Cathy paves the way home
February 9, 2004
By Cam Tait
TORONTO, ON // A challenge when conducting an interview by e-mail is
you can't see or hear the emotion of the person - something that can
add so much to the story. Such was not the problem when Cathy Crowe
sent back her responses. Just seeing the words in black and white made
a profound statement. And as for her emotion...well, it's pretty obvious.
"It's just extremely interesting but such a national shame. I'm stubborn
and I believe the solution is extremely possible and achievable," she
writes.
Cathy is talking about something near to her heart: homelessness. She
is a strong advocate for people who don't have a home. Her cause received
a giant boost recently when the Atkinson Charitable Foundation selected
her as its Economic Justice Fellow. For the next three years she will
get $100,000 a year - a $75,000 stipend and $25,000 in expenses - and
will work out of the Sherbourne Health Centre in downtown Toronto.
She describes her appointment as "an incredible vote of confidence and
support and freedom to pursue in many ways unencumbered my determination
to light a flame for a national housing program."
Homelessness, Cathy says, is "a national disaster and a man-made one
that is widespread and understood now." With more people grasping the
issue of homelessness, tackling it may be more apt now than ever. Cathy
co-founded the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and she's starting
to see things move.
"I think our group had a lot to do with the Prime Minister's appointment
of a cabinet minister responsible for homelessness, with funding and
the new federal-provincial affordable housing agreement. Locally, we
have had many wins: the opening of the armory being the most recent."
Cathy works as a community health nurse and says, "everything I do is
as a nurse." For the most part, her work will be the same as it's always
been. She will give workshops and speeches. One of her plans is to take
new Toronto Mayor David Miller on a tour of homelessness in the city
and introduce him to people who are homeless. "I hope to be able to
reach out nationally to groups and really dream about some new and creative
ways to inspire other Canadians to work towards a national housing program."
Cathy would like to see more shelters, and conditions inside improved.
She envisions an emergency rent supplement program so vulnerable people
waiting for housing - families with children, people with chronic illness
or cancer, people who are HIV positive or with Hepatitis C, and seniors
- can be moved from shelters to housing. Her third wish: to have the
one-percent solution as the base to a national housing program.
Cathy's work with homeless people came about pretty innocently. As a
nurse she met several homeless people, but her involvement increased
when she started with Street Health. Nurses, independent of doctors
and hospitals, work in homeless healthcare and advocacy. Now, she has
a careful eye for what goes on in the city and can respond to issues
in various ways: press conferences, rallies, research, or showing images
or videos.
So, if Cathy e-mailed us three years from now what are some of the things
she would like to see in place? "We would see the implementation of
a national Housing Bill of Rights," she says. "We would see a very strong
national Minister of Housing cabinet position, a fully funded national
housing program that would be committed to spending $2 billion per year,
provinces matching money and all types of construction going on - co-ops,
supportive housing, and so on. Waiting lists for housing would be only
months. We would no longer need a Minister Responsible for Homelessness
in Ottawa."
One day at the corner of Toronto's Sherbourne and Dundas, a homeless
man called to Cathy. "Hey Street Nurse," he said with a big grin. The
name stuck, just like Cathy's deep desire to lead countless people to
a place they can call home.
Do you know of someone who deserves to be in Charity Village's Spotlight?
Send us their name, telephone number and details about their community involvement
to cam@charityvillage.com.
