The Thousands of Volunteers who Serve the Needy in Toronto

Patrick Gossage • March 26, 2024

Many Torontonians feel a sense of responsibility to our fellow citizens who suffer from homelessness. They make and serve them meals, give them clothing, and often just talk to them and make them feel less ignored and misunderstood. They also discover that those who don’t have a roof over their heads and carry all they own in a knapsack are not druggies, losers or mad people but a cross section of ordinary folks who have fallen on hard times. For them the housing crisis is a joke. They just want food and a bed in a room with a toilet and shower nearby.

Helping them and getting to know them personally is a life changing experience for these volunteers. It was for me on Monday March 18, my first morning giving out meals and supplies in the basement of Toronto’s Church of the Redeemer whose “Common Table” program was serving its usual 140 meals to a variety of marginalized and homeless men and women.


It’s embarrassing how many people are not housed in this benighted city and meeting them on Bloor Street’s “mink mile” was a revelation. In its tracking of the use of publicly-run shelters, the city calculated that on this cold night over 9,642 individuals used the shelter system – and likely 400 were turned away. That total number does not include beds in organizations like the Scott Mission the Salvation Army or Dixon Hall’s three locations, or those sleeping rough on the street, in TTC vehicles, stairwells or tents. These folk could bring the total of unhoused to over 13,000 – a good sized town. Of that total it’s important you know that over 7,000 are in shelters where men or women sleep tightly packed row-on-row on the floor on mattresses clutching their belongings. It’s a scary and demeaning situation, if only marginally better than sleeping on the street. Little wonder that so many prefer sleeping rough or in tents.


One of my early encounters giving out socks and warm clothing was to a skinny sharp-featured indigenous man who told me proudly that he was off to pitch his tent in a secret but very desirable and “very sunny” location. He also showed me a stump of a pinky finger lost to frostbite. Homelessness takes its toll. An average of 45 under- or unhoused people die each year.


It was a red-letter day for a beaming young indigenous man who had scored a room in a native-run project. Two other strong looking older men were arguing about lawyers in a corner. Another was on his computer which he admitted he had trouble hanging on to in the shelters.


The crowd that day was typical, polite except for one raving man, and thankful for the excellent soup, food-to-go and various items we offered at the clothing room. It was like a restaurant and general store, except everything is free. There even are feminine hygiene products I offered to a sad woman along with deodorant and body cream. Toothpaste and a toothbrush for another guy. And Tylenol in a little plastic envelope for another man. New pants for several men and a used pin striped jacket for another who had a job interview that day. We gave a wide range of items to 29 people that morning.


It’s not just the generosity of volunteers, all 70 off them on rotation that keep this show on the road, but of individuals and companies who donate for the “general store. Clothing and personal items come from the congregation, local clothing drives and individuals dropping off their excess. Church of the Redeemer also get a bi-monthly shipment of new clothing from an organization called Brands for Canada. Proctor and Gamble gave a big donation last fall. The church does purchase some items like underwear, razors, soap and shampoo in the individual hotel-sized packaging. It’s an eye opener to realize that our clientele simply hasn’t the money to buy socks or toiletries. Many are on Ontario’s meagre welfare and those not having an address to receive cheques are able to use the church’s address.


Volunteerism attracts staff from 17 different businesses who come in groups to make the scores of sandwiches which are given out on Thursdays and Fridays. The Common Table is unique in sending out two carts those days with sandwiches and other snacks who deliver directly to homeless on the street or in tents. The Common Table also offers, limited nursing care, legal advice, phone and computer service, a book club and hair cuts. There is a dark room available for people who have been up all night and need a place to catch up on sleep.


The grandaddy of organizations that help the needy and homeless in Toronto is also faith based – the Scott Mission which has been serving Toronto’s most needy for over 80 years. They serve breakfast and lunch (over 300,000 meals last year) and provide overnight accommodation as well as a clothing bank that had over 28,000 visits last year. The Mission also offers laundry and showers. Every year over 1,000 volunteers help deliver these services.


I would be remiss if I did not mention Dixon Hall’s Meals on Wheels which is entirely volunteers driven, all 700 of them who drive around in their own cars delivering meals to isolated seniors - 67,000 meals a year. Many are corporate volunteers from banks and other companies. To be eligible seniors must be living with a disability, a chronic or terminal illness or convalescing. Often the arrival of a meal seven days a week is the nearly the only contact the senior has with another person.


And of course, very much in the news and the provider of needed food to families and individuals is the major national charitable organization – Second Harvest which uses 3,000 volunteers in its Toronto warehouse. The crisis in the GTA for people who cannot afford food and rely on food banks is tragic. One person in ten in Toronto used a food bank in 2023 – a shocking number.


It is reassuring that where there is social need there are volunteers to meet it. I have highlighted the role of people freely giving their time to help lessen food insecurity because it is so widespread and because nobody can be a functioning member of society who is hungry. And we are not a third-world country who cannot produce enough food for our population. In fact, there is a sad irony in how much we waste – to the extent that some homeless men take throwaway food from dumpsters behind restaurants.


There are dozens of organizations who rely on volunteers to make the lives of those who are really needy more livable. They bring hope and dignity where most treat those who have fallen out with scorn and silence. It would be good if more people would consider it a moral duty to offer their time to serving those who are on the margins of society.


Humility is not seen as desirable any longer. But you have to show some to do this kind of work. It may be unfashionable to quote Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark but they are appropriate when it comes to the volunteerism these organizations need: “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”


Churchill had this to say about serving others: “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”


Patrick Gossage Insider Political Views

A New Canada to Fight for Our Survival

By Patrick Gossage • December 29, 2025
There has been nothing like the mobilization of our country since we went to war against Hitler “for King and Country.” Now we are mobilizing in a new war against Trump’s depredations with renewed patriotic fervour. Our building a resilient sovereignty against the word’s most irrational and powerful regime - who believe we have no right to exist - will require an enormous dedicated and concentrated effort to redefine our nation. . Make no mistake. We are not seen as important in Washington, a lesson I learned as the Minister of Information at our embassy in the Reagan years. Like Trump’s disparaging attitude to Justin Trudeau, Reagan had little use for his crusading father, Pierre Ytudeau. The difference is that with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney r Reagan actually became a key figure in establishing the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed in 1988. Ironically, it is precisely the success of this pact that led to 75% of our trade going to the US, a dangerous dependence which is now under extreme threat. The future of the successor to the FTA is at dtake. The US Canada Mexico Agreement (USMCA) is about to be renegotiated and is by no means secure. Bilateral trade discussions on the sectorial tariffs that are destroying our steel, automobile, aluminum and lumber industries were going well but were cancelled on October 23 after Trump, in a fit of pique was annoyed by Ontario TV ads using a Reagan clip to decry tariffs. Prime Minister Carney clings to the hope that these issues will be addressed in the context of the USMCA talks. They are supposed to begin in January. We live in hope. Make no mistake. Trump recently suggested that USMCA’s future was not certain. His strong belief that Canada would be better as a US state _ “and there would be no tariffs” – seems unshakeable. Perhaps the most striking evidence of what low repute Canada is held in the White House comes from Vice President Vance. He has publicly criticized Canada's our generous immigration policies, blaming them for the country's "stagnating" living standards and referring to our approach as "immigration insanity". Vance pointed to a chart from IceCap Asset Management showing that Canada's GDP per capita growth has fallen behind that of the U.S. and the U.K. in recent years. He argues this stagnation is a direct result of Canada's approach to immigration and not U.S. trade policies. He specifically targeted Canada's multiculturalism model, contrasting it with the U.S. "melting pot". Vance claimed that "no nation has leaned more into 'diversity is our strength’... immigration insanity “ than Canada". The White House recently released National Security Strategy (NSS) which also note how immigrants can destroy our democracies. Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist signaled this: “It cites activities by our sister European democracies that “undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence. “‘Should present trends continue,” it goes on, “the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less.” These views are totally inimical to Canadian values.  As is this, Trump’s most outrageous recent anti- immigrant outburst as reported by NBC : “For a second day in a row, President Donald Trump launched into a hate-filled rant against Somalia and Somali immigrants living in the US, saying they’ve “destroyed Minnesota” and “our country.” Minnesota, Trump said, is “a hellhole” right now. “The Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country.“ The NSC also can affect Canada in its focus on the Western hemisphere. an area to be dominated by US interests. The US will secure critical supply chains in its own interests; and insists on the right of the US to have access to “strategically important locations.” The US National Security Council is to identify strategic points and resources in the Western hemisphere with a view to their protection and joint development with regional partners. Obviously, Canada as a source of critical minerals, will be under US scrutiny. Some observers fear that Trump wants Canada to become a “vassal state”. A December Toronto Star editorial states coldly that “Thanks to Donald Trump, we know that nothing about our country is guaranteed anymore, not our sovereignty, our democracy, our prosperity.” We now know the Canadian policies standing in the way of a new USMCA agreement. US Trade representative Jamieson Greer said our online Streaming Act, which will make profitable US streaming services support Canadian programming is a major irritant as is our sacrosanct supply management regime for dairy and poultry products. These both are very difficult bargaining chips for Canada to play. Trump’s love affair with tariffs is unlikely to subside so Canadian products may continue to be frozen out of the US. Prime Minister Carney’s ambitious strategy of finding alternate markets for these may work. And his new policy framework for rebuilding a successful economy, major infrastructure projects and attracting important foreign investment is a significant redefinition of our national political priorities. He enjoys wide public support for his strategy which also receives good business and media support. There is already some optimism about the economy in 2026 - take Bank of Montreal’s recent outlook paper: “We’re looking for a stronger economy in 2026 than 2025. Consumer spending has helped prop up the economy. The “Buy Canadian” campaign has helped, and more people are travelling closer to home. Also, there’s no question that federal government spending has also supported economic growth. As we move into the latter part of the year—boosted by firmer economic growth and lower population growth—we expect the unemployment rate to fall in the second half. “Canada’s position in the trade dispute isn’t as bad as it appeared earlier in the year. The average Us tariff rate on imports of Canadian goods is between 6% and 7%, compared to the 17% rate the U.S. charges the rest of the world on average. (these rates are goods under the existing CUSMA) Sectorial tariffs are heavily focused on certain targeted industries, such as steel and aluminum, lumber, and auto imports and non-USMCA auto parts. These are important sectors, but they represent a relatively narrow slice of the economy. “ In addition there is good news on the overall trade front. Canada’s trade swung to a surplus of C$0.15 billion in September 2025 from a C$6.3 billion deficit the month before and well above expectations for a C$4.5 billion deficit, Exports rose 6.3 C$ 64.231 billion, the largest monthly increase since February. Nine of 11 product sections posted gains. Metal and non-metallic mineral product exports jumped 22.7% driven by a 30.2% surge in unwrought gold; aircraft and other transportation equipment rose 23.4% and crude oil exports climbed 5.8%. We just may have a more resilient economy than we thought. Nevertheless, we cannot count on Trump agreeing to a new trade regime that is as good as the original NAFTA – and the cost of reducing tariffs on key sectors may be too high, Trump’s love for tariffs and distain for us won’t change. We can only hope that a smart, well connected and determined Prime Minister can rebuild an economy that will be immune to the vagaries of our neighbour.

Immigration – Too much of a Good Thing

By Patrick Gossage • September 17, 2025
Welcoming newcomers, especially those fleeing wars, has been a widely accepted Canadian virtue. Now, after 25 years of a very open door. there is increasing evidence that we have too much of a good thing. And admittedly, it has been pre-PM Carney Liberal policies which have us in this situation. Where we are now was exemplified by PM Carney recently at the caucus retreat in Edmonton where said recent levels have not been "sustainable" and a more "focused" approach is required. "It's clear that we must improve our overall immigration policies," he said. It had been easy to be caught up in Justin Trudeau’s unabashed enthusiasm for high immigration levels exemplified by his warm personal welcome of the first Syrian refugees in December, 2015. On the fifth anniversary of his memorable event he happily announced: “In the years since, the Government of Canada has worked closely with Canadians, the business community, and civil society to resettle nearly 73,000 Syrian refugees in more than 350 communities across the country.” Few questioned our generosity and thousands of ordinary Canadians sponsored families. But opening our doors wide soon got out of control. In 2021, more than 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0%) of the population, were, or had been, a landed immigrant. Canada’s population grew from 38 million to 41.5 million, representing the highest annual population growth rate since the post-war boom of 1957. Immigration now accounts for virtually all of Canada’s net labour force growth. It then became of public concern that temporary residents, including record numbers of temporary workers and foreign students accounted for 3 million of that number. In total, since 2015 we admitted 15 million temporary foreign workers in agriculture, hospitality and some manufacturing and processing jobs. They were seen to be exploited with lower wages and few rights. Foreign students with limits on hours they could work swelled these huge numbers. Inevitably, public support for high immigration levels dramatically flipped, where 58% of Canadians now believe there are too many immigrants being admitted to Canada. An Environics Poll in 2024 showed that f or the first time in a quarter century, a clear majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration, with this view strengthening considerably for the second consecutive year . Canadians’ express concerns about the arrival of so many newcomers contributing to the country’s problems with housing availability and affordability; this view is much more prominent than a year ago. Immigrants placing pressure on public finances, taking jobs from other Canadians, over-population, and insufficient screening are less prominent. Along with rising concerns about immigration levels, an increasing number of Canadians are expressing doubts about who is being admitted to the country and how well they are integrating into Canadian society. The new Carney government took action, gradually reducing permanent resident admissions to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027; introducing caps for temporary residents, including students and workers at 673,650 in 2025, a notable decrease in new international student admissions with only 163,000 new study permits projected for early 2025. This has led to serious financial shortfalls in many post-secondary institutions. There will be a decline in the overall Canadian population in 2025 and 2026 due to the projected outflows of temporary residents.The number of new temporary residents arriving in the country — made up of international students, foreign workers and refugee claimants — declined in the first six months of 2025, compared to the same period last year. These immigration statistics have been closely watched, with critics arguing the Liberal government’s high immigration intake has contributed to Canada’s runaway population growth and is straining the housing market and health-care system. In response, the government slashed the 2025 intakes of new permanent residents by 21 per cent to 395,000; new study permit holders by 10 per cent to 305,900; and new work permit holders by 16 per cent to 367,750. Accommodating the needs of refugees for resettlement and shelter has become a major issue and embarrassment. In the summer of 2023 many asylum seekers in Toronto ended up sleeping on the street. What a way to welcome them to Canada! Since September 2021, the number of refugee claimants housed in Toronto shelters has increased more than tenfold, from 530 per night to a peak of almost 6,500 per night by August 2024. Recently there were about 3,500 refugee claimants in the system, about 40 per cent of all clients. The mayor recently wrote a letter warning that Carney’s government had agreed to cover only 26 per cent of Toronto’s estimated costs for housing asylum seekers in its shelter system this year. Refugees are a federal responsibility, yet reduction in federal support leaves the municipality $107 million short. We still welcome asylum claimants unreservedly. From January-June 2015 over 57,000. The leader of the Official Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, is now determined to make immigration a major political issue. He is calling for a tougher stance, saying he wants to see "very hard caps" on the number of newcomers allowed into the country. Poilievre says the country has struggled to integrate newcomers and he wants to see more people leaving than coming in "while we catch up." "We have millions of people whose permits will expire over the next couple of years, and many of them will leave," he said. "We need more people leaving than coming for the next couple of years. He would scrap the Temporary Foreign workers program altogether. BC Premier David Eby also calls for the end of Canada's temporary foreign worker program — blaming Ottawa's flawed immigration policies for filling up homeless shelters and food banks. "The temporary foreign worker program is not working. It should be cancelled or significantly reformed," Eby said. "We can't have an immigration system that fills up our homeless shelters and our food banks. We can't have an immigration system that outpaces our ability to build schools and housing. And we can't have an immigration program that results in high youth unemployment,“ Despite these concerns, there is a bedrock of strong support for immigration which was manifested recently in Torontonians where over 150 teachers,.labour union members and families organized a noisy counter demonstration against about 50 right wing flag waving Canada Fist anti-immigrant demonstrators. They chanted “there is no space for hate at Christie Pits”, the site of the clash which led to many arrests. Torontonians enjoy the benefits of living, the world’s most multicultural city with its amazing variety of foods and cultures, and daily evidence from immigrants that their children are doing very well, thank you. But we await the end of the hopelessness that is apparently part of the lives of so many new arrivals, particularly refugees, and the needless exploitation of many other newcomers in menial and low paying jobs..
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