'We can't just stop here': Downtown Mission hosts community cleanup event
For the first time since moving to Ouellette Avenue, the Downtown Mission held a community cleanup event, which saw more than 50 people — a mix of staff, volunteers, guests and community partners — pick up debris and trash between Elliott and Erie Streets.
Friday's cleanup also marked the first time the city's commissioner of Human and Health Services rolled up their sleeves to join in the cleanup efforts.
"We can't just stop here. It's like when I always talk about one time funding, it's not just about one time, this has to be ongoing. This has to be sustainable," said Andrew Daher. "Everyone as part of this community, whether it's residents, businesses, citizens, we all have to be part of this change."
But Daher acknowledged real change can only occur once any negative judgements people may hold about the homeless population are thrown away, in favour of active listening and empathetic understanding to people's individual situations.
"I've met CFL players. I've met individuals who are working class citizens, just down on their luck," he said. "Many of these folks just need another year. They are contributing members of society and just need that upper hand."
The state of Windsor's downtown has been a major point of discussion in recent months.
Just this week, a town hall meeting at city hall saw multiple residents and business owners express concern over needles and trash being scattered in the area.
According to Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin, executive director for the Downtown Mission, Friday's cleanup effort was planned long before this week's meeting.
"It is something we are trying to address as well ... but we are now trying to make sure that everyone is aware to call 311 if they ever see a sharp out there. We don't want people to be handling them themselves," said Ponniah-Goulin, adding the city will use those calls to track where additional sharps containers may be needed.
Ponniah-Goulin added, through efforts like this, the Downtown Mission hopes to establish good rapport and foster a healthy relationship with the surrounding neighbourhood.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.