Brynn Emond
I’m a Centretown resident who also works in the area in a service position. I wrote the following in response to my experiences, with an emphasis on how the city is failing those most in need, and how that failure puts the burden of support on those who are themselves vulnerable.
As a city – and as a society – we clearly lack the desire and infrastructure to support our most vulnerable populations, which is why businesses and community spaces like libraries have become the impromptu front lines of social work, especially in the Centretown, Golden Triangle, and ByWard areas.
If there are no public bathrooms, people will use cafes, fast food restaurants, and malls. If there are no beds, they will sleep under bridges and in the doorways of stores. If there is no one to help, where else are they supposed to go?
As a service worker in a cafe in the downtown core, I don’t just make people coffee – I regularly deescalate situations with unhoused and mentally ill patrons, because there is no one else around to do it. Our business works to be a place where everyone is safe and welcome. We keep our bathroom open to all (as I firmly believe is correct), and we give out what we can to those in need. We also keep a list of crisis numbers posted behind the cash, because, invariably, someone will come in who is not well and who needs help.
I’m not a social worker. I am paid one dollar above minimum wage. I have a college diploma in education – not in psychology, social work, or crisis management. Yet, I and my colleagues – many of whom are only a couple of years out of high school – find ourselves on the street-facing frontlines of a humanitarian crisis in housing and addiction.
Not only is this unfair and unacceptable, it’s also unsafe; asking people without the appropriate skills or knowledge to manage potentially dangerous situations, on a regular basis, is a recipe for disaster. It puts us at risk, it puts vulnerable people at risk, and it puts our community at risk. It is not OK.
I have pushed for deescalation and sensitivity training for staff, because I see the need is there and I genuinely believe it will help keep us safe. We shouldn’t need it. It’s not fair that we need it. But we do.
The complex systemic problems faced by vulnerable people in this city, and around the world, can’t be ignored or swept under the carpet. They will bubble over – and they have. We are now at the point where the vulnerable, queer, racialized, and/or financially insecure 20-somethings who make your coffee in the morning are also de-facto crisis workers, forced to learn how to deal with the twin problems of addiction and homelessness as they affect the communities in which they too live. For minimum wage; without any skills, protections, or compensation.
This is not acceptable to me. What will those in power do to keep our communities healthy and safe? Or is it up to us to keep ourselves safe? Because so far, all the work is being done on the ground, in between coffees.