Thestar.com/Tent City protest calls for affordable housing A rally in front of the chain-link fence that now securely encloses the contaminated lakefront encampment known as Tent City drew about 100 people today as protesters called on all levels of government to provide affordable housing. "There is no doubt that without a national housing program, there will be more tent cities," said organizer Beric German of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee.

About 125 people were evicted from the site Tuesday by security officers and police. Home Depot, the national home-improvement chain that owns the lot, said that safety concerns led to its decision to remove the squatters. At the short and peaceful protest Saturday, many of the demonstrators carried signs that read No Home Depot or Homeless Depot. The relief committee is calling for further protests directed at the company, but German said it is not yet planning a boycott. While activists were seeking answers to the housing crisis that drove people to seek shelter in a shanty town at the heart of Canada's largest city, the evicted squatters had more immediate concerns.

Many attending the demonstration edged close to the wire fence and pleaded with stone-faced security guards to allow them access to personal belongings and a few scattered house pets that have remained behind the guarded barricade since Tuesday.

"There are still some cats missing," said Julie, 20, who lived in Tent City for over a year. She said she was able take her two dogs with her when she left.

"They could have at least given us some warning," she said of the eviction. Security guards hired by the company escorted the former residents back to the site the next day to retrieve some belongings. However, squatters complain they weren't allowed to get vehicles onto the site and didn't have enough time to arrange for a proper move or interim storage. Julie's belongings are stowed under a makeshift tent nearby, but heavy rain Friday likely destroyed many of her things, she said. Former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall, dressed in an oversize T-shirt, shorts and sneakers, said she came across the protest during a training run. She urged officials to "ensure that all of the men and women who were living in Tent City get their possessions back and get housing as soon as possible."

"We shouldn't have a Tent City in this wealthy country, Canada," she said. She called for the provincial and federal governments to step in and fund housing, adding she supported Toronto's immediate efforts to find solutions for Tent City residents through a rent subsidy.

Tent City gained international attention in June, when the New York Times cited it as a symbol of Toronto's decline, saying homelessness had reached catastrophic levels and had led to the deterioration of the city.

The one-time industrial property is contaminated with heavy metals, and rats and human waste have become a problem, said officials. Home Depot had planned to put a store on the site but was turned down by the Ontario Municipal Board about four years ago. The company was not available for comment Saturday.

Earlier this week, riot-squad officers in Vancouver evicted squatters who had been occupying the abandoned Woodward's department store.

In 1982 the first food bank in Canada opened its doors originally intended to be a temporary solution. But as Canada and the provinces dealt with the mounting deficit of the 80's and 90's, along with it came income support programs being weakened and dismantled. As a result it kept people circulating in a poverty cycle. In a political statement at the time, the provincial NDP believed it was a matter of priorities and the whole issue was not high on the list.

Bob Pringle, director of the Saskatoon Food Bank, said "utilities and rent are paid direct by Social Services to the company involved. As a result, the person's pride is eroded." Pringle adds that people need basic costs covered and incentives to work as it costs money to start working. Also Social Services only allows a small amount of money - about $50 - to be earned before wages taken off the support cheque. Pringle said the wage "exemption" should be higher.

"75% of the Saskatoon Food Bank clients are steady, 50% of them are children", says Bob Pringle. Welfare rates are at 1980's levels and minimum wage has gone up only four times in the last ten years. Still bills need to be paid and groceries need to be put on the table, so people have to do what is necessary to survive. As a result, people can come to the Food Bank every two weeks to get food.

Bob Pringle says he always tries to provide quality food in the food bank. Pringle says, "A high level of carbohydrates, in form of bread and other bakery items, are in stock and we need to provide a balance of protein such as eggs and meat. Donations from the public do come in and a $20,000 grant from the city of Saskatoon will be used to buy foodstuff with protein in it and items like infant formula. The Saskatoon Food Bank has to put taxes and utilities.

Bob Pringle says the budget is very tight as the Saskatoon Food Bank is a charity and doesn't receive any core funding from anyone. Until all issues of poverty are addressed, food banks will remain necessary. Issues needed to be dealt with is a strengthened economy, more training allowances, better job training, literacy, nutrition, housing, child care and health care. Both government groups and individuals need to be involved.

The Saskatoon Food Bank is operated by 7 core staff members, 5 staff on a Canada work grant and rounded off by many full time and part time volunteers. The food bank takes 12 people from Can/Sask which provides opportunities to improve job skills and develop confidence in one's self and get into the routine of being in a work place.

No longer just a food bank, the Saskatoon Food Bank opened up the Grassroots Resource and Learning Centre. At the Centre people can learn to use the Inter-Net, use a community kitchen, have income tax done, borrow books from a rescue library, use a free phone and read the daily paper. A clothing dept is here too. Clients pay $2 a month to use the clothing depot, which in turn pays for the phone and paper.

Bob Pringle says, "the Saskatoon Food Bank needs to expand its learning/skills development area by adding another 3000 square feet on another floor." Pringle would like to get more sustainable finances, network more with other community groups and trying to put more nutritious food and appropriate levels in the food hampers.

Pringle tries not to judge people and wants to be emphatic and provide a safe place for people to be in. His motto is "trust everyone until proven otherwise."

So it appears the long saga of Skeena Pulp has come to an end. This ending represents a deep escalation to the backward spiral of Prince Rupert and surrounding region. The Northwest has already suffered so deeply the past few years, I feel more of us who watched this situation drag on hopelessly for so many years need to have our voices heard.

While I am no expert on the subject of the pulp industry, however every day we learn more and more about how companies in Canada are facing global competition. It is well known over the past few years that many companies have scaled back production or gotten out of the pulp business entirely. When I read that many newspapers in our country acquire their supply of paper from places like Russia and other low wage countries, I ask myself the following: Wasn't it obvious that the status quo was unsustainable? If that doesn't spell it out then how about the $420 million sink hole?

As one of the long term unemployed of Prince Rupert and every day the number of us grow, it upsets me how a group could decide 90% to walk away from a well paying job. One member told me that with all the reductions that the new owner wanted, the package would have been like working for minimum wage. Well I have worked at that level in the past and believe me base labour rates in the $20 per hour range sounds good to me! That wage level sounds great even with reduced benefits.

In all fairness I do understand that no one wants to take reductions but again we live in a global economy. Every day we see labour organizations make sacrifices in this tough economy to maintain employment and help preserve their communities. Companies are, after all, out to make a profit; they are not in the business to help towns. Could you not let it get off the ground and then if the new outfit proved profitable, try reacquiring in future contracts some of the extras that were once available from the past employer?

Perhaps given a chance NWBC, which runs successful mills elsewhere, could have proved to be better in another important way: effective management. This may have made a big difference, as in the past the way the operation was supervised was clearly not working. Management was always the source of great humour, as everyone always said supervisors often outnumbered the work force.

Prince Rupert was upset with the loss of interest on the outstanding taxes from the former owners. Well council I can honestly tell you: I would not want to have to make the kinds of choices and decisions you are going to be faced with now, as the budget shortfall you are now faced with for the foreseeable future is hard to comprehend in the long term.

Prince Rupert City Council in the past has never done anything to encourage new large employers and as a result, are in part responsible for this mess. Many cities provide all kinds of start up incentives, where as here in Prince Rupert, it was always disincentives. Well, maybe this will be your wake up call now.

This business community will shrink, just as it appeared to be gaining a little. Foreclosures and bankruptcies are now going to be a mainstay of the economy, both on the personal and business level. Business as well as personal property is going to be even more impossible to sell. The ripple effect of this is going to be felt for a great many years. I feel the fact there is also far less work in the fishing industry is often forgotten as well. There will now be less work in the service industry as business gets even slower. Many of those laid off who are not trades people will have no choice but welfare.

The reductions to social services further dim the picture. One ray of hope was the new college, the future of which is still unpredictable. This government cannot be counted on to keep their word about possibly restarting construction next year. I honestly don't see Americans coming off cruise ships for a few weeks per year as being enough to provide sustainable employment in the region. Anyway, the new facility may now be in jeopardy as well.

Thankfully, Prince Rupert gave us a lot in past years but the past few have been tough. It is so sad that some sacrifice could not have been made to try to help a once very prosperous community start to at least partly recover. I would encourage workers from the mill, management and union at Skeena Pulp Mill as well as others in Prince Rupert to share their thoughts in the local paper. I want to learn and understand one thing. Isn't it better to settle for less, while at the same time in the bigger picture trying to revitalize such a beautiful community and preserve a great way of life for the good of all including in the long run yourselves?

George Carlin once said something to the effect that if Earth was the only inhabited planet in all the galaxies, then the Universe aimed low and settled for less. The average television show backs this up many times over. If TV is to be believed literally then wealth, social status, latest fashions and shallowness are indications of what success is.

"Reality" programs like Fear Factor, Survivour and Big Brother shows what levels people will stoop to in the name of earning a quick buck. What ever happened to getting a good education and working hard to get somewhere? What is a concern is just how greed and backstabbing is becoming a trend in real life and what the effects of concentrating on those characteristics are on people.

But the worst of the lot had to be "Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire?" It showed how TV is descending a slippery slope into a world where compassion, integrity and other basic human emotions have fallen on the wayside.

So to even things up some; I bring to you: "Who Wants To Marry A Homeless Or Working Man?"

With the thousands of homeless and working poor single guys stretched across Western Canada, there is a lot of choices for the discerning woman searching for a mate of this field. So maybe what is in store here is starting an on line dating service that features homeless and working poor men. Single ladies can line the shores of our service and cast their nets out for that great relationship or soul mate.

In providing this service we hit two birds with one stone by being sensationalistic to start our own TV show and solving social problems at the same time. Just think of all the homeless and working studs ready to be snapped up by a lucky lady.

As the happy couples get started in life, two days and three nights of Saskatoon services will be provided. Accommodation will be a private room at the Salvation Army. Breakfast will be held at the Salvation Army. Lunch will be served at Friendship Inn. For supper the couple has several choices of any restaurant dumpster. Recommended is one of the many donut shops as the sun sets on a romantic Saskatoon evening. Then the couple is swept off the streets and into the lower class.

Potential Bride Criteria:

1) Prefer one who owns a house but a one bedroom apartment will be acceptable.

2) Must be either self employed or have a well paying job.

3) Looks not important but good credit is.

4) Knowledge of 3 basic food groups is essential.

5) Must show hospitality and patience towards husbands homeless friends coming and going at all hours of the day and to those who stay for extended periods of time.