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OCAP's Battle against Poverty

The Queen's Park Riot of 2000! Isn't that the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP). It brought name recognition to the anti-poverty group and it's lead organizer John Clarke. He is the face of OCAP as he acknowledges, "because mainly the media always tries to single out an individual and it so happens I've been around longer than most people. OCAP has lots of enormously effective activists that play a large role in the organization."

The London, England native has lived in Ontario for nearly 31 years. OCAP was founded as a response to the David Peterson Liberal Government and it's policies. As bad as Peterson was Mike Harris was far worse. Even today Toronto feels the pain of the appalling Mike Harris legacy with among his many disastrous policies : the downsizing of social services to municipalities. The provincial government gave the duties to the cities without proper funding. Ultimately residents of Ontario pay, through municipal taxes, for these provincial responsibilities.

Raise the Rates 40%

OCAP has many campaigns to it's credit. One of the main ones they have fought for is to raise welfare and ODSP payments by 40%. Basic welfare for a single person is $548 per month. Of that $342 is provided for basic shelter (housing and utilities). For over five years OCAP has produced a weekly housing list of the cheapest accommodations available in Toronto. The lowest cost for a 'decent' room in a house, in essence shared accommodation, varies between $450 and $500. That means someone's welfare cheque leaves them with $48 to $98 a month for food, clothing, personal hygiene items etc. A monthly phone costs approximately $40 per month including voice mail. Someone who pays $500 for housing on a monthly income of $548 can't afford a phone. It's difficult to look for work without a contact number. How does one on welfare with less than $100 a month afford transit tokens? It's a good question and one the Provincial Government fails to answer. They insist that one on welfare look for work but don't provide the basic resources, transportation and a telephone as costs in the welfare amount calculation. The system is designed to keep one on welfare. With such a paltry amount forget the job search the basic human necessity of nourishment is a far more pressing issue. There are churches and food banks available but spending every day looking for food is far more important, and should be for anyone, than looking for employment.

OCAP fights this battle every day, as Clarke says, "we've advanced that demand since McGuinty came to power, by that time a loss of 40 % spending power for social assistance recipients had taken place. This is a battle we will continue to fight. The special diet campaign is a way of taking some of that income. We want to be part of a movement in Ontario that is strong enough to force that kind of increase from the government."

The latest OCAP campaign takes on subsidized housing that is managed for the city of Toronto by TCHC. Clarke described OCAP's efforts as, "it's dealing with one of the cornerstones of the agenda of redevelopment which is the destruction of public housing. The campaign is through the mobilization of the people within TCHC communities to compel substantial repairs and maintenance work to be done that otherwise wouldn't be done".

Adding, "OCAP is trying to build a poor people's movement within the city of Toronto and beyond so we mobilize against the defense of individuals and families and broader campaigns and issues."

The Queen's Park Riot

The Main Stream Media likes it nice and simple with sound bites thus they came up with the moniker to describe the June 15, 2000 protest at the Ontario Legislature as "The Queen's Park Riot." It's a great phrase to use. Even today when government politicians, the police, etc respond to OCAP raised issues often that famous phrase is uttered. It's a way of attacking the whistleblower, a common tactic to avoid debate on serious issues.

The so-called Queen's Park Riot is a natural question to ask of OCAP. John Clarke responded, "it's true that the confrontation that took place that day was created by the police. At the same time it was a very important event because it was a point at which people who were poor and homeless faced attack and fought back. The police tried to put in an operation to clear the area and they used horses and baton charges to get rid of the crowd. OCAP doesn't see June 15th of 2000 as something shameful to cover up, we're very proud of the resistance that day."

Future of the Organization

What's next for OCAP? The battle isn't over far from it as Clarke observes, "we would like to contribute to the building of the mass movement of the poor in Ontario against capitalism ultimately but that means confrontations with the whole agenda of capitalism and the governments that are the political tool of that agenda."

John Clarke wrote in an 2001 article for OCAP's website, "OCAP has shown that a poor peoples' movement can shake those in power and contribute to the building of decisive social struggle. As a militant, anti capitalist organization, we reject the notion that we have any common set of interests with those who hold economic and political power. We also reject the rituals of token protest that confine movements to the level of futile moral arguments. We fight to win and are part of a growing force in society that is ready to organize on just that basis."