TORONTO: Two pregnant women moved from their cardboard shelter
Graeme Bacque (gbacque@idirect.com)
Sat, 24 Oct 1998 05:36:39 -0700
October 24, 1998
Two pregnant women moved from their cardboard shelter
CAL MILLAR/TORONTO STAR
SHANTY HOME: Paula Myke, left, and Toni Anne Bennett beside their
makeshift shelter yesterday.
Over 20 homeless leave park for temporary digs
By Cal Millar
Toronto Star Staff Reporter
Two pregnant women were among the homeless people moved yesterday from
cardboard box homes outside a downtown Toronto church.
Paula Myke, 33, pregnant with her fourth child, and about 20 other
homeless people were temporarily moved from the park to shelters and
motels paid for by the city.
Myke said she spent the past three months living with her new boyfriend
in a park adjacent to the Metropolitan United Church on Church St. at
Queen St. W. ``There's just no other place for us to go.''
Myke said she hears people bragging they've lived in the park for three
years. ``I wouldn't brag about it. I've been here three months and I
feel like I don't exist.''
Myke and her companion shared a cardboard structure - covered with
plastic sheeting and built near the east wall of the church - with Toni
Anne Bennett and her boyfriend.
``It's not fun living in the park, but if you have no other
accommodation . . . it's the only alternative,'' Bennett said.
Bennett, 22, who is also expecting, said she'd much rather be in an
apartment trying to build a good life.
The two women began living in the park after their lives spiralled out
of control. Myke was addicted to drugs and alcohol and Bennett ended up
serving 60 days in jail on a mischief charge.
Now they are struggling to put their lives back together. Myke said she
hopes to regain custody of her three children.
``We both want to stay together as couples,'' Myke said. ``There's no
way we'll go to a hostel if we have to be separated.''
Police had warned the park dwellers they would be evicted if they
continued living beside the church.
Rev. Steven Bemrose-Fetter, of Metropolitan United Church, said Myke and
Bennett are like many who have called the park home for the past three
years. He said through the summer about 40 people used pieces of wood
and cardboard to construct a shack village there.
Bemrose-Fetter said he would like to give the people accommodation in
the church, but all available space is being used as a hostel for
refugees.
He said the church provides food for some 400 people each day and has
done everything possible to find accommodation for people living in the
park.
Beth Baskin, a church outreach worker, said the park isn't an
appropriate place for people to live, but she agreed it is difficult for
couples to find accommodation in hostels. ``They need to find places
they can stay together.'' However, she doesn't believe the park is an
alternative.
``They are not safe. The people who are living here have been accosted
by each other and they've been accosted by strangers,'' she said. Their
food and belongings have also been stolen.
Baskin added that nearby residents have voiced objections to people
living in the park.
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