We are petitioning Olivia Chow, The City of Toronto, & Diane Saxe (Ward 11 Councilor) to:

"Give the Churchyard to the Church" in time for Christmas 2023.

St. Stephen-in-the-fields has had uncontested use of its yard for 150 years but upon election Saxe 'discovered' the yard belonged to the city & began to impinge upon the religious institution's traditional duty to care for the needy, pushing out encampments, when there's 'no room at the inn', on holy land it's watched over for 15 decades, which will add to the death toll.

Hundreds are turned away every night, so any reduction in capacity threatens to be fatal

The 'Waterloo Precedent' means they must offer space to those they evict in a clearing, but this still means someone else still more invisible will be displaced, and those invisible, faceless people, stuck on hold with nowhere available, are behind the anonymous death numbers which are seeing exponential growth in this era -- a pattern it is imperative to abort immediately.)

There is no better Christmas gift this holiday season than to grant this church its traditional lands it will soon have overseen for two centuries.

(to join a broader set of demands: https://openletter.earth/no-homeless-evictions-1f357736)

(Read more community discussion on this issue below:

[1] https://twitter.com/ACES_thatsus/status/1729988776309428364

[2]https://www.facebook.com/groups/108078649373424/posts/2522128761301722/

[3]https://www.facebook.com/ststephen103/posts/pfbid02XqMpmm96MGmiadUPwEj8Y8SwTq917LPqdEN7wGDmTbVTmdZaVyhCErzmX5PKm4mWl
 
 [4]https://www.facebook.com/groups/108078649373424/posts/2522267991287799)