Well, it's my birthday today — yes, Groundhog Day. And as your designated human-groundhog hybrid — just look at that wily hair — I am putting you on notice that it's going to be an early spring! Congratulations, everyone!

Disgusting take and policy. I met a refugee in downtown Toronto with trench foot — a WWI disease — that he contracted while living unsheltered in the rain. Refugees are not why the system is failing; they're the people we have failed and are now scapegoating. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

The violent occupation of Minneapolis started with a vlog. I've wanted to find a framework to describe Nick Shirley & others like him: "Influencer" is too quaint. "Journalist" is obviously wrong. I landed on "slopagandist." Gift link (open in a web browser) www.theverge.com/news/869824/...

The public never realized that supervised consumption sites have quietly operated inside Toronto shelters since 2020. However, as of last December, all of these sites — which collectively saved 750 lives — are now gone because of Doug Ford's harmful legislation. www.torontotoday.ca/local/health...

New @spacingradio.bsky.social! The 2026 Toronto election has started! Now? Yes, now. So what do we need from the people who lead our city in the face of [gestures wildly] this? I ask @shawnmicallef.bsky.social and @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social to help set some resolutions: spacing.ca/toronto/2026...

“Affordability is the number one reason why people become homeless. It’s not mental health. It’s not addiction” @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #onpoli

I spoke to CTV News this morning about the devastating impacts of the cold on unhoused people. Frostbite can lead to amputation, hypothermia to death. People escape the pain of being cold by using drugs, which increases risk of OD. We can't be neutral about this. www.ctvnews.ca/video/2026/0...

Extreme cold isn't just unpleasant; it can be both disabling and deadly for people without adequate shelter. Losing digits to frostbite alters how you walk, eat, write. And it's entirely preventable — but only if we provide enough warm space to come indoors. toronto.citynews.ca/2026/01/22/t...

Thanks to everyone who came, asked thoughtful questions, and stuck around for the convos afterwards. Couldn't have had a better or more inspiring kick-off speaker than @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social

Lovely chat, @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social facilitated by @moreneighboursto.bsky.social, tonight. Talking a wider view of homelessness than most of us will ever get. Advocates, like people experiencing homelessness, are filled with so many more stories, life, & kindness than some'd have you think...

At @moreneighboursto.bsky.social new speaking series, Making Room. First topic was Ending Homelessness, with @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social as a speaker. Lovely and packed.

Happy Birthday, Ryuichi Sakamoto — my forever favourite and eternal crush. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIKa...

The Star’s Victoria Gibson and Nick LaChance went out in Thursday’s snow storm and captured a moment of spontaneous kindness at Union Station: www.thestar.com/news/gta/she...

In theory, I've never liked the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit, which bridges the gap between a person's income and market rent — it's a landlord subsidy. But it's also one of the only ways we move people into housing. These cuts will leave people on the streets. www.thestar.com/news/gta/cit...

I'm hopeful that the City of Toronto's encampment response is achieving the right outcomes — namely, people accessing housing/shelter that is safe for them. But, as I stated to CBC, until I know this data, I can't fully evaluate our encampment protocol. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Quite frankly, it’s outrageous that Mark Carney is cutting Statistics Canada. If he was Stephen Harper or Pierre Poilievre, I feel like this would be getting a lot more backlash. Carney of all people should know the importance of high-quality data and information about the country.

I cannot stress enough that homelessness is caused by policy levers primarily at the provincial level. And AMO's new report shows it: homelessness in Ontario rose 8% last year, with 85,000 people becoming homeless. 20,000 were youth and children. Horrifying. globalnews.ca/news/1161124...

We voraciously consume creative works, yet refuse to honour creators for their time, labour, and creativity. It's an unstable pathway that reduces art to a consumable product and artists as a barrier to consumption — hence more and more AI-generated music. www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/a...

No. Increasing a police presence in schools creates unintended outcomes, including racial profiling and increased suspensions, expulsions, and arrests. In combination, these can feed a “school to prison” pipeline — which, by any definition, decreases school safety. www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...

We should consider this in Toronto. Anecdotally, cold-related injuries for homeless people are rampant, but we haven't measured the scale. In my own work, I've seen people's injuries compound over multiple winters until all their fingers are gone. www.ctvnews.ca/northern-ont...

Agree with TPS Chief Demkiw. Police cannot be thought of or deployed as social workers when they are trained and armed to act as law enforcement. As a former crisis worker, we are best equipped to support people in mental health crisis. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Beyond unethical. A for-profit plasma donation corporation is using "gamefied" financial incentives to lure poor people into risking their health by donating plasma up to 100 times a year. This is the end-game of dystopian privatization and it should be stopped. www.torontotoday.ca/local/health...

Imagine if electeds like Bradford fought against rent increases like they do against property tax increases — as though renters don't offset property taxes anyway. Only certain household budgets matter here.

The most persistent myth of our time is that wealth is directly tied to hard work. The second most persistent myth of our time is that progressive taxation, i.e. taxing the rich, stifles the economy when the reality is that too much inequality reduces growth.

Not only did the Ford government shut down supervised consumption sites, they paid up to $300/hour for a private investigation firm to gather anecdotal evidence against the sites — because they had no real evidence to present in the Charter challenge. www.thetrillium.ca/insider-news...

This funding exists because I fought for it. Until we have the resources for a city-wide water strategy, we need bottled water for the growing numbers of homeless people who are ending up in the ER from heat-related illness. You either pay for bottled water or ER costs, Holyday.

Today is Human Rights Day, which is more important than ever as human rights continue to be under attack globally. Join me tonight in a discussion about human rights alongside a (wildly stacked!) panel at George Brown College. Free to the public!

When I was the President of my local union, CUPE 3393, I learned that in addition to engaging in unpaid care work, many of our PSWs were hired through a temp agency and made minimum wage. This is an important report that looks at inequity in care work: www.socialplanningtoronto.org/carework

Human right to housing, Brad? As a member of TO's Housing Rights Advisory Committee, I'm holding Cllr Bradford to account for his undemocratic push to violate homeless people's human rights through changes to the encampment protocol. Register to speak on my motion: secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...

"People in encampments are in a daily struggle for survival, and public perceptions about their safety are being weaponized to justify the criminalization of poverty and homelessness." Thank you, @housinglogement.bsky.social. www.thetrillium.ca/news/housing... .

NEW: The Ford government is routinely making decisions before environmental consultations have concluded and under-resourcing public education about those consultations, the auditor general has found in her annual report. #OnPoli globalnews.ca/news/1155566...

Members of the public will be able to depute on my motion from the Housing Rights Advisory Committee (HRAC), which asks City Council to uphold its human rights obligations to encampment residents in consultation with HRAC's expertise. secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...

In the near future, developers and city government will have to contend with displaced tenants whose buildings have been demolished to build condos that will never happen. These tenants have been promised new affordable units. It'll be a class action lawsuit. www.thegrindmag.ca/toronto-cond...

Through multiple pieces of legislation — including Bills 223, 5, 6, 10, 60, 75 — the Ford government is waging a war on workers, poor, and homeless people, all to benefit a small group of economic elites. We can fight them if we stand together. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Similar situation in downtown Toronto: a neighbourhood group formed for the express purpose of opposing a new homeless shelter has been ordered to pay nearly $30,000 after litigating against the shelter provider.

Beyond violating separation of powers and the Charter, Bill 75 will keep poor people in jail, longer. Ford is already pushing people into encampments, which he's also criminalized. Bill 75 will also impact poor people demonstrating against this government. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

I was proud to be thrown out of the Ontario Legislature today as the Ford government shamefully passed #Bill60. We won't be silent while this government makes more Ontarians homeless.

What an energizing day! Thousands of people showed up for our National Housing Day Rally to say NO to #Bill60 and attacks on renters! Even though Doug Ford is trying to take away our homes, the Ontario Legislature is OUR house — the people's house — and together, we WILL evict him from office!

More and more people want encampments evicted. Neighbourhood groups are suing shelter providers. Now, they're attempting to stop supportive housing in Parkdale. You can't have all three! Please sign and share in support of PARC and supportive housing! tinyurl.com/parcpetition

“A personality is never going to save us from a personality cult. We don’t need a better personality cult. We need on-the-ground, working people coming together and working together to uplift everyone.” YES. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Excited to announce that @dianacmcnally.bsky.social will now be joining us at our Town Hall with @charlieangus104.bsky.social next Thursday at the Paradise Theatre. Limited tickets remain! www.westendphoenix.com/events/findi...

As a massive introvert whose internal clock is fully nocturnal, I gotta say ... nothing is structured for you.

Last week, City Council voted to make changes their encampment protocol that violate human rights. So this morning, I introduced a letter at the Housing Rights Advisory Committee (HRAC) to challenge Council's unilateral authority to revise encampment policy: secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...

The province's actions, together with it's inability to build or encourage necessary housing, is setting us up for a massive social deficit. When affordable housing or rent becomes so difficult to find, we're pushing people onto the streets, into the hospitals, and into the morgues.

#Bill60 will likely be passed this week, and it will grow homelessness across Ontario — something our food banks, shelters, and municipalities do not have the resources to address. When you wonder why encampments are growing in your community, remember Bill 60. My remarks today at the OLA:

There is no "Three Strike Rule" on human rights, and I remind City Council that the provisions of the Waterloo ruling re: encampments don't extend to just any offer of shelter — it must be *truly* accessible shelter.

Join us on National Housing Day (Sat., Nov. 22) for a rally from the offices of landlord lobbyists FRPO to Queen's Park! FRPO are working with the Ford government to make us homeless. Being neutral on legislation like #Bill60 that makes it easier for Ontarians to become homeless is not an option.

Thank you to City Council for voting to stand up for renters against the impacts of #Bill60, including by reviewing legal options to fight the Bill. Today's vote is an important affirmation of our rights as tenants and the clear link between evictions and homelessness.

Homelessness will dramatically increase in Toronto over the winter, primarily because of provincial and federal funding cuts. Because of this, Toronto's Warming Centres will not be able to meet the need. My interview this morning with CBC Metro Morning. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

“Doug Ford is making people homeless and making the rest of us deal with the consequences. Bill 60 should be called the ‘Create Encampments Faster’ Act,” said Encampment Justice Coalition organizer Diana Chan McNally. www.torontotoday.ca/local/politi...