CITY24 - Wednesday, May 22, 2024 - 12:00 a.m. (ET) - Segment #26

with regards to how western countries regard the importance of being more interventionist with respect to israel and palestine, and that they're not that the parties are not going to able to get to a palestinian state, which is a wall to wall consensus of the international community with the the, with world in particular, the global north intervening. >> That leads me to my next question, michael g. You think these decisions will generate momentum for the recognition of a palestinian state by other un member I think it we, we've heard that bill slovenia and malta, all members of the european union are on the verge of wanting to make such a decision. >> We've heard more cautious comments coming from the from france. But I suspect that this kind of momentum, particularly given the fact that the israeli government has made it very clear, it will never recognize a palestinian state is going to actually have a political impact. Keep in mind that on often said a report of global north countries was that will recognize a palestinian state when israel and palestine a sit down to as a palestinian state and not before it is becoming increasingly obvious to most european countries and countries in the global north that the peace process will never yield that because of the position of the israeli government. >> Let's talk about israel's response because it was very quick to denounce these decisions. It's now recalled. It's a basa ders from these 3 countries and argues that this is a decision in favour of hamas. Your thoughts on that? >> Well, the most is not is palestinian government. We know that the palace at least in the west bank is governed by the for parts of the west bank is governed by the by the palestinian authority and that hamas is not part of the palestinian authority and palestinian authority who was speaking on behalf of the advocacy for for palestinian state when they made the comments today, the leaders of spain and ireland and norway all said that, you know, the create the recognition of a palestinian state will not bring about a palestinian state. But it's one of the key factors in getting to they want to go. And I suspect there's not much isris. They can lobby and push for support coming from its chief international been a factor, which is the united states. But united states itself, I think, is going to be relatively help us. And in holding back this growing momentum to want to see a difference in the tone of what's going between israel and palestine. Michael, I remember interviewing you back in october. And of course, so much has happened since then. And I asked you about. >> What the path to peace looks like. I'm going ask you, that's in question today. All these months later. What do you think that that path looks like? >> Well, I I think it means that there's there's no me know past the pace with path to justice. And I think much of the world recognizes the palestinians deserve their own place on the international stage, where that's going to be a two-state solution or it's going to be some kind of one-state solution based on democracy and the rule of law, where the 7 million israeli jews in the 7 million palestinian palestinians living between the river and the sea join together in a single state of some either way. That's I think where we're going one of having peace. Finally an end to this over 75 year-old conflict. And when it comes to these decisions, to think they're going to have any bearing on the situation on the ground. The war in gaza. And no and I think israel is always in command of its own decisions right now with regards to how it's going to conduct its military operations gaza. It knows that it has some leeway with respect to the united states. Not withstanding the disappointment that we hear sometimes coming from president biden. But on the on the other hand, this increasing isolation that were seen with respect to israel. Obviously, the announcement on monday by prosecutor, the international criminal court that seeking arrest involving a to the top israeli leaders. This announcement today with respect to the recognition of a palestinian state. Israel's reputation has taken a huge hit, a international over the last 7 months. And I think it will continue going almost in free fall until we can see a path forward. That's going to bring justice for both israelis and palestinians. Michael lang, professor emeritus at western university and former un special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied palestinian territory. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you very much for having me. >> And coming up next on cp24 live at noon morning. Straight ahead. Stay with us. Leon's Spring it on event ends Wednesday! Get incredible deals on furniture. Save up to 50% on select clearance mattresses. Save up to $1,000 on select Appliance and tv packages. Last chance to spring into savings.

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bringing forward tomorrow. A lot of councillors are supporting the idea of having 24/7 construction on the gardiner expressway to get that work done quicker. Here's councillor pasternak on the gardner. >> It's wise in the province doing this work. They've already agreed to do the upload. They agreed to take over the 500 million dollars in signed contracts. I have no idea why we're doing the work. But since we are doing the work, we've got to get it done as quickly as possible. 24/7 noise exemptions. That's the route to go. >> That motion by these 2 councillors going hits council floor tomorrow. And it's going to be a meeting that's going to take place over several dates back to. Much for this. And let states city hall because that is where the city is now providing an update on its approach to dealing with homeless encampments councillor to have bravo speaking now let's listen number of people in our city of funding a struggling to find and food. >> And housing and and this is compounded by a lack of mental health care, which only makes people who are already vulnerable, more vulnerable. >> The city of toronto has committed to progressive the realizing the right to housing and therefore has an obligation to treat people living in encampments with compassion and care. Well, there's no easy solution providing real pathways to shelter and housing works and meeting people's needs has already shown some positive results in our city. I'm happy to see this report come forward. It details to significant we are ready making away from enforcement in clearing, which only most people from one place to the next and does not work as an approach to encampments. Well, there's significant public to remove encampments, especially from parks. Safety is the condition for removal. And people need to why and how it's going to happen. The city has updated approaching puerto custer encampments is a crucial step to making good on a commitment to progressively realizing the right to housing as a human right. And it's a key response to the ombudsman's report. Getting this work right involves deep and ongoing engagement with those sitting with living in or having lived in encampments as well as the people who serve them. And very well quarter. The approach is providing transparent and and the court need to process to try to step in the work. And that means exhausting tools to connect people to indoor spaces, providing enhanced and flexible service models to respond to people's needs and safety and safety in the shelter system. Mayor chow and I have written to economic and community development committee with the motion to direct city staff to develop and implement key actions to increase access to safe secure housing and shelter for people who who are living outdoors respond to the unique housing these of shelter seekers. And I particularly want to highlight a recommendation for a pilot program of enhanced multi-sectoral case management support for people living outdoors those people who have complex mental and physical health needs and that this would be done in partnership with community serving and health care experts. And second, we are making the request of the government of ontario to located 54 million dollars to the city of toronto up for the year. 5 administration of the canada ontario housing benefit program to meet demand and continue to support transitions for people living outdoors our shelter system to permanent housing. This is a problem for governments across the country to face face a crisis of people not having a home and put her know. This is another step that builds on the shelter safety study will include an assessment of needs this fall, followed shelter safety plan and the capital plan for the city of toronto. It's urgency, of course, as join by the commitment of this mayor and this council to build more affordable housing. With that, I'll pass it on to a gore tenor. >> Well, thank you very much. Councillor bravo. And good afternoon and thank you all for joining us today to hear about how the city of toronto is enhancing involving its approach to encampments and supports for those experiencing homelessness. Let me start by recognizing, you know, the hardworking compassionate work that happens every day on the street of the city, by our outreach workers, health care workers, nurses, volunteers, folks that go into public spaces and connect with people who are living absolutely homeless and support them to get connected to the essential supports and help that they need. So is we at the city of toronto work to connect those to housing that they deserve the work of these folks is critical and we thank them for that. Encampments are a symptom of the housing affordability crisis. Shelter demand that exceeds availability and other social challenges, such as the mental health crisis and drug

toxicity crisis. Toronto continues to see unprecedented pressure on emergency shelter system due to inflated costs of living insufficient affordable and rent-geared-to-income housing inadequate income supports an increase in the number of refugee claimants arriving in in the city. We're working to address each of these issues. But in the meantime, we know people continue to be at risk. In april of this past we had an average everyday of 225 people that call the centre central intake phone service. They were unable to get matched to a bed by the end of the day. As of may 5th, there were 256 encampments at 131 city-owned properties in toronto. But this work is about people. That's why we've evolved our strategic approach to encampments. Everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to call home. This report and the accompanying protocols are just one piece of the measures we're taking to offer certainty help indignity to people experiencing homelessness and surrounding communities. As the weather warms, you know, we often see an increase in the number of encampments in the city. And that's true again this season. This report provides a timely and much-needed update on the work we're doing to help. The nature of these challenges are changing and we need to be changing with them. We're presenting a housing first human rights based approach to support people to access indoor spaces. Also addressing the needs of the broader community. There are several key pillars to this approach. The first is expanding the enhanced focused housing focused outreach and support model. 2 other encampments. Its exploring new service models for people that are living outdoors. It's about enhancing safety in our shelter system, both for our staff and our clients. Finally, it must be about increasing housing opportunities and shelter system flow. We know great success comes charge hearing from officials at city hall. The city of toronto says it is evolving its approach to homeless encampments. This after it faced a lot of pushback from advocates for clearing camps with toronto's shelter system running at capacity. The so the city now says it will explore. >> New models to help people on the streets and increase permanent housing opportunities. It will also work to make shelters safer. We'll have more on this throughout the afternoon. For now, we'll take a quick break. And coming up next on cp24 live at noon. We'll take a closer look at the poverty report card issued by food banks. Canada. (Upbeat music) If you are ready to replace your windows or patio doors, would you want multiple companies working in your home? Or would you prefer one single company doing everything? I'm Ann Romer here with Michael Smith from Renewable by Andersen. Michael, you do things so differently. Yes we do. And we take care of your entire project for you from the point of sales, through manufacturing, all the way through the installation and the warranty. We cut out the middleman. And our customers absolutely love that. So, Michael, you're warranty is very different from what other window companies offer. Yes, we offer a triple warranty that covers our windows, patio doors and the installation. A lot of companies here in the Toronto area warrant their windows. But what happens if that company goes out of business? Well, exactly. Renewal by Andersen is a full service replacement window division of Andersen, which is a family of U.S. and Canadian companies. They've been around for over 115 years. So we'll be here to stand behind our warranty. You replace a lot of vinyl windows here in the Toronto area. People choose vinyl because they're sometimes less expensive, but vinyl is really 1950s technology, so they tend to warp and crack. Meaning that you'd have to do your windows again. Okay, so if you don't use vinyl, what are your windows made of? Andersen research and develop our fibrics window material for over 30 years before we install it into one. Home fibrics is a composite material that's two times stronger than vinyl and really just much more beautiful. And right now, renewal by Andersen has a great deal for Toronto area homeowners. Before May 31st, save $299 on every window and save $799 on every door. Get an extra $500 off your project. Plus, pay nothing for a year. For a free appointment, call renewal by Andersen named Home Stars Best of the best for 2024. 1-800-665-4700 food banks canada is giving most provinces and territories poorer marks when it comes to addressing poverty and food insecurity for a

closer look at this report, we're joined live now by kirstin beardsley, chief executive officer with food banks canada. Kirsten, thank you for making time for us. Look, this is a really grim report. Visits to food banks are up 50%. What is happening? >> Well, just far too many people are struggling to make ends meet. And we see that every single day at the doors, a few banks. We know that people are coming to the food banks more than ever before in canadian history. We know that more people who've never had to go to food banks are having to turn to food banks for the very first time. So we're not a surprise by some of the findings in the report, but it does paint a very concerning picture of how many people right across this country are just struggling to make ends meet. >> You're also grading governments on how they are addressing food insecurity and poverty. You've given the federal government d minus. The province of ontario. Also receiving ad minus. That's almost a failing grade. Can can you walk me through that? >> Sure, so I yeah, I mean, this isn't a report card. You want to bring home to your parents, that's for sure. Most jurisdictions across the country, most provinces. As you said, the federal government are getting a t minus. And that's because so many people are struggling. So we've looked at a number of different measures to create this report card. So we're grading them across, you know, people's experiences of poverty, material deprivation. And we're also looking at legislative progress. So I think this this report, quite frankly, as an offer to government, we're not just saying, hey, things are really bad. We're also laying out policies that they can implement to to talk about are are to to address the issue so we're not just, it's not just the problem or offering. We're also offering the solution. And let me pick up on that. This offer to the government, looking at a solution based approach. >> You have may 27 recommendations for local governments. What do those look like? So at the federal you they're, you know, they got to see on legislative progress. It wasn't a terrible grey because there was investments in housing. >> But we know that those investments will be felt in the long term. And we're seeing the urgent need today and to what we're not seeing federally is investments in people today, so that they have more money so that they can go to the grocery store and not the food bank. For example, at the provincial what we're seeing universally is a lot of lack of, of commitment, a lack of urgency, as I've said. And so provincially governments have an opportunity to invest in housing. They often have an opportunity to look at their social assistance and disability program rates and index those to inflation. And really just lay out a plan, make poverty reduction a priority for your government, put it in a plan, set targets and been be accountable to the people in your province to meeting those targets, make it a priority. And unfortunately, we're not seeing it as a priority in many places across canada. You know, kirsten, I have to sit up here and talk to our viewers a lot about numbers and stats and reports, but I always remind people that people are not stats their stories behind these numbers. So can you paint a picture for us? How hard is it to live in this country right now and try to just get by. And I thank you for that. I get a little bit emotional because that's what I have to remind myself of that. And and food bankers see that reality. I mean, we look at in the face every single day. This is not just, you it 2 million visits to food banks every month. This is parents who are skipping meals so that their kids can go to school with food in their stomachs. This is seniors who never thought that they would be the type of person to turn to their community for help having to make that difficult phone call to the food bank. And right now we're seeing a lot of people with jobs who instead of stopping at the grocery store on the way home from work can't afford to. So they're stopping at the food bank on the way home from work. These are real people and we know these people, they're, you know, one quick nearly one quarter of the country are food insecure right now. We have to think about the future of the country we want and make the right investments towards building that future cause. I can tell you this isn't the future we want for canada. And I think a lot of people would agree with you. Are you optimistic about the future of this country? I have to be and I'm optimistic because I get to work with food bankers who at the most hard-working people I've never met, rolling up their sleeves and meeting. The challenge is every single day. And what I need is for governments to meet as with the same urgency and meet the same problems with the same level of urgency and use the legislative tools at their disposal to make sure fewer people are suffering. Fewer people are relying food banks in the future. Kirstin beardsley at chief executive officer with food banks, canada. We so appreciate this conversation. Thank you. Coming up next on cp24 live at noon, the hot docs film

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