Information found on Hamilton’s Twitter account

With so many businesses and public spaces closed, community members & clients have few places to use washrooms during COVID19

Through UChicago’s Partnering for Community Impact initiative, support will come through three main programs: preparing and delivering meals to South Side residents; supporting South Side businesses and their employees; and supporting South Side nonprofit organizations and the vulnerable populations they serve. The programs will help address the urgent food security needs on the South Side, as well as begin to bridge the financial and resource gap for local businesses and community-based nonprofits.

To support Minneapolis’ unhoused residents, the city has followed in the footsteps of other cities like San Diego and Los Angeles by partnering with a local organization to pilot a storage program for those experiencing homelessness. The pilot comes as a record number of people are experiencing homelessness across the state. The program allows people experiencing homelessness to store their belongings in bins located in a secure room. Belongings are checked in and out of bins by volunteers from Minneapolis’ Downtown Improvement District, the city’s partner in the venture.

The Ottawa-based company is calling on the public to donate or rent out unused items like tablets, smartphones, webcams and laptops, so they can get into the hands of those who need them. Ruckify will provide pickup and delivery of the items. The items will be sanitized when picked up and dropped off, and it will be insured for damages in case something happens.

Nelson Helps is a way to connect individuals vulnerable to the virus that do not want to go out in public for prescriptions, groceries, or other essentials, with volunteers who are willing to help.

The declaration of a local state of emergency gives the city the power to act quickly to take any measures it deems necessary. Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said the city now has the power to take over private properties to shelter people and to order needed supplies or food quickly, as needed. Plante said the city is planning new, temporary homeless shelters in the coming days, as well as more outdoor day centres to provide food and other essential services.

The City is finalizing a COVID-19 response strategy for vulnerable individuals which will include the activation of an isolation site for individuals to rest, recover, or transition into further health and housing supports.

A local recreation centre in Ottawa is becoming an isolation and treatment centre for homeless people with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19. Ottawa Inner City Health says homeless people can be tested for the virus by a mobile assessment van, paramedics, as well as the typical assessment centre and hospitals.

The Fritz Sick gymnasium will transition into a temporary homeless shelter to provide more square footage than the current homeless shelter. Rooms have also been secured at a local motel as a self-isolation unit for the homeless population.

Peterborough city and county announced a plan for sheltering homeless people in gyms at the vacated Peterborough Sport and Wellness Centre. People staying at the Brock Mission, or the city’s emergency shelter, will go stay in cots at the Sport and Wellness Centre starting Wednesday night. The idea is to allow homeless space for social distancing.

Around 65 people will move into the building located at 585 King Edward Ave. on Monday after a request was made by the City of Ottawa. Some of these new residents may have been exposed to people who carry the coronavirus, while others are exhibiting symptoms of the illness, hence the need to quickly house them so that they can self-isolate.

Toronto Councillor Joe Cressy said five hotels have been acquired with another five in the process of being secured. Two vacant rental buildings are also in the process of being acquired and 50 permanent housing units have been identified. He added that 19 households have secured permanent housing. The latest acquisitions are in addition to the nine existing sites the city has already opened to facilitate social distancing within the shelter system. Cressy added that the city has provided funding to five community partners that run overnight programs to stay open all day to provide daytime spaces for those experiencing homelessness. Two sites are now open and three others will open shortly.

A group of community and health-care organizations opened the Supported Isolation Centre (SIC) in downtown Guelph. This particular model is not a medical model, meaning that the people who are there are not being medically monitored; they’re being supported to self-isolate.

Au Canada, les femmes sont nettement plus inquiètes que les hommes au sujet de la crise COVID-19. Par exemple, un récent sondage réalisé par Abacus Data a révélé que 49 % des femmes ont déclaré se sentir “très inquiètes” de l’épidémie, contre 33 % des hommes. Trente-sept pour cent des hommes ont déclaré qu’ils n’étaient “pas du tout inquiets” ou “peu inquiets” à propos de l’épidémie.

All community centres in Vancouver were closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. City officials have opened some centres to be used for homeless people and others who can’t self-isolate such as tenants in hotels, where sharing a washroom and other facilities is common.

The city is launching a program that will pay local restaurants to make and deliver boxed or bagged lunches to nearby homeless shelters. Working with Central Square Business Improvement District and Harvard Square Business Association, the goal is to deliver about 1,800 to 2,000 meals to nine different shelters in a week.

Health Association of African Canadians, NS Health Professionals and the Black Cultural Centre is providing interactive updates on COVID-19 and people of African descent

Since the COVID-19 outbreak took hold of Toronto there’s been 20 percent growth in the number of clients making use of Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank over a span of the last two weeks. The pressure to provide food to new clients coupled with required social distancing has forced the food bank to change its operations in a dramatic way. They’ve partnered with GlobalMedic and set up a medical hospital mobile field tent in the food bank’s parking lot. Now the food comes out on a conveyor belt from inside the tent.

Health Association of African Canadians, NS Health Professionals and the Black Cultural Centre will lead a 2nd interactive update on COVID-19 and people of African descent.

COVID-19 Racial Equity & Social Justice has put together information to help communities and activists as they work to understand and respond to the moment and for the long term.

Calling for increased resources for First Nations on a “needs and equity basis,” with specific consideration for northern, remote and isolated communities.

Funding is prioritized to people of colour, Indigenous people, transgender individuals, and members of other marginalized communities.

Indigenous communities have a shared history of colonialism and inter-generational trauma that can make COVID-19 more stressful.

Together Project is currently conducting a needs assessment with refugee households to determine what would be most helpful in terms of remote Welcome Group support and we will be sharing these findings shortly. This is challenging as there are different levels of comfort of newcomer households with technology such as WhatsApp video, Facetime, Zoom or other platforms to facilitate remote social connection. Also newcomers may not have access to WiFi or computers and may wish to save data use for calls over seas.

Host Alex de Boer gets comment from Trey Helton, Manager of Vancouver’s Overdose Prevention Society and Jonathan Orr, Program Manager for Raincity Housing’s Peer Services. Trey and Jonathan comment on changing conditions in the City’s overdose prevention sites and share their questions about Vancouver’s new safe supply. Podcast: UBC’s CiTR 101.9 FM focused on alternative and locally-based programming

The City’s Community Action Team to help the roughly 20–30% of drug users not connected to the health care system make sure they can access a safe supply. For everyone else, the City is planning for safe supply to be enabled through existing physician relationships, with more details to be announced by the Province.

Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) will be sharing disability-related resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic on this page, pulled together in one spot for families. New resources will be added as they are developed.

The DTES Response aims to activate community networks to create a stop-gap plan for the urgent needs of the most vulnerable. Right now, the group is mobilizing resources and coordinating operations.

In response to the public health need created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Edmonton, Alberta Health Services, Homeward Trust and community partners are creating a temporary facility in the Edmonton EXPO Centre. The facility will serve as a day drop-in service and as a 24/7 isolation shelter for those experiencing homelessness who have been exposed to COVID-19, or have cold or flu symptoms, to recover and protect others by self-isolating.