Learning from Others: Squat in Toronto

Challenge the Church (http://www.challengethechurch.ca) and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty will be challenging young Catholics to open their minds about housing issues, feminism and other issues during the Pope's visit to Toronto this upcoming week. OCAP will be taking over an abondoned building and Challeng the Church will be holding a series of workshops on the patriarchal nature of the Roman church, workshops are sponsored by progressive Catholics. The OCAP action should prove a learning experience for others outside of the Ontario area as OCAP has made large strides in getting community backing of the squat and aims to hold the squat to be converted into community housing in a city with gentrification and out-of-control rent since the neo-liberal policies of Tory Ernie Eves continue their destructive ways.

Updates will be posted to http://ontario.indymedia.org and http://www.indybay.org

COMMUNITY MEALS

PARKDALE - SATURDAY, JULY 20th, 2002
1 pm
Masaryk Cowan Park

Come out and enjoy a free, delicious meal with your neighbours. And learn about the Pope Squat, OCAP's next step in the fight for public housing.


QUEEN AND SHERBOURNE - every Thursday (except July 25th)
6 pm
Free weekly meals at the corner of Queen and Sherbourne

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List of Endorsers for ...

JULY 25th: THE POPE SQUAT
Thursday, July 25th - 7PM
meet at Masaryk Cowan Park
(Queen St. W. & Cowan Ave - east of Lansdowne, west of Dufferin - in Parkdale!)

We are calling upon all poor and working people, Catholics and social activists to open an abandoned building on Thursday July 25, 2002, during the Pope's visit to Toronto, and create real affordable housing.
Endorsed by:

Anti-capitalist Community Action (ACA Ottawa)
Anti-Racist Action (Toronto)
Anti-Poverty Committee (Vancouver)
APOV (Victoria, B.C.)
Brain Injury Association of Nipissing (BIAN)
Convergence des luttes anti-capitalistes (CLAC) (Montreal)
Coalition Against War & Racism
Committee to Stop Targeted Policing
CUPE 3903
DAWN Ontario: DisAbled Women's Network Ontario
Elementary Teachers of Toronto
Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU)(Quebec)
Gregory Baum, renowned catholic theologian
Guelph Action Network
Haymarket Octet
International Socialists
Kingston Low Income Needs Coalition (LINC)
Metro Network For Social Justice
New Socialists
North Bay Network for Social Action (NNSA)
Ottawa Coalition Against the Tories (Ottawa)
Ontario Common Front (Toronto)
Ontario Common Front (Kingston)
Ontario Common Front (Sudbury)
Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA) Committee (North Bay)
Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty
Peterborough IWW
RyeACT!: Ryerson Activist Coalition
Social Justice Committee St. James Catholic Highschool (Guelph)
Student Christian Movement of Canada (SCM Canada)
Ted Schmidt, editor, Catholic New Times
Tenant Action Group (Belleville)
Toronto Catholic Worker (Zacchaeus House, Room for Hope, Magdelene House)
Toronto Mobilization for Global Justice
Toronto Video Activist Collective
York Mob4Glob
York University Graduate Student Association
Young Left
Youth Anarchist Resistance

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CALL TO TAKE ON SHIFTS

The key component to keeping the Pope Squat safe is having concrete 24 hour support - outside the building.

We would like a minimum of 25 people per shift.

Shifts are as follows, beginning FRIDAY JULY 26th:

12am-4am
4am-8am
8am-12pm
12pm-4pm
4pm-8pm
8pm-12am

Overnight shifts and double shifts are greatly appreciated.

To take on shifts, please call and leave a message at the OCAP office for
Rachel.

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Also, please don't forget ...

1. We need endorsements of the squat action. Please send your endorsements to OCAP. Show the city that we are united in our demand for social housing.

2. We need squatters. If you are interested in directly participating please contact us ASAP. Whether you can commit to a day, a weekend, a week, or a longer term you are needed for the Pope squat to succeed.

3. We need outside supporters & observers. Please bring your banners, flags, members, friends and family for a mass demonstration when we open the squat.

4. We will need cooks, artists, musicians, and performers of all types for a family-oriented festival to celebrate the opening of the building.

5. We will need both the donation of skilled and unskilled labour to transform an empty building into a livable, safe, and enjoyable social housing and community center. We will also require the donation or lending of tools, lumber, hardware, furniture, food, other equipment and monetary
donations.

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Come celebrate the opening of the Pope Squat!
Join OCAP and the Squatters for a...
S U M M E R S T R E E T F E S T I V A L
Saturday, July 27, 2002
At NOON -- 'til the Music Runs Out
In front of the Pope Squat
Somewhere in a Downtown Toronto Neighborhood

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CALLING musicians, DJs, street-theatre troupes, fire-spinners, fire-breathers, puppeteers, tightrope-walkers, and otherwise artistically inclined folks...If you'd like to support the Pope Squat by performing during the Summer Street Festival, please GET IN TOUCH as soon as possible! Email john [at] tao.ca or phone 416-925-6939 and leave a message for John.
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The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty will open the Pope Squat, on Thursday, July 25. The City of Toronto is spending millions of dollars funding the Pope's visit for World Youth Day while neglecting the basic needs of the thousands of people deprived of shelter as a result of skyrocketing rents and evictions. Squatters will occupy an abandoned building in a Toronto neighborhood during the Pope's visit; their demands of all levels of government include the creation of 2000 units of social housing a year. The Pope Squat will ultimately be transformed into self-managed social housing and a community center for neighborhood use.

In order to celebrate the opening of the Pope Squat, OCAP is inviting neighborhood residents, social activists and squat supporters to a Summer Street Festival on Saturday, July 27, featuring:

* performances by bands and DJs
* circus stunts and face-painting
* speeches by your favourite Toronto politicos
* a community barbecue
* an atmosphere of festive resistance & reappropriation.

The Festival will start at Noon and continue on well into the evening. It will take place outside the Pope Squat; the exact location will be announced at the opening of the Squat on July 25th. Check your email or the OCAP website (http://www.ocap.ca) for updates.

There are many ways you can contribute to this celebration of resistance and reappropriation:

==> You can participate just by showing up, getting to know the squatters and the neighbors, sharing good food and celebrating the capacity of people to take and create the shelter they need in order to survive and flourish in this city.

==> If you are an artist or performer, and would like to support the Pope Squat by performing at the Summer Street Festival, please get in touch with John at john [at] tao.ca or at 416.925.6939.

==> If you would like to speak in support of the Pope Squat during the festival, or know of good speakers who might, please let us know! Again, you can get in touch with John at john [at] tao.ca or at 416.925.6939.

See you at the party!

When the government refuses to build housing, people have no choice but to take it themselves!
Fight to Win!

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Bring your unused stuff to sell or barter at the...

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R A D I C A L G A R A G E S A L E
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Monday, July 29, 2002
12 - 6 PM
Front Yard of the Pope Squat

On July 25, 2002, OCAP will open the Pope Squat. In the middle of Toronto's housing crisis, as the City spends millions of dollars funding the Pope's visit, squatters will demand the construction of more social housing as they occupy an abandoned building in a Toronto neighborhood. The Pope Squat will ultimately be transformed into self-managed social housing and a vibrant community center.

Toronto activists are inviting you to celebrate the opening of the Pope Squat by coming to a Radical Garage Sale on the Squat's proverbial front lawn on Monday, July 29, 2002. Although garage sales are normally held by residents of a building when they move OUT, this community garage sale is being organized in support of the occupants who will just have moved IN!

So clear all the unused stuff out of your stifling apartments. Bring it down to the Pope Squat on Monday afternoon and sell or barter it for someone else's unused stuff. Sales contributions of Radical Kitsch are especially encouraged.

Proceeds from your sales can be donated to OCAP and the Pope Squat.

The location of the Pope Squat will be announced when it is opened on July 25th. Check your email or the OCAP website for updates: http://www.ocap.ca. For more information about the Radical Garage Sale, please get in touch with Anna at awillats [at] sympatico.ca or John at john [at] tao.ca.

WHEN THE GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO BUILD HOUSING, PEOPLE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE IT THEMSELVES.
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NEW ADDRESS!
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
517 College Street, Suite 234 Toronto, Ontario M5G 4A2
416-925-6939 ocap [at] tao.ca http://www.ocap.ca
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