Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
Encyclopedia
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) is an anti-poverty group in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, who promote the interests of the poor and homeless. The group enjoys a particular notoriety, especially in Toronto, due to its effective use of publicity-generating techniques such as direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
.
Composition and Early History
The coalition was founded in 1989 by John ClarkeJohn Clarke (activist)
John Clarke is a Canadian political activist and the founder and leading figure of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. Originally from Britain, Clarke moved to London, Ontario in the 1980s where he was a factory worker...
, a British expatriate and unemployed auto-worker. The coalition was created to promote concern and action about poverty, homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
, and gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
in downtown Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. The group is headquartered in Toronto, and that remains the centre of most of their activities, but they have engaged in actions in most major Ontario centres. The movement is composed primarily of the poor and their allies and supporters.
Queen's Park riot and aftermath
On June 15, 2000, OCAP staged a large demonstration on the lawn at Queen's Park in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, during which violent altercations took place between the demonstrators and security officials, police officers, and police horses. The protestors were asking to address the Ontario Legislature in order to demand a repeal of the new Tenant Protection Act which limited tenant rights, to demand increased social housing, to demand an end to the Safe Streets Act which was targeting the homeless and poor, and to reverse the 21.5% cut to welfare payments instituted by the Conservative government. The protestors, which included large numbers of homeless people directly affected by Mike Harris' policies, defended themselves when they were attacked by police, tearing up cobblestones to use as projectiles. Every time the organizers attempted to disband the protest, police rode horses through the crowd, scattering them once again and prolonging the melee.
In the aftermath, upwards of 40 people were arrested and charged, including three high profile OCAP members — John Clarke
John Clarke (activist)
John Clarke is a Canadian political activist and the founder and leading figure of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. Originally from Britain, Clarke moved to London, Ontario in the 1980s where he was a factory worker...
, Gaetan Heroux and Stefan Pilipa. The eventual trial of these three was declared by the presiding judge to be a mistrial due to a hung jury
Hung jury
A hung jury or deadlocked jury is a jury that cannot, by the required voting threshold, agree upon a verdict after an extended period of deliberation and is unable to change its votes due to severe differences of opinion.- England and Wales :...
. The Crown dropped the charges against Heroux and Pilipa but elected to proceed again against Clarke. All charges against Clarke were eventually dropped when a judge threw them out owing to the Crown's failure to disclose evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
expeditiously.
Charges against most other defendants had mixed results; most were either acquitted or had their charges dropped. In all, however, the crown attorney in conjunction with the Toronto police
Toronto Police Service
The Toronto Police Service , formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the police service for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Canada and second largest police force in Canada after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...
spent over two years on these cases.
Funding
OCAP is funded through private donations and support from labour unions. At one time up to a third of their operating funds coming the Canadian Auto WorkersCanadian Auto Workers
The Canadian Auto Workers is one of Canada's largest and highest profile social unions. While rooted in Ontario's large auto plants of Windsor, Brampton, Oakville, St...
, but the CAW cut most of its funding after the Flaherty action (Shantz, 2009) and OCAP has since had to engage in raising funds from individuals in order to pay its organizers. Shortly after the CAW discontinued funding OCAP, Canadian Union of Public Employees
Canadian Union of Public Employees
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector - although it has in recent years organized workplaces in the non-profit and para-public sector as well...
local 3903, representing York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
Teaching Assistants and contract faculty passed a motion to pay the monthly rent for the organization's office space. Strong connections between CUPE 3903 and OCAP were developed when 3903 members took part in a 78 day strike in the winter of 2000/2001. The strike was in defense of tuition indexation to wages and job security that had been challenged by the provincial Tory government. During this period 3903 members became increasingly active in solidarity initiatives with other workers in labour disputes, and with anti-poverty, global justice and anti-war activists re-invigorating politics of direct action. The attempt has been to draw connections between these movements in an anti-racist form of social movement unionism
Social Movement Unionism
Social Movement Unionism is a trend of theory and practice in contemporary trade unionism. Strongly associated with the labour movements of developing countries, Social Movement Unionism is distinct from many other models of trade unionism because it concerns itself with more than organising...
(Black, Simon J. 2005).
Strategy and tactics
A main tactic of the group is Direct Action Casework, which is rooted in labour organizing tactics and the anti-poverty strategy described by Richard Cloward and Fran Piven in the 1972 book, Poor People's Movements. It builds the strength of the community by bringing groups of people together who have similar concerns that aren't being addressed by welfare offices, immigration offices, or housing officials or landlords. As a group, these people and their supporters go en masse to the appropriate office and demand a resolution to their claims, often refusing to leave until their demands are resolved. The principles of Direct Action Casework are as follows:1. To combine legal work with disruptive action
2. Not to duplicate the work of legal clinics or other agencies
3. To forward political goals but never compromise the interests of those you are working with in the process (Direct Action Casework Manual, OCAP)
The organization has blockaded major streets, squatted
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
abandoned buildings to apply pressure to have them be turned into housing, staged counter-demonstrations at celebrations, conducted confrontational marches through wealthy neighbourhoods, and crashed political events and meetings.
The group is especially confrontational towards neighbourhood associations that tend to work to close homeless shelter
Homeless shelter
Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people which seek to protect vulnerable populations from the often devastating effects of homelessness while simultaneously reducing the environmental impact on the community...
s and evict the poor from neighbourhoods.
Publicity and results
OCAP's tactics have been very controversial, and the leading members have been arrested a number of times.Their confrontational tactics have earned OCAP much publicity and notice from the public, politicians and the police.
OCAP argues they have produced measurable results in changing government policy, stopping deportations, increasing the supply and quality of affordable housing, and helping poor people gain needed social support payments. Critics argue that OCAP has set back this cause by alienating moderate Ontarians with its confrontational tactics.
Backlash
OCAP's activities have occasionally alienated a few organizations often perceived as progressive, such as large, mainstream trade unions; the Canadian Auto WorkersCanadian Auto Workers
The Canadian Auto Workers is one of Canada's largest and highest profile social unions. While rooted in Ontario's large auto plants of Windsor, Brampton, Oakville, St...
and Canadian Union of Public Employees
Canadian Union of Public Employees
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector - although it has in recent years organized workplaces in the non-profit and para-public sector as well...
, for example, have, in the past, cut their funding to OCAP. Recent actions by OCAP were perceived by UNITE HERE
UNITE HERE
UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with more than 265,000 active members The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries...
, the major hotel employees union in Toronto, as being hostile, which caused some traditional supporters to denounce OCAP and disassociate themselves from the group's activities.