A recent article in the Catholic Register (“Collins calls for leadership to end homelessness”; Michael Swan, Jan 24, 2016, page 5), made reference to the “5000 people in Toronto who will sleep outside, in church basements or in shelters on any given night”. Returning to live in Toronto after thirty years in Winnipeg has made me all too aware of the issue of homelessness in the downtown area where I live and work.  Over the years I was often in Toronto for meetings of one kind or other but never had much time to walk around. 

Perhaps the most striking thing about my regular walks these days, between the Jesuit Residence where I live (Sherbourne & Bloor area) and the Jesuit Curia offices in the University of Toronto campus area, are the number of pan handlers I encounter on the streets as I amble along.  In fact, I have discovered that there are regulars at strategic locations and on busy corners. 

At first, I would give my pocket change to the first person who asked.  Then, as I came to know how many people I would likely meet, I began to divide it up a bit.  For a while a young man with two dogs was camped out on one corner.  He said he felt far safer on the street than in a shelter (which did not allow dogs).  As winter approached, he disappeared.  More recently a man began to camp out on a busy corner near a subway entrance.  He was quite animated and creative in asking for money.  One day he even had a small sign on the sidewalk saying he would smile for 25 cents and give a hug for a dollar.  On the last evening I saw him, he was propped up in his sleeping bag reading a book with a light.  A day or two later he was gone. 

I find it troubling that I meet so many homeless people in Toronto.  Growing up in a poor neighborhood in Saint John NB, my brothers and I often encountered men sleeping in alleys and pan handling on the streets as we scavenged around collecting beer and pop bottles to buy treats.  Later, as we delivered daily newspapers in the area, we got to know many of those same people on the streets as we tended to encounter them in the same places each day. 

My sense then was that they were good people who were on the margins because of loss of work, family break-ups, mental illness, addictions, etc.  That is still my sense as I encounter similar people in Toronto.  More importantly, I also know that they are human beings like you and me who are made in the image and likeness of God. As Mother Teresa often said, they are Jesus in the “distressing disguise of the poor”. 

So it was heartening to read in the Catholic Register article that, during a pre-budget consultation, Cardinal Thomas Collins, RC Archbishop of Toronto, called on the provincial government to work with the federal government and municipalities to come up with “a national housing strategy and a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy”. At the same time, emphasizing the need for “social, supportive and affordable housing”, he asked the provincial government to invest “significant resources to end chronic homelessness”.

Why?  Because, he said, “the worth of a community is defined by the way it cares for those of its members who are most vulnerable”.  I doubt if many of those I meet on the streets read the Catholic Register but I do and the words of Cardinal Collins are an encouragement to me as I give what change I have to those who ask and even stop, from time to time, to chat for a minute or two.