by Vaughn Young
After reading Hayes blog I must say that I am appalled that we view the homeless as an infestation that complicates our daily lives. Hayes demoralizes the homeless by speaking as if the ByWard Market is public space, but not for the homeless. He states that in his 10 minute walk that he is “harassed” by three to five homeless people. In my opinion someone asking for change isn’t harassment. Furthermore, Hayes goes into more violent acts that take place in the ByWard Market that are unrelated to the activities of the homeless. The fights, robberies and mischief which are all violent acts cannot and have not been attributed to the acts of the homeless. It further displeases me that his blog has received positive feedback from fellow Ottawa residents via their comments.
It is my personal belief that people need to come to the realization that organisations such as ‘The Mission’ cannot accommodate all the homeless people in their designated area. If they could, these homeless people would not be on the street. There needs to be further investigation as to why these individuals are homeless rather than dismiss their inability to reach social norms on drug addiction or being lazy. It seems that we no longer see the homeless as people. Instead we view them as pests that complicate our lives because they are in our sight.