Review: Here At Home

I've recently been made aware of a really cool project by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).  Filmmakers decided to follow the At Home project, a four year study funded by the Government of Canada to learn about the effectiveness of a "housing first" approach compared to traditional programs and supports in place to address homelessness.

I have written about some housing first strategies before.  It's a model that I strongly believe in.  The basic premise is that by providing people with an affordable place to live (by subsidizing the rent) and bringing supports to them, individuals are more likely to recover from mental illness and addiction, and be less of a drain on expensive services such as hospitals and homeless shelters.

The Here At Home film project starts as a website that shows you a map of the cities where the study is being conducted and provides stats about homelessness.  When you click on a city, there will be an associated video you can watch.   When one video finishes, it will direct you to the next one.  Videos chronicle  the stories of study participants including tenants, support workers, and people in the traditional stream of homeless services.

These people are extremely familiar to me, but may not be to most Canadians.  I work in a supportive housing program (not one involved in this study) and the stories in the videos show a good reflection of the people and issues I see every day.  The filmmakers have not glossed over anything, and I think they have done a good job of showing the successes and the service gaps, the happy stories and the sad.

The best part is that this project isn't over.  The study will be completed in March 2013.  More videos are being posted in real time as the study continues.  The website also features a blog about the project, a timeline of Housing First in Canada and information about the study.  The site is interactive and engaging.  If you have a chance, I strongly encourage everyone to check it out.  I will be following along for the next year or so, and eagerly await the report when the study is completed.

Canada is the only G8 nation without a National Housing Strategy.

Fiscal, Financial, Federal...there's probably one more "F" word I could add here...

Any one else feeling the end-of-fiscal-year crunch right about now?  I haven't posted much of late as I've had some time spent in all day trainings at I'm also trying to get all my notes, stats, logs and whatnot done in time for the end of fiscal.

Money pressures are everywhere at the moment.  When our final numbers are tallied soon, we'll find out if we (my program at work) made quota in order to maintain our current funding.

My taxes are all prepared, but I have yet to take that depressing step of actually submitting them (we owe this year due to my partners self-employment income).

And the big one of course is that both the Ontario and Federal budgets came down this week.  Like a hammer, each one.  I'm hoping to get a better look at them in the days to come.

Once I've done all this, I'm also going to go roll all my pennies to deposit in the bank before stores won't take them any more.  My old peanut butter jar is going to seem so empty from now on...*


*for those of you out of the loop, one of the federal budget items everyone is talking about is that the Conservative government has announced the end of the 1 cent coin in Canada.  No more "take a penny, leave a penny" in the Great White North.

Why Occupy?

So I’ve been considering heading down to check out the Occupy Toronto demonstration.  So far, it’s been non-violent which is encouraging.  And the police have been getting along with the protesters.  To be honest though, I’ve been skeptical as to the point of the protest – Canada has not had the same economic downturn as the United States, and our banks did not get bailed out by the government.  Are people showing up in solidarity with those struggling south of the border?  Are they just hippies who want to camp out and play djembe’s in the park (not that there’s anything wrong with that, I am part-hippie myself) or folks who simply enjoy causing a ruckus?  But just when I start to give in to my doubts and feel negative about the whole thing, signs like this are encouraging: 

Maybe there is value in reminding Canadians that the income gap has been widening in recent years. In reminding our government that they must continue to work for improvement in our social systems, not rest on their laurels. In reminding the 1% that their gains are someone else’s losses. In encouraging citizens to become engaged.


Maybe some positive forces will come together and organize out of this for real change.  Yeah, I think I’ll go for at least a little bit.

Politics of Rape

I remember having a conversation with my University roommate once about rape. I don’t remember the details at this point, but somehow through the course of the conversation I know that I made the ridiculous statement that “you can’t be raped!” to my male roommate. He was taken aback, and only had to say “uh, yes I can” to make me realize my stupidity. Despite being a staunch feminist and growing up with a “No means NO” poster in my playroom at home (thanks mom) there were some serious gaps in my knowledge and understanding of rape and sexual assault.

I know I am not the only one who has had this type of misunderstanding. Unfortunately, not everyone is as quick to rethink their definition of rape as I was. Over at the Ms. Magazine blog, there is a campaign going on to change the FBI’s 82-year old definition rape which states that “forcible rape” is “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will”. Such a narrow definition means that many victims and survivors are not included on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR). The statistics of this report have a direct effect on funding and resources for sexual assault crime investigation.

Here in Canada the Criminal Code criminalizes sexual assault, and defines that as any sexual contact with another person without that person’s consent. While our system of course is not perfect, at least it offers victims a vehicle by which to press charges if they want to. And at least they know that they “count”.

I had my own experience of sexual assault, and it took me a long time to realize that’s what it was. For a long time I had bad feelings whenever I couldn’t push back the memory, was triggered all the time and didn’t know how to deal with it. Naming what happened to me was a huge help to coping and taking back power over my own situation. It helps when society doesn’t dismiss what happened to you either.

Even though it’s not my country, I’ve already signed the Ms. petition at Change.org and urge you to do the same.

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Happy Summer Solstice!

One of my favourite days of the year! We Canadians tend to get particularly excited about the arrival of summer.  I try to convince as many clients as possible to meet me outside and sell them on the fact that the light exposure is good for their mental health.  Not to mention we should soak up some vitamin D when we get the chance!

Admittedly, the nice weather around here has kept me away from the computer and my dear little blog of late, but I haven't forgotten completely.  New posts on the horizon...
Hope you all get out today and enjoy some sunshine!