Organizing Nationally

Red Tent Canada Day of Action for a Federal Housing Strategy

October 19^th, 2010

Canada is currently the only G8 country without a country-wide housing strategy. The result has been a housing and homelessness crisis that the United Nations described in a 2009 report as a national emergency.

 A solution is within our reach.  But it is going to take all levels of government, Aboriginal communities, and civil society coming together to develop a comprehensive housing strategy to address homelessness and ensure decent housing for all. With Bill C-304, an Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians, set to go before Parliament for a final vote at the end of October, we have an opportunity for a federal housing strategy that could meet the diverse needs of communities across Canada.  The NDP and the Liberals are supporting this Private Member’s Bill, but they don’t have enough votes to pass it alone.

On October 19^th, join the Red Tent Campaign in calling on Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs to make, by supporting Bill C-304, a commitment to ensuring everyone in Canada has access to safe and affordable housing.

We will kick off the Day of Action in Ottawa at 9:30 a.m. EST with a press conference on Parliament Hill.  Then, we will gather on the Hill where 100 red tents will stand as symbols of Canada’s homelessness crisis and the growing support for a federal housing strategy.  We will end the day with a procession down Sussex Drive to a second rally outside the Prime Minister’s Residence, with red tents in hand.

Simultaneous actions are set to take place across the country on the 19^thand during the week leading up to our Canada Day of Action. Look for red tents this October in Halifax, Moncton, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria.

To find out more about Bill C-304 and the Red Tent Campaign, or to help pitch in by sponsoring a tent, visit the campaign site at www.redtents.org

To find out about actions in your community, or if you want to help organize a local action in solidarity with the day of action on the 19^th, get in touch with the campaign at housingnow@redtents.org

Canada has been without a federal housing strategy for too long. It’s time for people across the country to stand up and tell the federal government that Canada needs a pan-Canadian, comprehensive housing plan today!

Red Tent is a joint campaign effort of more than 20 housing and homelessness organizations, including: Pivot Legal Society, CWP Advocacy Network, ACORN Canada, Impact on Communities Coalition, the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, et le Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain(FRAPRU).

For media coverage of Red Tent events, click the following links:

http://this.org/magazine/2010/03/10/olympics-broken-promises-homelessness-vancouver/

http://worldbreakingrecords.blogspot.com/2010/03/red-tent-campaigners-seek-guinness.html

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100227/bc_housing_homelessness_red_tent_campaign_100227/20100227?hub=BritishColumbia

http://rabble.ca/news/2010/02/2010-olympics-gold-medal-activism

http://artthreat.net/2010/02/yuri-red-tents/

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/02/22/PeoplesPodium7/

http://www.straight.com/article-292324/vancouver/housing-activists-camp-out-homelessness-creekside-park-during-vancouver-olympics

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/red-tent-protest-continues-in-downtown-eastside/article1470424/

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/100125/canada/canada_britishcolumbia_bc_red_tents_homeless_11