1880–1969: the Mercer Reformatory incarcerated women for poverty, homelessness, drunkenness, and “immoral” conduct, often separating them from children deemed neglected and made Crown wards for adoption.
It’s encouraging to see evidence-based and international approaches to address homelessness.👇
CCLA welcomes the Ontario Superior Court of Justice landmark decision affirming that unhoused people are entitled to full constitutional protection under the Charter and that governments must apply a human rights-based approach in responding to homeless encampments.
ccla.org/press-releas...
Unfortunately, this structure was more of a facade, and the prison gained a notorious reputation for harsh discipline, riots, abuse, and controversial treatment practices.
www.protectyourboundaries.ca/blog/post/lo...
Imagine if a rights-based approach to housing & homelessness had existed when Mercer was open (1880–1969). How many of the 20,000+ women & girls would have been safely housed instead of being criminalized & incarcerated? Many were confined there & exploited as forced labour at Mercer Industries.
We worked hard to break down this barrier.
Three years. Multiple IPC orders. Dismissed reconsideration requests.
The YCJA does not retroactively restrict access to records solely because an individual was under 18 while incarcerated at Mercer.
PO-4827-R canlii.ca/t/kl2n3
~200 children died in a Tooting cholera outbreak (1848–49).
Most names lost.
The man responsible was acquitted—and remembered.
The children—the most vulnerable—not.
Refusing their erasure. 👇
@genealogygraeme.bsky.social
tooting180.org
Velma Demerson (1920–2019) died on May 13, 2019. Imprisoned in Ontario in 1939 for being with Chinese immigrant Harry Yip, she later fought for justice for women jailed under the Female Refuges Act.
🎬 Trailer: youtu.be/-2dzVlnDBzA?...
Yr ending Mar 1964: 559 females imprisoned at Mercer—293 single, 266 married. Though framed as addressing a “child in need of protection,” the Ontario Child Welfare Act disproportionately impacted imprisoned single mothers, effectively treating sole caregiving as grounds for child removal.
Yr ending Mar 1964: 559 females imprisoned at Mercer—293 single, 266 married. Though framed as addressing a “child in need of protection,” the Ontario Child Welfare Act disproportionately impacted single mothers, effectively treating sole caregiving as grounds for child removal.
In 1953, my teenage mother spent weeks in what was known as the “dungeon” at the Andrew Mercer Reformatory as punishment for escaping. A decade for Tona Mills is deeply distressing; it’s hard to grasp that those in authority allowed her and others to be subjected to such inhumane and cruel TORTURE.
While federal political parties resist any form of privacy protection, a new poll finds Canadians do not trust them to protect their data.
Liberty Village is one of Toronto's youngest neighbourhoods. Many assume this area was nothing more than an industrial zone before it became overrun with tech start-ups and yoga studios. Wondering abo...
www.protectyourboundaries.ca
For the victims of the cholera outbreak in Tooting's pauper farm in 1848/49
I was honoured to share the importance of a rights-based approach to housing and homelessness with federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for human rights today. (1/3)
Great to learn more about evidence-based approaches to ending homelessness from Dr. Lígia Teixeira and other experts at the University of Ottawa and on Parliament Hill.
Yesterday, the Senate passed Tona’s Law, Bill S-205.
This bill is the result of decades of work to uphold human rights for those most marginalized and to ensure that what happens behind prison walls is never beyond accountability. 1/4
#TonasLaw #EndSolitary #HumanRights #Cdnpoli
This #Mother’sDay, we honour all who mother.
Let's remember that most women in prisons were the sole supports of children before they were jailed & work to ensure all mums have the supports & resources they need to keep & care for their children & themselves! #SenCA #cdnpoli
youtu.be/oSaSWXHBaus
