Dialogue City Episode #003: Andrea Landriault and Nigel Kirk and the Homeless Charter of Rights

Credit: This podcast would not have happened without inspiration from Metro Calgary’s article on the children book about homelessness. You can find that article here: http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary/2017/11/03/new-children-s-book-teaches-children-about-homeless-rights.html

A year and a half ago, Andrea jumped on the idea of writing a children’s book on homelessness. Working with elementary school children and taking the Homeless Charter of Rights and working that into a children’s book, I May Not Have A Home was published alongside members of the Client Action Committee. This group is aligned with the Calgary Homeless Foundation, and consists of individuals who have past or current lived experiences with homelessness.

Wouldn’t it be a shock to you if you were denied to right to eat at a restaurant just because you didn’t own property? What if you could not find a job or attempt to rent? This is the vicious cycle of homelessness, often That’s just one of the many hurdles homeless people face everyday as they try to interact with the rest of society. There are so many points that were brought up during the podcast, the following list of key points are highlighted for our listeners to consider. The show notes provide more links and references for our listeners to do more detailed research when it comes to homelessness.

• Some of these rights that are highlighted in the Homeless Charter of Rights include requiring consent to have belongings confiscated, or being able to choose whether or not to go to a shelter.
• The homeless population is a very diverse group and cannot be stereotyped into any one race, gender, or sexual orientation.
• Note that there are certain things that are missing from the Homeless Charter of Rights, notably the exploitation of labour is not discussed.
• Are basic services a privilege or are they rights?
• Why do we not highlight the fact that the cost to society of homelessness is massive?
• Community, we do want to make the places live better. Impact of communities is based on shared experience rather than just being labelled homeless.
• There are key differences between just simply undertaking an objective evaluation of homelessness versus doing qualitative studies on the impacts of homelessness, and including social inclusion measures. The latter is more often than not neglected.
• Social inclusion is so important. The same kinds of social activities most people partake like Toastmasters, chess clubs, and art programs, are also just as important to those without a home.
• Homelessness as culture. There are certain attributes and life experiences that an individual will always have with them when they go through a lived experience of homelessness.
• When you scatter those who were created friends and bonds in teh homeless community, as many cities do,, you destroy the community they built up and the social safety network they developed.
• Homelessness can be a very lonely experience.
• Should society be looking an economic argument for ending homelessness or a consider it as a societal/human rights and responsibilities argument?
• There needs to be special attention to building a child’s self worth and dignity when they are in a homeless situation.
• Education and knowledge is power when it comes to understanding homelessness.

We want to thank Andrea and Nigel for taking time out of their day to come chat with us. You can find more information on the children’s book I May Not Have A Home - A Children's Book About Homelessness and Dignity on Facebook. You can also buy a copy of the children’s book on Amazon or at Owl’s Nest Books right here in Calgary. All proceeds of the book go towards the Client Action Committee.

You can find this episode and more on iTunes, Google Play, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Reach us on Twitter, Facebook, and via email at dialoguecity@gmail.com.

Show notes

1. Carding is a practice where law enforcement agents stop random people to ask them about personal information like their names, addresses, and contact information. Certain demographics however over represent those who are “randomly” asked.
2. The Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms prohibits discrimination based on “social condition”, which has extended to the state of poverty as part of that condition. The full section reads “Every person has a right to full and equal recognition and exercise of his human rights and freedoms, without distinction, exclusion or preference based on race, colour, sex, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, sexual orientation, civil status, age except as provided by law, religion, political convictions, language, ethnic or national origin, social condition, a handicap or the use of any means to palliate a handicap.”
3. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was first established in December 1948.
4. Alberta Human Rights Commission started the Homeless Charter of Rights because there were a lack of complaints from the homeless population. What is most important is that discrimination is legal, and there are many organizations and groups trying to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of poverty. Dialogue City has made a copy of the Homeless Charter of Rights available at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1l9TFcsM2vI8TNXJMJYelWBlOCd3LxpHP
5. Victim blaming is when the individual is blamed to some degree about the crime or discrimination in which they were a victim of.
6. Penny Arcade Expo or PAX is a collection of gaming festivals held throughout the year that focuses on tabletop and electronic gaming.
7. Worker cooperative model is defined in Wikipedia as “ is a cooperative that is owned and self-managed by its workers.
8. Anarcho-syndicalism is defined in Wikipedia as “ a theory of anarchism that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and, with that control, influence broader society.
9. Calgary Urban project Society (CUPS) is an organization that helps adults and families in poverty and dealing with traumatic events/experiences to become self-sufficient.
10. Geocaching is defined in Wikipedia as “ an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world.”
11. Artists trading cards as defined by Wikipedia as “a conceptual art project initiated by the Swiss artist M. Vänçi Stirnemann in 1997.
12. Gay-Straight Alliances or GSAs are student-run peer support networks where a safe and inclusive space is provided for all individuals who want to support the LGBTQ community. Note that LGBTQ is used as a general term here on this blog, and that Dialogue City is mindful of all the groups that it represents.
13. Calgary Street Talk was a monthly newspaper that told the stories of those in poverty from 1997–2010.
14. Macklemore is an American rapper from Seattle, Washington. We don’t know what kind of hairstyle he has now.
15. “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.” — Mark Twain
16. The 10 year plan to end homelessness is an ambitious goal to end homelessness not just in Calgary, but all of Alberta, set up by the provincial government by 2018.
17. The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of 17 social development goals created by the United Nations to combat a variety of social economic problems in the world like poverty and gender inequality for example. They are a successor the the Millennium Development Goals that ended in 2015.
18. Nothing about us without us is a term used to highlight the idea that policies should not be determined by any single group or organization without the full and active participation by those who are affected by such policies or decisions.
19. Gabriel Chen is a homeless outreach lawyer based in Calgary.
20. December 21st is National Homeless Person’s Memorial day to remember those who have passed away as a result of being homeless. Calgary will have a memorial for this, as will many municipalities across North America.