This is Joseph Kotowick, originally from Hamilton, outside of Casey House in Toronto’s Downtown East area. Joseph suffers from hepatitis C and congestive heart failure. His leg is infected which he says started when he took contaminated methamphetamine that was likely laced with pig dewormer. Apparently meth is sometimes cut with pig dewormer (or other substances) as a way for dealers to extract more profit. Joseph says that he had surgery on his leg and was supposed to stay at Casey House while he awaits another surgery. He says that he did not get that bed and instead crawled around on his hands and knees for four days until he found a wheelchair. In the meantime his sutures all ripped out and so his leg has not been healing properly. He has been outside like this for two weeks and homeless for years. He says he has been trying to get housing through Inner City Health. He spoke about his acquital for sexual assault a few years ago and his lifetime of trauma stemming from the murder of his sister Felicia who was only three years old at the time. Joseph talked about never giving up yet he says he looks forward to dying, but cannot commit suicide because he will not get to go to heaven if he does so. 

This is Pinky with her dog Lolly on Church Street. I have photographed Pinky with her dog/s several times over the last few years. I had not spoken to her much till this instance. She told me a bit about her challenges with securing and holding onto housing but it was not entirely clear what the reason was for her being outside. She mentioned identity theft and having her apartment at Lerette Manor Supportive Housing  taken over by an impersonator. Unfortunately I could not fully make sense of it. 

Lilly and Michael were sat outside of a new residential building at the corners of Jarvis and Shuter streets. They were basking in the warmth of the sun in that particular location. Michael has lived in a nearby facility for senior citizens for three months. Michael says he wants to move to an apartment but cannot find one in his budget of $1000.00. From my conversation with Lilly I understood that she lives in a nearby building but was outside for some sort of maintenance or possibly pest control being done in her unit. She mentioned that she is on ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) and that she deals with people bullying her. She also mentioned that her building constantly has strangers trying to sneak in. 

Sanctuary’s Sunday Guy Sam Sundar-Singh in George Hislop Park.

The front entrance of Sanctuary.

Naloxone kits hang on the fence next to Sanctuary Church.

A needle drop box in the park next to Sanctuary.

George Hislop Park next to Sanctuary Church.

These images were taken at Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto church and George Hislop Park. The church and the park have received a lot of attention recently. The church serves people in need; those who live outside, many of them addicted to drugs and living with mental health challenges. Over the years the church’s property and the park have become meeting spots for unhoused folks. Unfortunately the park has been overcome by open drug use, violence, and litter. CASA Condominium tower next door to Sanctuary has filed a $2.4 million lawsuit against the church which it accuses of being a magnet for the safety challenges on that strip of Charles Street East. 

This is Clint aka Seviin. This was the second time I met him in Barbara Hall Park. He spoke again about how upset he is about people trashing the park and injuring the pigeons. He spoke about his commitment to feeding the pigeons and helping the injured ones. He seems pretty upset about the park being taken over by drugs and criminal activity. 

A passerby receives some bird feed so he can try feeding the pigeons.

A makeshift shelter in George Hislop Park

Tex in George Hislop Park

A patch of grass in George Hislop Park.

On September 29th I photographed a makeshift shelter on the south end of George Hislop Park near Sanctuary church which provides resources and community to unhoused people. On October 2nd I met Tex aka Atni next to the same shelter which he was staying at. I was told about him by a couple of twins who spend time in the Yonge Street Linear Park network and have shared their observations with me. Like me they could not come to terms with the fact that someone like Tex, with both legs amputated just below the knees, was not getting the help that he so clearly needed. Tex spoke softly and was quite guarded. He tried to share a bit of what he was going through emotionally. He described his emotions being caged and them needing to get out. He spoke about the wide world beyond his own as if to relate being stuck in his world. On October 7th the only signs that he had been there were some flattened and yellowed grass patches where his shelter had stood. 

Kevin in front of a corner store at Howard and Bleecker streets.

A person slumped over on a bench, in a small green space next to the construction site for the future residential tower called The Bourne, on Bleecker Street immediately south of Howard Street.

 I met fifty-three-year-old Kevin at the corner of Howard and Bleecker streets across the street from residential building construction site. The way he was seated at the corner reminded me of visits to Detroit and stories of intercity neighbourhoods in American cities. I asked him what he thought about the changes in the neighbourhood, seeing as we could see two to three brand new residential towers at or near that intersection, with more either planned or already in progress. He waved his hands a few times as if to relate the idea that it is what it is. He told me that he was shot twice in the head back in London, Ontario where he is from. He’s happy to be alive.

Steve (Etienne) Smith has been homeless since 2018. I came across him on Richmond Street near University Avenue trying to light his rolled up t-shirt on fire. He asked me if I had a knife as he simply wanted to cut it in half to make himself a belt, which he succeeded in doing. I am not sure if he is originally from Montreal or from France but he mentioned both places. He had quite striking eyes and spoke with a thick French accent and a very raspy voice. He told me he should be getting a shelter bed that night. 

Jordie at Spadina Station.

I met Jordie briefly. She told me she has been homeless for 10 years and teared up during our short conversation. She was tending to someone on the ground next to her.

Andrew Bell next to his set up.

Artwork by Andrew Bell at Front and Bay streets.

Artist Andrew Bell has been set up at the corner of Front and Bay Streets for two years now. He says he is not homeless but instead has set up his studio and gallery here. When I asked him about homelessness in Toronto he said that the city should build a facility with 10 million dollars or renovate a building and provide people with incentives to be able to stay inside. He says people need a place to go to the bathroom and to shower when searching for a job, or perhaps they simply need to feel rejuvenated. Bell says that there needs to be a vetting process and that people could be given tasks such as picking up a certain amount of litter, spending a given number of hours cleaning street corners that they hang out at, or recycling beer cans. He says it could be a competition, it could be gamified with rewards for people who do more. According to Andrew, unhoused folks could be given opportunities to attend a course such as a food handler certificate course, provided with reasonable volunteer commitments, or only given things if they satisfy certain requirements, such as attending a one-hour a week anger management class. When I asked what causes people to be overcome by addiction, his answer was that people have a lack of discipline stemming from a lack of education and an inability to delay gratification. Andrew says they do not feel motivated enough to get better. Andrew continues; “They’re slaves to addiction and drugs are their way of coping with trauma. There is too much consumption and not enough production. People are quick to blame outside factors rather than looking inwards.  They feel like they are getting a good deal (with drugs) when in fact they are not”. I always enjoy talking to Andrew. 

Hummer tends to a drug user.

Bully with an old shoe.

Dalhouse Street near Shuter Street.

A man nicknamed Hummer tends to a drug user on the ground at 45 Dalhousie Street Park. The park is surrounded by several shiny new very tall residential buildings. On the other side of the street is a methadone clinic; methadone is a medicine used to treat heroin dependence. The clinic is found next to the the back ends of the remaining buildings that used to house pawn shops along Church Street. The transformation of the neighbourhood seems unprecedented, and yet the human misery caused by homelessness and drug abuse abound in pockets below, such as in this park. Hummer, who was caring for his friend’s dog Bully, playing fetch with an old shoe, described this particular user as “very run down”. He had been checking on him for over an hour, making sure that nobody robbed him. Several individuals came to scope him out for his belongings and one person had just cut a bag off the man before Hummer arrived. During my conversation with him Hummer he told me he spent thirty-six years in prison. At one point he spent ten years homeless even though he was sober at the time . Like so many his first solution to the problem of severe drug abuse is housing. While Discussing the issue of severe drug abuse one thing that stood out in particular was his mention that a user eventually needs a hit every two hours. If a young person needs fentanyl, he says, they will do anything for it, including kill.

Silver at Yonge and Dundas streets.

Whispering Ghost with Wings of Silver aka Silver at Yonge and Dundas next to Sankofa Square. He is originally a member of Wiikwemikong First Nation’s the Bear Clan of Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Silver is forty-three years old and says he has been homeless since he was 14. He says he doesn’t do drugs but drinks a lot. He told me that at night the area is full of people bent over with the “fenty fold”, a phenomenon experienced by fentanyl users, and other illicit drugs like xylazine. Those exhibiting the fold are slumped over at the waist, knees bent, unable to respond for minutes or even hours at a time.

Clint and his pigeon friends in Barbara Hall Park.

Clint feeds pigeons in Barbara Hall Park next to The 519 off of Church Street. He does this regularly, every day he says, and recognizes and names many of the pigeons. They recognize him as well, he says. They flock to him as he shows up, and settle all over him. Clint complained about the tents in the park, how people trash the area, and how the birds are hurt by humans. 

Larry on Jarvis Street.

Phillip on Sherbourne Steet.

Yodi in front of Metropolitan United Church.

An outreach group called Bond Reach in front of 65 Dundas Street East (formerly the Bond Hotel),

A person sleeps on a bench at a site development called Bentway Islands underneath the Gardiner Expressway.

A collection of items next to a Gardiner Expressway support column at the foot of Spadina Avenue at Lakeshore Boulevard.

I met Larry aided by a walker with his friend Johnny, who holds on to Larry’s shoulder, along Jarvis Street near Fred Victor Housing on Queen Street East. Larry agreed to a photo but his friend who is blind with disfigured eyes, who Larry assists in getting around, did not. I met them after I witnessed a man in a wheelchair receive some loose change from a driver only to throw it onto the street. I wanted to speak to the man to ask him what he thought about receiving loose change and why he would throw it to the street. Instead I approached Larry and his friend and chatted for a while and then helped him gather some of the change that had been thrown to the street by the other man. Larry spoke about his fear of losing his housing, which according to him is due to an administrative issue with his pension. He told me about addiction, how important his relationship with Johnny is, how he supports him in daily activities and how they live next to one another. 

Yodi was surrounded by a huge pile of stuff in the park in front of Metropolitan United Church at Queen and Church Streets. When I asked him about his situation he told me that he likes being outside and feels lonely and fearful when he is at home in Flemingdon Park. He had several people around him who were quite weary of me. At one point a police officer on a bike came up to us and loudly and  jovially made a fuss about the mess. He told Yodi to clean it up right away, he asked how Yodi had collected all the stuff, and shortly thereafter the officer rode over to meet with his partner waiting nearby. 

Every Friday afternoon a small outreach group led by Jennifer called Bond Reach sets up a table outside of 65 Dundas Street East (formerly the Bond Hotel, known to most people on the street as simply “The Bond”). The site was a temporary shelter program for several years before the City of Toronto acquired the property and started converting it into individual affordable and supportive housing units, a project that is still in progress. Bond Reach provides people in need with items such as coffee (supplied by Imperial Pub across the street), snacks, cigarettes, and harm reduction kits. They used to set up on the parking lot next to Bond Street but were eventually told they could not be there by the owner of the lot. They told me that they get trouble from the staff at The Bond but because they are on public property they are not forced to leave. It is always amazing to see the effect of even the smallest community outreach group in bringing people together and connecting folks to much-needed resources. 

Visitor to the encampment Joanna Corbett with supporters Laurie and Beth.

The Reverend Canon, writer, and activist Maggie Helwig.

Timothy Schmalz’s sculpture “Whatsoever You Do” next to St.Stephen-In-The-Fields Church.

The encampment at St.Stephen-In-The-Fields Church.

After listening to the audio version of activist and priest Maggie Helwig’s book Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community, I reached out to the The Reverend Canon at St.Stephen-In-The-Fields Church on the edge of Kensington Market. The book is a powerful first-hand account of the stories surrounding the encampment next to the church and her desire to support people in their time of immense need. The encampment has been an ongoing point of controversy in the neighbourhood and because most of it is located on City of Toronto property, it has been met with attempts to dismantle it. Maggie, like other supporters of encampments, points to the need for proper housing for folks who need it. The sentiment I get is that we must find ways to help them however we can until people get the support that they require and deserve.

When I arrived at the church I immediately connected with Joanna Corbett who I had photographed years ago for a story by Toronto Star’s Victoria Gibson about homelessness. Joanna is currently housed but was visiting the encampment and the food bank nearby. 

Phillip at Lakeshore Boulevard and  Sherbourne Street.

Marcel on Queen Street East

A man, high on fentanyl, lays at the corner of Church and Queen streets.

Ola at Queen and Jarvis.

Joe at Queen and Jarvis.

I have gotten to know Phillip a little bit thanks to reconnecting with Davit. Phillip has been homeless for about five years. He says he now secured a place in Scarborough but still comes downtown. He built a structure underneath the Gardiner which his friends are now living in. He says he started getting clean and is going to start an apprenticeship to hopefully get a job and quit all together.
People have to wanna quit he says. According to him if someone really wants to quit, they will, it might take three or four more times. We spoke about recent times and he said that shutting down the city during Covid was worst thing they could do, it caused a lot of problems for people like him. According to Phillip some people on the streets are really bad; they always have self-interest in mind and they are only willing to help you if they know they will get something back from you. “If someone does something good to me or for me”, says Phillip, “I am going pay it forward, always”.

Marcel is a recurring figure in Reed in the Street’s videos on Instagram. Reed has an enormous following. He informally interviews people living with homelessness and addiction. I recognized Marcel from his videos and stopped to speak with him in front of a pharmacy on Queen Street East. He told me that people take pictures and videos of him without asking now that he is Internet famous, but says he does not mind as long as people ask. He is from Nigeria and came to Canada about five years ago for a better life. He has a dream of starting his own business in “farming”. Marcel spoke a bit about addiction and its power, specifically referring to dopamine, saying; “why do you think they call it dope? Because of dopamine”, referring to the artificial flood of dopamine that occurs when using particular drugs such as cocaine and opioids. Marcel is pictured with his palm facing outward, demonstrating a highly offensive gesture in Nigeria that should be avoided.

I noticed Ola at the corner of Queen and Church streets. She is another person featured in Reed’s posts and caught my attention because she is a Polish woman with a particularly sad circumstance. We spoke in Polish and English. She told me that she does drugs because of her sadness, her depression. I showed her a video that Reed has posted of her and she was very curious as she had never seen any of the videos before. She was surprised at how unwell she looked in them. She was also very curious about the comments that people leave and agreed with many of the sad ones posted to the videos.

Ola was sat with a friend named Joe who told me he is from Manitoulin Island.

While speaking with both Ola and Joe there was a man nearby high on what I was told was fentanyl. He progressively lost mobility until he lay down flat on his back. I asked if it was concerning and they told me he was going to be fine.

I went to see about the situation around 277 Victoria Street where until a few months ago there was a Supervised Consumption Site called The Works. It has clearly become quiet around that address. I spoke to a security guard at Toronto Metropolitan University who confirmed that and told me, on condition of anonymity, that the closure of the site has increased security along that stretch of the street that leads into TMU. I walked over to Bond Street and then down to the intersection of Jarvis and Queen where, across the street from Fred Victor next to Moss Park Armoury,  there are abundant signs of addiction and homelessness. It does seem like certain governmental actions along with major gentrifying development are squeezing people into these difficult pockets. At that intersection I witnessed (with a CP24 employee) what appeared to be two consecutive overdoses, although it was not exactly clear if the first woman, who had been hit by a car, had also overdosed. I met Khalid at that corner. He told me he has been in Canada for 8 years and came from Somalia on his own seeking a better life. 

Nearly a year later I caught up with Davit. He has been my main window into the world of homelessness ever since I walked into his encampment at Fleet Street in December 2020. Since then I have followed him in various encampments throughout the downtown core. Last year Brennan Doherty and I focused on his story as we worked together to report on encampments for The Local. 

Davit was happy to see me and to catch up on some of what took place over the last year.  I met more people thanks to Davit and started to talk to them and find out what their lives are like living outside. While searching for and visiting Davit I am often struck by other people’s stories and situations which I will share at a later time. 

In the first photo is Davit with a friend of his under the Gardiner Expressway. The second photo shows a pile of debris collected in one area near Davit’s encampment for disposal. The third photo shows a person seated in a bus shelter along Queens Quay East. 

I started to look for Davit a couple of weeks ago. The impetus being a ZDF documentary team from Germany wanting to connect with unhoused folks to document their perspective on the City of Toronto at night. The last time I spent time with Davit was last year while working on a piece about encampments for The Local with writer Brennan Doherty. As I return to photographing and speaking with people struggling with homelessness and addiction I am immediately reminded of the scale of the issue. I am confronted with the humanity of it and the collective’s need to at the very least listen, recognize and try to find solutions. 

In my search I first came across Matthew near Bathurst Street who knows Davit and remembered me from Clarence Square Park. Matthew was very friendly and shared a bit about his experience living outside. He said he wants people to understand that homeless people aren’t all bad people. He told me about how he was battling a rat in and around his tent the night prior. He said he was binning (searching through refuse bins for food and items of value) with Davit the last time he saw him.

Later I met Alusine under the Gardiner Expressway picking through rocks. He told me he is originally from Sierra Leone and wants to return there. He said he sometimes smokes crystal meth to focus. He told me he was looking for diamonds or anything of value. He said maybe someone will see some value in what he finds. 

Finally I met Tyler behind a Gardiner Expressway ramp between Parliament and Lower Sherbourne Street. I woke him up not knowing if he was overdosing. He knows Davit too.

Matthew

Shadows cast by the Gardiner Expressway.

Alusine

A discarded piece of cardboard with a message of need near the Gardiner Expressway.

Tyler

On the typical summer night of August 14th I headed over to Dufferin Grove Park to photograph bike polo for the Toronto Star. It was late in the evening. After photographing for about an hour I was invited to join a game. It was Rookie Night; a perfect opportunity for someone like myself to try the sport for the first time. Unfortunately it did not occur to me to even ask for a helmet. I was excited. After a few tips and tricks from the regulars I hit the pavement running, or shall I say biking. Apparently I was a natural at the sport, until I came to a sudden stop and flew over the handlebars, head first into an opponent’s front bike wheel which was stationary, guarding the goal I was headed right into. The hit was sudden and hard and opened up a couple of gashes on my head with blood dripping all over the pavement and my shirt. I needed stitches and so I went straight to the hospital. Days later I would find out that I had a full-blown concussion.

This is meant to be a reflection on my Emergency Department visits to Toronto Western Hospital in the wake of my initial injuries and then my follow-up visit once my concussion symptoms showed up. The main point of my story is to bring attention to my observations regarding the state of the Emergency Department in the wake of what I would refer to as an unprecedented need reflected by ongoing epidemics of  mental health, drug addiction, and homelessness. When my colleague (who was kind enough to accompany me) and I walked into the main waiting room of the Emergency Department we were immediately shocked by the smell. The odour was so bad that an hour later a police officer making his way to the washroom would make grimaces as he walked, waving his hands, commenting loudly about the smell to the security guards huddled in their dedicated room. The state of the waiting room was depressing, run down, dirty, and obviously smelly. I would later find out that it was not a particularly busy night, but I would say the waiting room was busy. In retrospect, having witnessed all that the staff are faced with, I fully accept that the people behind the glass who are responsible for intake have no reason to be smiley or uppity.

I later told my partner that, as the Polish like to say; I would kiss the ground that the doctors, nurses, and other staff at the hospital walk on. Upon further reflection on what I witnessed at the Emergency Department I definitely would do no such thing, but the sentiment remains. I am quite shocked by the level of chaos and dysfunction that the workers at the hospital are faced with. Things that stood out; the smell in the main waiting room, the homeless and or addicted people sleeping on the seats, and the washroom which looks like it’s possibly used as a drug consumption site. Once I was ushered in past the doors to the rooms where patients are treated I would see that about half the department seems to be in shambles, needing a proper renovation, perhaps that’s what they did in the other half and it’s just a matter of time? That first visit was perhaps without major incidents beyond the observed unpleasantries; I was stitched up and taken care of by Dr. Ringer and nurse Yasmin, among several others whose names I do not remember. At around 3:30 in the morning I left through the front doors of the hospital to find a woman I had seen hours earlier in the waiting room, asleep in her wheelchair in front of the hospital with not a soul around. 

When I returned to the Emergency Department five days later, having experienced vertigo and nausea that morning and throughout the day, the waiting room was less smelly, but just as depressing. It was earlier in the evening and there was less action than on my first visit. Throughout my five hours in the Emergency Department that evening I witnessed, among other things; an unkempt man eating yogurts in bare feet prancing around peeking into rooms all the while being asked by staff to return to his. One of the rooms had a man screaming for extended periods of time yelling at various staff members who were advising him that he needed their care. He made it clear that he perceived them to be incompetent and that he knows better what he needs. Eventually three security guards showed up and were met with a similar barrage of angry yells. I believe they were forced to restrain him. At that point I was in the waiting area directly outside of the treatment rooms seated next to a very dirty side table watching as a half passed-out man sat sprawled out in front of me. When I was taken to the waiting area for CT scans I sat for nearly an hour not far from a man in a wheelchair who had covered himself fully with an orange blanket. I would later see him rushing out of the hospital on his crutches with a fresh cast on his leg, being escorted by security guards. While he was seated next to a washroom below him was a clear bag with his belongings, the type used by the police. The bag included a plastic water bottle that eventually emptied out under him and stayed like that for as long as I was there. When I left the Emergency Department through the main waiting room I saw that it had gotten busier. There were two young people, possibly homeless, visibly under the spell of a substance, seated embracing on one end as two paramedics chatted. There was a man in a wheelchair from whom a very strong smell emanated. There was a woman covered in a blanket sleeping on the seats. I was very happy to be leaving, hoping that I would never have to come back. I imagine that the people working there are compensated fairly but I am willing to bet there are various levels of ‘fairness’. I find it difficult to come to terms with the idea that doctors and nurses truly sign up for that kind of environment. I think they are overwhelmed by the problems that show up at their doors these days. I don’t think they are equipped to be dealing with the vulnerable sector to the degree that they have to. I would love to hear their thoughts on the situation. I am sorry that in some ways my decision making led to them having to work more. I am very thankful and appreciative for the care I received and I saw all sorts of people being tended to. I am troubled, yet again, by the situation that our society is faced with surrounding drug addiction, mental health, and homelessness. I think the system is cracking.