Last week, Mayor Dan Marchisella announced that he was going homeless for one week to raise funds for Larry’s Place, a men's shelter in Elliot Lake.
Elliot Lake Mayor Dan Marchisella extended the challenge to all municipal, provincial and federal government officials.
Carol Hughes, the MP for the Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing riding, has responded to the challenge.
“I applaud the shelter and the mayor for joining in and doing what they can to raise awareness about homelessness and to raise funds for Larry’s Place,” she said.
Hughes told ElliotLakeToday that she has already scheduled commitments, which may prevent her from participating in the challenge. However, she has made a financial contribution to the fundraiser.
The House of Commons is currently sitting, and she needs to be in Ottawa. However, she will be in the riding later in the week and will do her best to visit the participants on June 24.
“You could very well see me spend the night with them on the 24th,” she says, “but I can’t guarantee because of prior commitments.”
“There is a huge responsibility when it comes to both the federal and provincial government, and I think they need to ensure that the communities have the necessary support to address homelessness,” Hughes said.
She also added that most of the funding generally comes from the province for crisis centres and homelessness support. Usually, the federal government “will download a lot of money to the province, so the province can decide” where to allocate the financial resources, Hughes said.
Hughes understands the challenges. She says, “the lack of support for men's issues and the lack of support for homelessness among men certainly is an issue,” and “when it comes to men, ‘they’ figure men can be more resilient than women, and that’s not the case.”
Hughes says that multiple issues can also play a part in contributing to homelessness. A few possible factors include mental health struggles, addiction and access to affordable housing.
It is not just people struggling with “mental health or an addiction that are finding themselves homeless…it affects families as well.”
Hughes is also an advocate for kindness and compassion towards others.
She says, “generally there is a reason why people find themselves homeless, and often it’s not something within their control,” and “we just don’t know the history behind that person's story.”
Hughes thinks that there needs to be an increase in targeted funding for mental health, addiction and homelessness awareness. She says that “we have to realize that this is happening in our backyard,” and the current governments need to be there to assist with these issues.
“It’s incumbent upon the federal, provincial and municipal governments to work together to look at the best solution to best support and address the issues related to homelessness,” Hughes added.
Even though it is usually the provincial government's responsibility to provide financial support for these services, Hughes is willing to raise the issue to the federal government on behalf of our community.
She says it is “unfair to individuals who want to get their life back, and not have access to programs or services that can help them do that.”
Hughes says she has always been happy to support Maplegate and acknowledges the efforts made by the City of Elliot Lake to bring more housing to the area and also to bring more awareness to the issue of homelessness.
Her words of encouragement and support are, “Kudos to the staff of Maplegate and Larry’s Place, Mayor Dan Marchisella and to all those who will be participating in order to have a better understanding of what individuals who are homeless go through. It’s important to create this awareness.”
Donations to the homelessness challenge can be made through the city of Elliot Lake website, the gofundme page set up by Maplegate House, or by visiting mayor Marchisella at his homeless site at the old Algo Mall location from June 20 to June 25.