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Ask for Repairs, Get an Eviction Notice : Life in Subsidized Housing

Maintenance Request Earns Eviction Notice: TCHC strikes again! Scarborough resident Lurline Bennett needed some repairs starting with the installation of a back door to her home. The immediate response : a notice asking her to get out by March 28th, 2008. That's not the way the Landlord Tenant Tribunal is to be used : to scare tenants into living in appalling conditions.

Taser Deaths : "Casualty of War": according to Frank Di Giorgio. He's a Toronto Police Services Board member and Toronto City Councillor who has a unique term of phrase considering the city of Toronto isn't at war with any other city in the world. Amnesty International, Peter Rosenthal of Roach, Schwartz & Associates, the Urban Alliance Against Race Relations and the Toronto Police Association all had things to say about giving tasers to all of Toronto's cops. Chief Blair's report on the usage in 2007 produced the following stats: 454 Tasers in cops' hands culminating in 404 recorded uses of the weapons.

No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Police: rally cry outside 40 College Street, Headquarters of the Toronto Police. A group gathered to remember Toronto youth Alwy Al Nadhir who was shot and killed by the police on October 31st, 2007 in Riverdale Park. Marking International Day Against Police Brutality, speakers at the rally included al-Nadhir's mother Muna Bafagih.

Where's Sandra Toronto's City Council is overtaken by OCAP, who bring attention to the lack of shelter beds for the homeless in Toronto. The majority of councillors, including Speaker Sandra Bussin, fled the chambers in fear. OCAP handed out a piece of paper, apparently that was enough to terrify most of the politicians. Those that remained included Rob Ford.

Robert Maurice's Legacy: Hypothermia led to the death of Robert Maurice on a bitterly cold night in February. His death highlights an on-going battle between Anti-Poverty Activists and the City who are at loggerheads. The city dismisses the claim there aren't enough shelter beds for the homeless. Maurice wasn't homeless at the time of his death: was he safely and adequately housed?

Toronto's Worst Landlord: Itself! People in subsidized housing in Toronto live in appalling conditions. OCAP took a photographic display to city hall to bring the issue of repairs to the people that won't come up with the funds necessary.

Judi Cohen : Failed Sycophant Toronto Police Services Board Member Judi Cohen does an appalling job of boot-licking: she makes the target of her accolades, Police Chief Bill Blair, look like a thin-skinned fool.

Dear Rob Ford: April's Editor's Letter