C/O Gustavo Sanchez
Amidst cold weather and high COVID-19 case counts, the city of Hamilton failed to protect and consider its unhoused residents
January 2022 was a difficult month for the city of Hamilton, with temperatures dipping as low as -20 degrees Celsius and hundreds of Hamilton residents hospitalized with COVID-19. Unfortunately, low temperatures and high rates of COVID-19 created even more obstacles for Hamilton’s unhoused population.
“What we've observed as COVID has been ongoing and as the cold weather has been ongoing is just the lack of empathy and the lack of tangible sustainable solutions [from the city],”
Koubra Haggar, member of Hamilton Encampment Support Network’s Steering Committee.
HESN is an advocacy group and support network run entirely by volunteers in the Hamilton community. They advocate on behalf of the needs of unhoused residents of Hamilton and provide unhoused people with support and resources.
Vic Wojciechowska, another member of the Steering Committee, explained how shelters in Hamilton have not been adequately supported by the city throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Wojciechowska explained that, earlier this year, all but one of Hamilton’s men’s shelters were experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks.
“Given the Covid outbreaks, [people] were being refused at the door. We had testimonies come in from shelter workers about the lack of municipal support for staffing, for adequate PPE, for any sort of code protocols or measures. We are two years into this pandemic now. The city has had adequate time to respond, to prepare, to prioritize and yet we're in the same position that we were a year ago,” said Wojciechowska.
Hagger added that, over the past few months, the city has taken a clear stance against people residing in encampments by saying that tents have to go.
“They care about aesthetics. The city cares about maintaining a certain image. While making these remarks and saying all these horrible things, they aren't providing any alternatives that are sustainable or dignified,” said Haggar.
Hagger recalled seeing police officers and city workers tell encampment residents to move farther into the trees where they would be less visible.
“The city doesn't have an issue in terms of letting people die in the cold; they also have an issue around maintaining a pristine image of Hamilton that excludes all poor and unhouse folks,” said Hagger.
In November 2021, several people who protested against encampment evictions were arrested. These people said that police officers used violence during the arrests, leaving them with various injuries.
In a video shared by the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, officers can be seen tackling three Black youth in front of Hamilton’s central police station.
“Here is the footage of Hamilton Police arresting [three] Black youth early this afternoon. These violent attacks are a reminder of outright police brutality & systemic racism. Why are Black youth being arrested when they are advocating for better housing options for residents?”
Statement from Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion
Wojciechowska also pointed out how many of the people making decisions about Hamilton’s housing crisis do not truly understand what the options for unhoused people look like. Wojciechowska recalled that, at a community delegation day to inform the operating budget, a city councilor expressed confusion about why one might choose to live in an encampment over a shelter.
“These are the people that are making the decisions. They don't even understand what the conditions within shelters are,” said Wojciechowska.
Wojciechowska highlighted how this lack of understanding leads the city of Hamilton to present options to unhoused community members that are not truly viable.
“We had someone provide testimony that, during the outbreaks in the women’s sector, people who were in COVID-19 isolation would not be able to access the shower for ten days. Again, these are being presented as options to people. In an encampment, at least you have community, at least you have control over isolation and contact and exposure with others. Whereas [the other option is that] you're crammed into a shelter with who knows how many other people, a shelter in an active outbreak and the city is calling this a housing solution,” said Wojciechowska.
Despite the current situation, Wojciechowska and Hagger expressed optimism that through the work and advocacy of HESN, the public has become more aware of Hamilton’s housing crisis.
“There's been a shift in public narrative over the last year regarding encampments. [There has been a shift in] understanding the conditions and the causes of encampments and understanding how these are linked to the housing crisis and how this is aligned to municipal failure to take responsibility of housing people,” said Wojciechowska.
Treating all members of our community with care is crucial, and this involves respecting and considering the needs of unhoused community members. Moving forward, the city of Hamilton still has much work to do in order to support unhoused individuals.
After racist tweets by a former Marauder were brought to light, former Mac athletes began to share their stories and the university’s lack of response.
CW: anti-Black racism, police brutality
Since the widespread protests in the United States and globally following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, many professional athletes have taken it upon themselves to further educate others and raise awareness about the acts of racial injustice plaguing their communities, especially those consisting of police brutality; however, this is not new to many athletes this year.
“We found something we’re fighting for as the NBA, as a collective unit…and I use these shoes as a symbol to keep fighting all around the world.”
- Jamal Murray after Denver's Game 6 win. pic.twitter.com/rkwPn9QuHX
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) August 31, 2020
In 2016, Colin Kaepernick began the movement of kneeling during the national anthem, where he was met with support and anguish. Over the years, Kaepernick became a leading civil rights activist despite being blackballed by team owners for his outspoken views.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” Kaepernick said in a post-game interview during a 2016-2017 preseason game.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” Kaepernick said in a post-game interview during a 2016-2017 preseason game.
Kaepernick’s statement comes two years after many NBA players made a statement in their games where they wore t-shirts saying, “I Can’t Breathe” following the death of Eric Garner, who repeatedly said those words while being put in a chokehold by police officers. A reminder that those three words were also uttered by Floyd four years later. Likewise to Kaepernick, these athletes still continue to face heavy scrutiny where comments about their salary are made, suggesting that such athletes did not experience systemic racism due to their wealth and financial stability.
Fast forward to 2019, Masai Ujiri was blocked and shoved by the Alameda County sheriff from celebrating with his team due to allegedly not having the correct credentials. A new video released in August 2020 showed otherwise where Ujiri was shoved while having his credentials. The public viewed this incident as a classic case of racial profiling, despite status or wealth being present.
As we look more recently, following the game seven loss by the Toronto Raptors in the 2020 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the public heavily critiqued Pascal Siakam’s play; however, it was brought to our attention that some fans have gone too far and made racial attacks against him.
The aforementioned stories have shined the light on the racism that athletes face consistently but continues to be ignored. As we look more directly at our own community, former lacrosse team player Steven Archachan was only removed from the team (but not from the university) following the revelation of tweets that featured racist slurs. With that being said, Archachan removed himself from the university and stated he would not be attending in the future. Archachan has since apologized for his tweets, while stating to one of our reporters that he was dealing with issues affecting his mental health and well-being at that time.
Kwasi Adu-Poku, a fifth-year kinesiology student at McMaster University and current member of the men’s basketball team, shared his thoughts on the handling of the situation.
“When they released the article through CBC Hamilton on the situation, when they described [Archachan] choosing to leave the school, it kind of made him seem like the bigger person in the situation and when you think about the scope of what happened, a lot of people were impacted by this message,” Adu-Poku said. “It wasn’t the best thing to let that person paint themselves in that kind of light . . . a lot of us felt there could have been a stronger response at the time but our school is definitely on the trajectory to make a lot of the needed changes and now we’re being held publicly accountable.”
“When they released the article through CBC Hamilton on the situation, when they described [Archachan] choosing to leave the school, it kind of made him seem like the bigger person in the situation and when you think about the scope of what happened, a lot of people were impacted by this message,” Adu-Poku said. “It wasn’t the best thing to let that person paint themselves in that kind of light . . . a lot of us felt there could have been a stronger response at the time but our school is definitely on the trajectory to make a lot of the needed changes and now we’re being held publicly accountable.”
As the case of Archachan began to unfold, former Marauder athletes came forward with their stories. Fabion Foote, a former football player at McMaster, has detailed the systemic racism he faced while on the team.
“My DL coach at Mac said I had to sell weed to afford my tuition lol. Keep in mind I never smoked in my life. My friend was in a group chat were a white athlete used the N word. My teammate reported it to the coaches and they some how managed to blame us for it,” Foote stated among a series of tweets discussing the systemic racism he endured while at McMaster.
“My DL coach at Mac said I had to sell weed to afford my tuition lol. Keep in mind I never smoked in my life. My friend was in a group chat were a white athlete used the N word. My teammate reported it to the coaches and they some how managed to blame us for it,” Foote stated among a series of tweets discussing the systemic racism he endured while at McMaster.
The racial profiling Foote experienced was echoed by John Williams, a former McMaster athlete who penned a letter via a Google Form, detailing the failures of the university attempting to support the Black and Indigenous community while asking people to support his statement.
“One former athlete detailed how a certain post practice locker room day of the week was entitled "White Boy Wednesdays" where only "White Music" was allowed to be played. Another athlete spoke about how when the team travelled to Toronto the other white teammates asked them if they were "going to be shot by any of the brothers?" Another Black former female athlete spoke about her feelings of isolation while being on the team and how she felt treated differently by coaches,” wrote Williams.
“One former athlete detailed how a certain post practice locker room day of the week was entitled "White Boy Wednesdays" where only "White Music" was allowed to be played. Another athlete spoke about how when the team travelled to Toronto the other white teammates asked them if they were "going to be shot by any of the brothers?" Another Black former female athlete spoke about her feelings of isolation while being on the team and how she felt treated differently by coaches,” wrote Williams.
Williams also claimed that former Director of Athletics, Glen Grunwald, current Director, Mark Alfano and Dean of Students Sean Van Koughnett did not take action on the issues Black football athletes endured while on the team.
Following the various critiques, the university announced in July they are conducting a review into the countless experiences of Black athletes and investigating the racism within the department of athletics, which will be headed by Van Koughnett. He aims to hire more Black leaders in the McMaster Athletics department.
Adu-Poku explained to us his appreciation for Van Koughnett’s willingness to work with him and open-ears regarding a discussion about celebrating Black history. Adu-Poku also spoke to non-athletes in the McMaster Black student community and echoed their hopes that this review could act as a blueprint to combat systemic racism in an academic setting.
From Foote’s story to Archachan’s racial slurs, it shows that over the years, racism has never really left the McMaster Athletics department. It was just a matter of time until serious demands for accountability occurred.
Second year social sciences sudent Chantal Godin was part of a large group of protesters, mostly affiliated with Marineland Animal Defense movement, who jumped over the fence on the property to flood the park’s dolphin show.
Godin alleges that she was assaulted by police officers, and released a statement in which she described being pulled off the fence by an officer who specifically targeted her, ignoring the hundreds of protesters already inside the area.
A video taken by another protester shows a part of the incident.
Godin was the only protester arrested and was fined under the Trespass to Property Act.
The Media Relations Department of the Niagara Regional Police declined to comment, stating they were unaware of the situation.
