The Downtown East Committee of the Toronto Stop the Cuts network began operating in May 2011. We are a coalition of community groups and concerned neighbours, including residents and service providers. Ford’s agenda of cuts would be of particular harm Toronto’s downtown east; the corridor bounded by the lake to the south and Bloor to the north has one of the highest concentrations of poverty and homelessness in the nation, coupled with a large population of migrant peoples new to Canada. With Ford and his cronies vowing to slash shelter space, newcomer’s services and city subsidized daycare, among other valued services, we knew our community had to mobilize to stop what is, in effect, a direct attack on our neighbourhood and the people who live in it. Fortunately, the strong ties several of our members have in the neighbourhood, along with OCAP’s longstanding visibility in the community, situate us well to mobilize to fight these cuts.
The Downtown East Committee has hosted several lively public strategy meetings, attended by upwards of a hundred people, along with many smaller planning meetings. We were also quite active in organizing a series of public deputations in front of the Toronto HQ of consulting firm KPMG – the auditors hired by Ford to “find efficencies in city services” (read: cut necessary city programs). We have more actions planned for the coming months and will be actively participating in the city-wide meeting planned for September 10th.
Next meeting:
Thursday, February 23rd at 6:00 PM at the Parliament Street branch of the Toronto Public Library at Parliament & Gerrard.
Branch info and directions: https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?R=LIB074
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For more information on getting involved, or to find out when our next meeting is, please contact: TorontoDTE@gmail.com