TDRC Media Releases

For immediate release                                                                                                    May 6, 2004
 

 Jury to deliver recommendations Friday!
Advocates expect strong call for
action on housing, homelessness
Friday, May 7, 2004 * 9:30 am
Coroner's court, 15 Grosvenor

All eyes will be on the Coroner’s Court on Friday, May 7, at 9.30 a.m. as the TB Inquest Jury is expected to deliver its recommendations. The jury has been probing the death of Joseph Tiegesser, who died from complications arising from TB at a Toronto homeless shelter.

Members of the Tuberculosis Action Group will be available to the media at Coroner’s Court following the release of the jury recommendations.

All the parties to the inquest agreed to a number of key recommendations, including a call for a new national affordable housing strategy, in a joint submission to the jury.

“This has been a critically important inquest as it exposes the conditions in homeless shelters in Toronto,” says Cathy Crowe, a street nurse. “The recommendations from this jury – which are expected to address not just hostels but also the urgent need for affordable housing – will be a wake-up call to municipal, provincial and federal politicians. On the eve of a federal election, we will work to make sure that politicians take concrete action to improve the conditions in shelters and end homelessness by funding more social housing.”

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