The realities of being homeless in Peel Region are the subject of a new video — Spaces and Places: Uncovering Homelessness in the Region of Peel.
The 15-minute video originated with Peel Poverty Action Group (PPAG) and was produced with a $75,000 grant from The Trillium Foundation and the help of the Social Planning Council of Peel, a filming and research team from York University, local social service provider Regeneration, and others. It was shown publicly for the first time on Thursday (10 December, 2009) at the Rose Theatre, Brampton.
The stars are people from Brampton and Mississauga who have experienced homelessness. They revisit scenes of sleeping rough in wooded areas, “where you can’t get comfortable with an arthritic hip.” They talk about the total loneliness of not having a permanent place; how women can be hooked on cocaine, then forced to work the streets to finance a drug habit. “I wish I had never left home,” says one young person, “ wish…I wish…I wish.” Another sings the praises of Knights’ Table, Brampton’s soup kitchen on Kennedy Road, where she survives because of its daily free meals. A man sleeps in a truck at night, so he can continue his job even without a permanent place to stay.
The video will be available to the public in the New Year. PPAG plans, with the help of instructors from Canadian Auto Workers, to enhance the public speaking skills of volunteers who have experienced homelessness and who can accompany the video at presentations to politicians and to organizations such as churches, service clubs, business groups, social service providers, unions, schools.
