at CRAB Park. She is employed as a support worker and is a board member of The Dugout, a drop-in centre in the DTES. |
Drew HirschpoldFormer CRAB Park Resident, Vancouver, BC
Drew is a 45-year old male that worked in the service industry most of his life. He studied natural sciences in university and found himself going from squatting to homeless to sheltering to tenting to housed during the pandemic. He became a key player during the transition from Strathcona to CRAB Park and the establishment of the tent city, until being given housing at a hotel and then an SRO where he continues to be an activist for better housing conditions and against the street sweeps.
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Kaite Burkholder Harris
Executive Director, Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa
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Kaite Burkholder Harris is the Executive Director at the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa. Previously, she worked at the national level as a Policy Analyst with Reaching Home, the federal government’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy. In 2018, Kaite worked as a System Planner with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and spent a number of years working as the Project Manager for A Way Home Ottawa in preventing and ending youth homelessness.
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Having worked as a frontline mental health worker, Kaite has a strong understanding of some of the systemic challenges that people living on the streets face. Motivated by a desire to see larger systems change, Kaite is energized by engaging and mobilizing new stakeholders towards the goal of safe and affordable housing for everyone in our community.
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Greg NashLondon Intercommunity Health Centre, Director - Complex Urban Health
Greg has 28 years experience in social, health and human services, including working in youth & adult mental services, infectious disease, sexual health, primary care, and oral health. As co-animator of The Wright Clinic, Safer Opioid Supply, Health Outreach Mobile Engagement, and the Newer Comer Clinic, he has worked in partnership with teams of people to bring services and resources to equity seeking populations.
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Chantelle McDonald London Cares Homeless Response Services, Director of Service
Chantelle is the Director of Service at London Cares. Chantelle has been a leader within the Homelessness sector for a decade.
Chantelle decided to get involved with London Cares because she believes in the unique strengths of every individual. She stays at London Cares because she wants to work somewhere that addresses the complex and root causes of homelessness while working with individuals in a dignified way. It is not an easy job, and you must do it with love. Chantelle is a lover of caffeinated drinks, community connection and spending time with friends and family. |
Mike Lethby
Executive Director, Niagara Resource Service for Youth (The RAFT)
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Born and raised in Niagara, Mike worked in the local auto sector before graduating Brock University with an honours B.A. in Political Science and History. Mike also holds a Master's degree in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario. Mike is currently the Executive Director of the Niagara Resource Service for Youth (The RAFT) a not-for profit agency in the Niagara region working with youth and their families.
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Mike has overseen the development and implementation of Youth Reconnect (School based homelessness prevention) and Eternal Routes (Kinship finding and connection) programs as well as launching Niagara’s Housing First for Youth response. Currently, he is overseeing the implementation of a shelter diversion program which is showing great promise in reducing homelessness and launching a social enterprise Fresh Paint, in collaboration with Tradeworx, to help youth build skills and earn income in the trades.
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Online May 30, 2024
from 6:30 - 8:30 PM (EST) 
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