Homeless York Region Family gets full treatment

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well let's hope they don't mean that literally. That was the worry of a York Region family to be, young mom pregnant with child and concerned dad to be trying his best to find a solution to them being homeless while retaining control of their and their baby to come's lives.

He'd come 'home" from working out west with good intentions, getting his Georgina girlfriend pregnant was a byproduct but just one his fathers spouse was not willing to also take on, so the couple and their cat found themselves suddenly homeless with her pregnant and them unable to stay anywhere but a forest after being turned away from a shelter. That's where I found them "arguing". In a location a stones throw from a busy plaza.

At first I couldn't make out the yelling I was hearing as I couldn't see who was talking but the brunt seemed being flung towards a 'homeless looking' from someone up the forest area and by the look at the guy's face his girlfriend. The guy stood half in and out of the tree grove while another woman stood half in and out of her car, standing in silence between outbursts from the forest and as I overheard a bit more, I offered that maybe I could be of assistance and told him a little about my self at which point the semi-standing lady, now fully out of her car, was addressing me,

"Are you Tom Pearson? I'm Jane Haslam".

 Jane, of course, the Homelessness Prevention worker for the Salvation Army, central York Region.

" Oh, you're Jane. Hi!", I replied. Or something to that effect. The situation suddenly making sense.

 " No way!" I heard from the forest, " I'm not going anywhere where they'll take my baby. And what about my cat. Nobody will take my cat!"

Cat rescue puts mom and dad to be at rest

So with the nod of approval from 'dad' I waded in past a sign declaring " Hobo community. Hobos only!

" She made that", the young man offered, half reading my mind.

Then, in a subsequent discussing on the situation with the distraught mom to be and after I mentioned they would be eligible for emergency funds for food even if her spouse was waiting for a paycheque so they could eat....and which Ms. Haslam offered up she just happened to know exactly where the person from the Region who is the field worker to arrange this and where she was! So the plan became was she was going to go find her while I stayed and allayed and put out some calls for help.

The temporary homeless compound they'd set up was complete with tent in a spot long used for those in the know, once the 'home" to a former gold glove boxing champ, John Fletcher who died an alcoholic and homeless in Newmarket in June of 2011. That little patch in the grove of trees had been his home for a number of years. going inside to couch surf or into a shelter when it got really cold.Surely we've learned lessons from john and others' deaths? This family to be deserved a better fate, two weeks in tropic-like hot temperatures with no shower access was plenty enough.

I let her know we'd find a place to take her cat temporarily - which Jane arranged as well - and that we'd get them into a shelter together today. Which was done - even a cab there, and all handled with dignity. As for the young man involved, I was very impressed by his resolve to be with her and stay by her side despite being ostracized by his own family for doing so. He also seemed resilient, although perhaps hungry.

The community workers hadn't been aware of this spot, although truth be known its seems more a stopover spot mostly these days, another on the fringe type guy showing up after their cab had left, his spot in the shade reserved for sipping his drink of choice in the hiddens of the foliage den.


Ironically I'd only wandered back there to kill time while awaiting a meeting to find new landlords for a home that assists those with addictions or mental health that was just up the street. When I returned from said meeting with ice caps, Elizabeth Pepin, Outreach worker for York Region, and Jane Haslam were also arriving - all the arrangements all ready wrapped up in a neat, dignified bow.

The cat sanctuary lady also showed up as it all went down and we thanked her for her efforts including getting free shots for the family feline.


Even a family of what appeared to be ground hogs, babies too, were wondering about in the compound, almost too close, perhaps used to being fed by humans. Whatever the case, the human ones have a much better chance now, and having been homeless, do indeed move up somewhat on the waiting list for assisted housing.

And so there it is the happy ending. ( Insert happy faces and hearts here) Back pats to all.... 

But wait!

Always a but with me isn't there?

Here's my but. What happens in 6 weeks after their stay time in the shelter is up and they don't find a place they can yet afford? It's not like Y.R. is ripe full of rental housing, with one of the lowest per capita stock in the entire country. Does C.A.S. move in at that point and make a liar out of me, starting a "file' before the baby is even born to these two victims of circumstance?
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But you said earlier it moved them up in priority on the waiting list for housing!

Yes I did, but moving up can mean going from 8 years to 4 years...who knows?

Is there anything that can be done about getting the Homeless in York region a higher priority on this waiting list?

This location is currently vacant and ideal for housing 15 residents

Yes! Aside from the obvious of actually building more affordable housing, I believe actually it can be done simply through changing a YR housing policy which does not need governmental approval. York Region was once bound by a trade-off agreement with Toronto for some social services pooling dollars which we fought successfully to have returned. Remnants of that deal, which is accepting of G.T.A. residents awaiting housing or shelters on the same priority list as those who live in Y.R. and no priority to local residents.

This means that a person or family in Scarborough or even Ottawa can be ahead of a mother who lives or even grew up in YR yet we do not have the sane exchange of residents being placed into Toronto housing stock. There was a time when York Region housing was obligated to offer this, as funding had been tied to it, but with that no longer being the case, I see no benefit to York Region residents to continue such a system - and especially those who have lived and paid taxes and supported the communities for many years, hoping against hope, that one day they can live without fear of homelessness. All the housing help centres in the world won't help us if we have no where to place them into afterward.

"Shelters are not homes. They are part of the recycling system"

Tom Pearson

United Way T.Y.R. - The Precarity Penalty

Author Ivan Prokupchuk was a Newmarket Icon

Few could spell his name, or even pronounce it right, but, make no mistake, Ivan Prokupchuk made a big mark on Newmarket before his death, Jan 27 2016 at age 77. He was beloved here.

In 1991 the former " Stringer"- having freelanced for 3 Toronto dailies and weeklies including the Globe & Mail, The Bradford Topic, The Newmarket Era, even Reader's Digest - wrote a self-published, Ontario-best-selling novel, Light Over Newmarket, still available on his blog online (he published 4 total). My mother, who once worked designing and selling ads for The Topic newspaper in Bradford, recalls Ivan walk to their office to submit stories from Newmarket.

Ivan never drove and walked everywhere, likely adding to early demise in the end, complications arising from varicose-vein leg problems. Last time mom, who lives in the same building he did, saw him out and about, he was coming back from Main St, and, upon reaching the walls, had to lean up against them for five minutes before carrying on. He was not one to suffer aloud.

Some knew him as Old Ivan, but that wasn't always the case of course. In his heyday, the Ryerson University grad was a bit of a political rabble-rouser, known for his feisty exchanges with former Newmarket Mayor Ray Twinney, eventually exacting a sort of revenge when his nemesis was indicted on charges of embezzling the town. But Ivan had his vices too, like we all do, and demons, and was known to have a drink now and then, sometimes it getting the better. In the later years he'd slowed down somewhat in all departments, but he always offered to come out to help or speak on International Day For The Eradication of Poverty or perform at any worthy cause. He was not only a town and Main Street fixture and legend, but he was also also a guitar player and singer/composer who'd often come out to jams or gatherings and pick up a guitar if he could.

Ivan speaks on IDFEOP

I knew Ivan by reputation only when I first moved back to Newmarket, having grown up in the area. But he was someone I'd respected from afar, reading his pointed pieces in newspapers, often having the gumption to go against the grain even when it might be a detriment to his career.

You don't meet many of those anymore. People made of that ilk of pure principle. It never stopped him from spending time as a teacher though, with stints at the Eaton School / Seneca College in King City as well as a for a number of scholarships in Mexico.

Back left Ivan attends International Day for the Eradication of Poverty at Fairy Lake Park

He was a man willing to take a position and fight for injustices should they arise as well, albeit with his pen. Eventually, feeling his messages were being muffled and voice not being made in the local papers - something I' can relate to - he started has own Newspaper through his publishing company, Island Grove Press, which he'd tried to move online in the past few years, this prolific writer of fact and sometimes fiction, just missing a social media age that would have played right into his hands. Never possessing the financial backing to take the news venture to the next level would likely be one of Ivan's regrets in life, that it never materialized to where he'd have liked. But he got to write about issues and give perspectives only an independent " Stringer"could give.


" That loneliness reached the level of a silent keen, the keen of a near-madman who realizes at last how vast a difference there is between the sane and the insane, between the sick and the well, that very difficult malfunction of very fine tuning that separates the genius from the madman or the enthusiast from the manic-depressive" Excerpt from Ivan Prokupchuk's novel Light Over Newmarket

To be truthful, much of what Ivan wrote, outside of news items, went right over my head, but he got me and my humour and unusual ways at times, right from the start. He not only recognised it but he genuinely appreciated it. And I could always count on a "like" from Ivan on things most people had no idea what the joke or issue was, but he did.

Oct 17 2014, Riverwalk Commons

First time I met him in person, I was hosting "Wackyoke", which was something I invented that combined mature humour with karaoke, at a local pool hall slash nightclub . Having previously lived in the City I'd come across some place hosting "Crazy Karaoke" and mine was my sort of take on that theme but included impressions at times, with wacky stuff too - like if someone wasn't the greatest singer, I'd do funny stuff to go along with the song like back up vocals wearing a wig. Props, wigs, dolls, all kinds came out of the tickle trunk onstage, but conservative Newmarket had never seen anything interactive like this and it took a bit to get some on-board, but not Ivan, right away he saw how different it was, got it, and loved it, and relayed that to me. I found it odd at the time as he was so much older and I'd expected that reaction from mostly the younger set. That began our friendship I guess.

Like anyone I was shocked to hear he died, thinking his legs issue was not as serious as it obviously was. Ivan was proud, he certainly would not ask for help and would downplay health issues, so I wish I'd looked for the signs better and had a least one more chance to say good bye to my friend and let him know he wasn't forgotten and had made a difference with his life.

Although estranged from his family for some time, there is some solace in the fact his son was there at the end, but many friends who got to know him in their own intimate ways would like an opportunity to wish the mans spirit adieu I'm sure, and, to that end, there is a send-off , drop-in, Open-Mic Memorial being held for him Sat Feb 6, 2 - 4 pm at Roadhouse & Rose Funeral home on Main St Newmarket , giving opportunities to those wishing to express their feelings about Ivan through song or guitar or poems or speaking or any other way. We think he'd like that...Food and drinks will be available to if anyone wants a last drink "with" him.


See you at the party Ivan.


Tom Pearson