“I’ll tell you what I’m disappointed about: kids are going to food banks. Parents working 40 hours a week — their first stop isn’t to the bank, it’s to a food bank,” NDP MPP Wayne Gates said while debating the bill.

“Reality is (about) 70 per cent of these people are not homeless,” he said, “but they (are) … one bad situation away from being homeless,” said Manny Rumbos, Neighbors Table.

“When Mr. Ford talks about (not) encouraging anybody to do drugs, you’re not encouraging a drug addict, they must have their drugs,” Bisson said.

“What happened was … roadways were established following the pre-existing Indigenous trails … and one of those is now known as St. Paul Street,” said Tim Johnson, president of the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations.

“As much anger as I’ve had to carry throughout this whole thing, I just want to be able to sit down and start healing from it all,”Ashley Cronkwright said.

“My whole goal is to stop this from happening to any other parent that has a child (living) with addiction, that has an Indigenous child, that has a marginalized person in their family,” said Francine Shimizu, Heather Winterstein’s mother.

“All those horrible things you can imagine happen to women, people trying to traffic you constantly” or worse, said Laura Beaupré, happens to unhoused women when encampments are cleared.

“(We) can absolutely expect these numbers to go up, because we know these sites are not just about preventing overdose deaths,” said Sandra Ka Hon Chu, lawyer and HIV Legal Network co-executive director.

“I want to work full time, but I can’t because I have a (criminal) record and I’m homeless. And because I’m homeless I don’t have an address to give them, or I don’t have clothes or the means to get a uniform, so I’m stuck,” said Shaun Christie.

“I got ahold of them fourth hand … I got ahold of somebody, who got ahold of somebody in Europe, who’d gotten ahold of them, (as) they had moved up north (near) the Caspian Sea,” said Amir Farsoud.

“The meatballs taste like hope, with a touch of resisting oppression on the finish, and garlic, lots of garlic,” said Craig Adams, jokingly.

“It is not so much the CTS helped me get clean per se, it’s they helped me not die, which is an important step to getting clean. You can’t get clean if you’re dead,” he said.

“I imagine that that (homelessness) curve, if you put that on top of our food insecurity curve, like … in the Feed Ontario report, it would look very similar,” said The Hope Centre CEO, Jon Braithwaite.

“They’re (recipients) not receiving enough to afford housing and then they can’t afford food, and we see increasing numbers at food banks and congregate meals and community meals,” said Joanne Heritz, a Brock University adjunct political science professor.

“How many? We’ve heard about people losing their limbs, how many people have lost their lives, how many are just looking for a hand up, and are being turned away,” said Elizabeth Allen.

“He’s a very complex (case) … I’m honestly shocked this man is not in a long-term-care facility,” said Deanna Ernest, Beyond the Streets co-founder.

“There were people who saw him and didn’t do anything, that’s on them,” said Elizabeth Allen about the night her brother freezing to death.

“It was a real blow to my self-esteem, Patricia Rysdale said in an email to The Standard. “It was terrifying to have to go to a shelter at my age, I didn’t know what to expect.”

“It’s about managing people’s discomfort, when you’re talking about these laws … (regarding) difference, and in this case, the difference is poverty and homelessness.” - Samantha McAleese.

“I just cannot believe we are allowing people to freeze, when we have the means to stop it,” said St. Catharines regional councillor Haley Bateman Wednesday.

“In fact, most police investigations, in my experience, is this guy was murdered until proven otherwise,” said Jack Stanborough, retired regional supervising coroner for western Ontario.

“We had a perfect in-line view to watch the whole thing … it was like four stars on ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ the drones, the helicopters,” said Jesse Doucette, a nearby resident.

“Housing is a human right and as legislators we should be making sure everyone has the ability to rent or to live in affordable housing,” said St. Catharines NDP MPP Jennie Stevens.

“If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have said there is zero hope. I was very down and depressed … I was drowning in sorrow and grief and now I feel like the sun is rising,” said Brenda Boulanger, unhoused Welland woman.

“(It) was terrible last night, heartbreaking, I cried most of the night,” said Brenda Boulanger.

“(I) reached out to the local legion in Merritton, asking them, how can we fundraise that will go directly to the veterans, and they told us about the poppy fund,” said Stephanie Arsenault-Smith, co-owner of The Docks pub.

“What’s happening in the area, the city and the region are responsible and they’re letting it happen. There are a lot of solutions to (these situations), and we’re not seeing it,” said Tim Toffolo, St. Catharine’s resident and business owner.

“We’re up already 52 per cent more people who came on the first night,” said Jane Cocco, program coordinator for St. Alfred’s church, Out of the Cold meal program.

“People aren’t donating. Obviously, grocery stores are, and we still get those food recovery programs coming in,” said

The interactive feature is being hosted by The NOTL Contemporary art gallery at Ironwood Cider House, 1425 Lakeshore Rd., on Saturday 6-9 p.m.

Some residents said the development would be out of place, while others felt it would be another step toward gentrification, pushing people out of the predominantly lower- to middle-class neighbourhood that has been affordable for them.

“It’s forcing people back into the shadows,” said Dan Hennessey, Peterborough homelessness advocate. “I agree that the open-air drug use is rampant, but, they (police and agencies) should have other dedicated places, outside of the CTS (for people to go), where they can access services too.”

“I was broken beyond repair, I spent the first 10 days weeping for the position I found myself in,” said Susan Papov, when she found out she would be homeless.

“It’s going to cause landlords to not rent to folks whom they suspect of having a substance abuse disorder,” said Silver Spire Church Rev. Karen Orlandi.

“It ensures policy is driven by things like prejudice and stigma towards people who are unhoused or people who use drugs or people experiencing addiction,” said Dr. Scott Neufeld, assistant professor community psychology at Brock University.

“It means everything to us, because there hasn’t been a lot of support from the police department, unfortunately,” said Jennifer and Bill Adamson, in a statement.

“If you’re creating in your truth and you’re creating from a very authentic, honest place, that work is going to shine and resonate on its own, don’t worry about it,” said January Rogers, performing arts award recipient

“Too often governments speak of compassion while dragging their feet on life-saving measures,” said Sarah Schutts, a speaker at Positive Living’s International Opioid Awareness Day gathering Thursday.

“What reasoning do they have to declare no foul play?” said Nick Oldrieve, Please Bring Me Home executive director. “I understand, no trauma to the arm bone, but that is very blatantly not enough to say no foul play.”

“I’m just a mom trying to bring awareness in hopes one family doesn’t experience the same pain my family experienced,” said Diann Brown, organizer.

“If they were serious … they would have given some clarity on what the realistic opening date is,” said Emily Spanton, an addictions counsellor and co-chair of Niagara Advocates with Lived and Living Experience (NALE).

“I’m thinking about moving to Hamilton, because I’m noticing the (rents) are cheaper there and St. Catharines rent prices are unbelievable, it’s unrealistic,” said Karyssa Chininea.

“This government is negligent in addressing our homeless and addiction crisis head-on. We have a crisis in St. Catharines and across the region,” said St. Catharines MPP Jennie Stevens. #homeless #addiction #mentalhealth #funding #help

“We know downtowns have been hit hard by the homelessness and overdose crisis, so (the approach is about) finding ways to better support our community members and businesses at the same time,” said Talia Storm Positive Living StreetWorks director.

“We didn’t want to seem performative, in our participation, when there have been some contentious issues lately, like the public spaces use bylaw that had recently been put into action,” said Halley Irwin, Niagara Regional Native Centre development and community engagement director.

“We went out twice yesterday and walked the downtown core. We gave a lot of water and freezies out to individuals, but many of them we’re used to seeing weren’t out,” said Keanna Schuster, member of Niagara Advocates with Lived and Living Experience.

“(There’s) many things a normal person takes for granted, and I’ve just been given that,” said Eleanor Rye, former unhoused St. Catharines woman.