While I am not yet certain that I am moving in January, what I am certain of is that I am absolutely grateful to Premier Kathleen Wynne for appointing Dr Eric Hoskins as the Health Minister of Ontario.
Before you get your panties in a wad, let me explain why. I know Torontonians are sick of hearing the words "For four years", but unfortunately I have to use those words.
For four years, I have been put through absolute hell. I made sure my requests were reasonable. I tried to be nice. I waited. But the workers continually changed. And I'd be stuck repeating myself and having to do their job for them. When it got to be too much, I had unique ways of letting them know. But of course my ways were met with accusations and intimidation. I always had to apologize for my behaviors while they continually treated me with the utmost disrespect that never gets mentioned.
I won't specify the comments, requests, or other specific details that happened in the four years. I can only share with you some scenarios in which I felt like I was in an abusive relationship with them.
Starting off the list would be the time a worker stood at my door and told me my brother and his then pregnant girlfriend had to leave because they were meeting with me and discussing confidential information. Or how about the time when I had to escort a worker out of the building because she refused to stop inquiring about a sensitive subject. Or the time when my former superintendent approached me to ask me if this specific worker owned the whole building. Or how about the time when I broke my arm walking to the station near their now old office and had to have CCAC help me?? Or when I voluntarily signed myself out of the program because I was just too exhausted doing everything for everyone?? When I had to sign back in to the program, I had to meet with the workers and the program manager. I tried to bring a city councillor but he wasn't able to come because YWCA Toronto prevented it from happening. Or what about the time when Hurricane Sandy hit and we had no power?? Do you think they helped?? No of course they didn't. They never helped me when I asked. Only if a lawyer or someone from the community asked them to. These issues repeated for the first two years. When I signed back into the program, everything picked up right where they left off. So I'm sure you can imagine how angry I was at this point. But calling both Ombudsman offices, our respective councillors, MPPs, I finally met with Dr Eric Hoskins. To be honest with you, I'm not sure why he was so eager to help me. I still appreciate it though. Without his help, I probably wouldn't be able to share this blog post with you.
I used every technique I could think of when dealing with them but nothing was working. I would have gone to a crisis centre but when I accessed one previously, they picked me up and basically shut down any suggestions on how to help me move forward. I was feeling trapped. And I knew that First Nations people were treated differently than the rest of the population. I remember feeling like I was going to end up being another First Nations statistic which is what I've tried so hard to not become. But I also knew of the reputation YWCA Toronto had. So I was absolutely gobsmacked about what steps I was willing to make in order to get the help that I knew I deserved. I would pull all nighters writing, thinking and trying to get things accomplished because I knew it would never get done if I didn't do it. My health wasn't the greatest. I tried asking for help with getting groceries but they weren't listening to what I was asking for.
When I took my first vacation home, I knew that when I returned I would be picking up right where I left off which wasn't what I was looking forward to. In that trip, I got incredibly homesick and toyed around with the idea of moving back home. A few trips later and I was hooked. I got the ball rolling on this project. It is still ongoing. Then Christmas 2013 came. I am obviously bouncing around here but as I mentioned I am not divulging every single detail over a four year span.
I didn't have enough food for the holidays and didn't enjoy a nice Christmas dinner. All I got was directions to places that offered Christmas dinners. I remained at home.
January came. That's when everything took an unexpected turn. Everything I thought I knew about the program and workers and the supposed rules we both had to follow basically went to hell in a hand basket.
Ok so by now you know that I did the usual steps, reached out, and we went back and forth regarding the rules of the program. I would call them out on any rules they tried to break. One of my rules was to call upon arrival so I could let them in the building. My other rule was to give me 2 weeks notice if they were bringing someone with them. A lot of my rules were the exact same as theirs. So January. They come for a check in to see how things are going. Only they didn't come alone. One worker brought her toddler. Yup. That's right. A toddler. But if you remember correctly, I wasn't allowed to have a city councillor attend a meeting to support me. But a worker could unexpectedly bring her kid to my apartment!! Okay then. When the toddler became fussy, the worker took him outside. The other worker remained. She plopped herself in my chair, legs dangling over the side as if it was her place. I should mention that I had at one point given them permission to read tweets where I was asking for help, and after a grocery shopping trip in a snow storm, I took to Twitter to vent my frustrations. Which resulted in an impromptu meeting with the workers and the program manager. And of course I shared with them my frustration over the many incidents that not only troubled me but many others. This is where I was bullied into apologizing for singling workers by name on Twitter. Of course I tried calling them out on their bullying tactics but it only escalated the situation further. Nothing was working. I wasn't eating or sleeping and my temper was only getting worse. I went back to my usual contacts who offered what they could. But it wasn't enough. I suggested to a trusted friend that it didn't make sense to me to not have a doctor as the Minister of Health. I went on and on. My magic must've worked because before I knew it, there was Premier Wynne announcing that the new Health Minister was going to be Dr Eric Hoskins!! I lost my marbles!! I was so gobsmacked I didn't know what to do with myself!! Of course I chose to take to Twitter. Enter #YWCAToronto.
I used this hashtag and shared with my followers my journey. I started asking them to re tweet and share my story. I wanted it known that this well known organization wasn't everything it painted itself out to be. I even started tweeting conversation pieces and recording meetings. I found my voice.
I can't really pinpoint when I first noticed the changes within the program but I was extremely reluctant to buy into them.
Okay I know I said I wouldn't go into specifics but well, hey if the YWCA Toronto workers aren't doing as they said they would, so can I!!
So we have the worker refusing to meet with my brother and his then pregnant girlfriend in my unit, the time a worker was escorted off the property, the time they said a city councillor couldn't attend a meeting to support me, but she was able to bring her toddler to my home, or the trip to Centre Island and being told to be quiet upon discovering an intoxicated client, or the bullying/intimidation meeting, or how both workers must be present for all meetings and appointments yet I've had both where there's only one and the excuse is that there was no other time available. Or when I had my incident on October 30th and they unexpectedly showed up despite my banning them from the property to see me and then the next day only one came. And when I went there, yea they were in their god awful long staff meeting. But my point of them coming unexpectedly twice despite the ban to drop off the notes got them to meet with me. They used to try blaming everything on the Ministry of Health but once they realized I had a connection to the Health Minister, they shockingly didn't use it anymore!! The night of October 30th, I, in the condition I was in, provided contact information for workers. And shortly after, I discovered that the workers were documenting lies because Ontario Ombudsman staff confirmed that they never spoke with workers about my struggles with suicide. So with this development, I recently decided to block the communication further. Not only did they not have access to my unit, they didn't have my new phone number and now they were banned from any form of communication with the Ontario Ombudsman contact as well as my ODSP and OPGT workers. I felt that if they were going to bully, control, use and abuse my sources, instead of doing their job to help me, I would cut off the communication so that it would be harder for them to do their job because they had wasted four years of my life, my time doing nothing for me while I was out everyday risking my health. But of course the little weasels had to update housing applications and needed my new phone number. But now when we meet, I remind them who the Health Minister is and my connection. And I remind them that they are visiting me in my home.
I realize I may be leaving the program in January, but that doesn't mean that I am going to stop ensuring that future First Nations clients of the program get the treatment that they deserve.
While I find it encouraging that the Minister of Health Dr Eric Hoskins is closely monitoring my use of social media, I am also touched that during our recent meeting where he popped in unexpectedly, his first question to me was to ask about the YWCA issues I have been dealing with for four years. It's a well known fact that if you create a Top 10 Shit List, and place his name beside each number, and then share it on Twitter, he pops into your meeting and shares that he really doesn't like the list. I also know he's very reasonable. I have met with him twice and both times I got him to reverse his answers!!
So not only did I get what I wanted, I also managed to see a different side of the Ontario Health Minister. Oh and of course, I finally got YWCA Toronto workers doing their job (with the Health Minister's help of course!!)
My only hope now is that whatever workers arrange with their clients they stick with whatever is arranged. But should issues arise, instead of brushing the concerns off as though their feelings don't matter, they address the problem from the beginning so it doesn't derail things. If you treat one client differently than the others, but adamantly deny that you do, you're not going to build their trust. Respect their situation. Rules. Homes. Let them bring people to meetings. It's their case management!! And seriously do something about the staff meetings. I seriously don't see how shelter staff need to share the staff meeting with the program that's not even in the same building!! You may also want to revisit how long the meetings should be. Or whether both workers need to be present for all meetings and appointments. I think it would be better to split the caseload so workers had time to meet the needs of the clients including any meetings and appointments. And seriously no more making the program workers do shift work in the shelter part of the YWCA. By the way these gobsmackingly are you freaking kidding me how could you be so dumb as to not already have these ideas in place ideas are ideas which I've also repeated over the past four years. I also suggested that the program start up cooking and other life skills classes to help improve the quality of life for clients because if they promote empowerment, but aren't doing anything to show for it, how is anyone going to believe that they are capable of doing so?? I also suggested having tenant meetings to give clients the opportunity to meet each other and share concerns about the program.
But now that my time might be coming to an end, I am finished with doing their work and I'm finished with trying to find ways to improve their services.
My only other suggestions are to update the website information because whatever the program is called (I was given three names but the one in the title is most recent version) there's no information on this specific program so if people want to help YWCA and learn more about the services they provide including the programs that are not directly on the property but very much a part of the YWCA, right now they can't get the information so then the blame falls on (apparently) the Ministry of Health. They are aware of my recommendations because I have a hard time shutting my mouth.
I sincerely hope that you take into consideration the recommendations I have shared with you, and I hope that any future clients utilize the right to share their frustration as well as get the best possible support because when fleeing whatever brought these women to the YWCA, that in and of itself is courage, but then to leave after getting back on track it can be a very scary time and these women need encouragement, not workers who bully, intimidate, control or neglect them. After all those are some of the reasons why they ended up at the YWCA in the first place.
