Homeless deaths on the rise
Forty-seven homeless people died on Ottawa streets and in shelters over the last 18 months, according to a report by the regional health department.
“It’s shocking. The scale of the problem is nothing we’re used to,” said Coun. Alex Munter, chair of the community services committee.
The number of deaths is higher than in the last regional report on the issue presented in 1998.
Although the report didn’t offer details on the causes of death, Munter blames it on a lack of affordable housing in the region.
Representatives from area shelters say illnesses associated with being homeless are also a major factor.
With winter on the way, it’s likely that the number of deaths will increase, according to Diane Morrison, director of the Union Mission for Men.
The mission is opening a $300,000 hospice for homeless people who are terminally ill next year.
Government gift a ‘waste of money’
Over 1,000 Ottawa-area students from five high schools are sending back a millennium gift given to them by the government of Ontario.
The gift is a 160-page glossy book with 55 blank fill-in pages and dozens of crayon coloured childhood dreams.
It comes at a cost of $2.2 million and is going out to all elementary and high school students in the province.
The book comes complete with a greeting from Premier Mike Harris and Minister of Citizenship, Culture, and Recreation Helen Johns.
“We feel it’s a waste of money,” said Mark Donahue, an 18-year-old student at Canterbury High School, and added that schools haven’t received all the textbooks for the government’s new curriculum.
A government spokesperson, Rui Brum, said the book was designed to involve young people in a broad-based millennium project.
At a cost of about $1 per book, per student, it came at a modest expense, Brum said.