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Poverty activist group OCAP ceases operations


After more than 30 years of militant activism in the fight against poverty, OCAP has ceased operations.

Members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty voted at a general meeting on May 13 to dissolve the organization, said Mac Scott, a member for 27 years and a spokesperson for the shutdown committee.

“There were tears,” Scott said, of the final annual general meeting, which attracted 22 people and lasted a day, during which the future of the organization was decided in a general vote.

“It’s been a hard decision, but we were losing our momentum.”

The move comes at a time when more Toronto families than ever are struggling to meet expenses driven upward by inflation, in a city with notoriously expensive housing. The Daily Bread Foodbank said in April that usage had hit a 40-year high.

Since 2016, the number of shelter spaces in Toronto has expanded from 4,000 to 9,000, and the city says it is providing more shelter beds per capita than any other municipality in Canada — due in no small part to a surge in refugees from war-torn countries, seeking asylum.

The need may be great, but Scott says a new generation of activists is ready to take over, pointing to organizations that sprang up to help people living in encampments.

“The 33-year-old story of OCAP is written and a new story needs to be written,” Scott said.

OCAP was founded in 1990 by British-born union activist John Clarke, who ran the operation out of a tiny office on Sherbourne Street. The organization is now housed in a church, but that is being wound down, said Scott.

Clarke retired from OCAP about four years ago, which also had an impact, Scott said: “He was always a leader in the group.”

In 2019, Clarke was appointed Packer Visitor in Social Justice at York University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies for a two-year term.

He did not respond to requests for comment.

Don Young, co-chair of the advocacy and activism committee at the Federation of South Toronto Residents’ Associations (FoSTRA), said he personally supported OCAP in the past and occasionally participated in their activities and demonstrations.

“To me, John Clarke was always the heart and key to its appeal and success,” said Young.

“The new kid on the block for matters that used to be the concern of OCAP is ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and it’s many chapters.”

Funding for OCAP had declined but was not behind the decision to close shop, according to Scott. He said that when he first joined OCAP, people were able to live on social assistance and had time to engage in activism in an effort to bring about structural change — something they no longer have the ability to do. The runaway increase in the cost of living in Toronto has meant that more people on social assistance must spend more time scrambling to make ends meet.

“We don’t have the same base we used to have,” said Scott.

OCAP was often criticized for its aggressive techniques, used to capture attention for the group’s platform.

In June, 2000, OCAP staged a demonstration at Queen’s Park that ended in violence in which dozens of police officers, protesters, and police horses were injured. The riot resulted in charges being laid against three organizers, including Clarke, who was charged with inciting a riot. Charges were later dropped after the jury hearing the case failed to reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial.

In 2001 OCAP staged a mock eviction in then-MPP Jim Flaherty’s office that led to furniture being thrown out onto a nearby road. A mischief charge against Clarke was later withdrawn.

In 2018, OCAP staged a protest during one of the city’s budget meetings, resulting in some people being dragged from the room.

Duff Conacher, co-founder of the activist organization Democracy Watch, said coalitions are always forming on various anti-poverty issues as they arise.

“Not having OCAP as a long-term ‘standing’ coalition likely won’t change much in terms of how groups partner and form coalitions on these issues going into the future,” Conacher said.

OCAP posted notices to its social media accounts about the decision to shutter operations.

“We have won social housing units, drop-in centres, benefits, and programs for poor and working class peoples’ dignity. We have stopped evictions, deportations, deaths, police brutality and other state violence. We have fought all levels of government, bosses, landlords, and the police. In the last three decades we have lost many brilliant, beautiful comrades — their fighting spirit will be with us forever.

“To those bosses, landlords, politicians and racists who we challenge — do not be mistaken, we are not gone, we have multiplied.”

Francine Kopun is a Toronto Star journalist and senior writer, based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @KopunF

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