A national day whose origins are in a “national disaster” must be one on which emotions are mixed. National Housing Day, “celebrated” November 22 in Canada, has its origins in the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC), which in 1998 called on all levels of government to declare homelessness a national disaster requiring emergency humanitarian relief. It went on to urge the development of a National Homelessness Relief and Prevention Strategy, declaring that Canada’s governments were violating the human rights of the homeless.

Homelessness in Canada has reached crisis levels. The federal and provincial governments have created this national emergency by cancelling programs and funding, and by failing to ensure that existing programs and policies effectively address homelessness and inadequate housing. Canada is one of the few countries in the world without a national housing strategy. Canada’s failure to respond to the homelessness crisis is in violation of its international commitments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and specifically, s.7 which guarantees the right to life, liberty, and security of the person and s.15 which guarantees the equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination.

Right to Housing Coalition