Steering Committee
Bob Rose, a former steering committee member – Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and co-founder of the Toronto Drop-in Network. Activist activities focus: mental health systems change and recovery oriented practices linked to the building of supportive housing, social justice equity and quality of life opportunity
Greg Cook (he/him) is a white settler who has lived most of his adult life on the Dish With One Spoon Territory: the lands of the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee.
Greg has been a drop-in and outreach worker in downtown Toronto for almost 14 years, and at Sanctuary since 2009. He currently volunteers for the Toronto Homeless Memorial and was part of a group of activists who agitated for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Grant Faulkner. He has worked on two documentaries: Bursting at the Seams about the housing crisis and What World Do You Live In about police brutality. To relax, Greg walks downtown streets and quiet wooded trails.
Jessica Hales is a long-time street nurse practitioner in the Dundas/Sherbourne area at Regent Park Health
Lorraine Lam is an immigrant-settler Chinese-Canadian, partner to Tim and parent to a bernedoodle named Miso. Driven by her interest in social transformation and collective liberation, she spent her early adulthood pursuing an education in music, sociology and social work. Up until October 2022, she has been a frontline outreach worker for over ten years at Sanctuary. She is motivated by the question, “what does faith, justice, liberation, hope and transformation look like in day-to-day ilfe?” She writes, speaks, and is a believer in cultivating hope-filled community in different spaces. She is a persistent hope-grasper and a fervent joy-seeker and deeply believes that better is possible. Lorraine recently contributed to Displacement City (release date: Nov 2022) and loves to stay active, eat good food, live in jammies, and watch Jurassic Park and Home Alone on repeat.
Rafi Aaron is the spokesperson for the Interfaith Coalition to Fight Homelessness ICFH), which is dedicated to outreach and advocacy for those experiencing homelessness and hunger. He has volunteered at the Beth Sholom/Beth Tzedec Out of the Cold Shelter for thirteen years, serving as its Co-chair for the last seven years. Rafi is the co-coordinator of the Out of the Cold Meal Program at Saint Luke’s United Church
Steve Meagher works as Project Director at the Centre for Refugee Children, an initiative providing legal and settlement support to refugee and migrant children in Ontario. Previously, he managed an emergency shelter for refugee families in Toronto and served as co-chair of the family sector table with the Toronto Shelter Network.
Advisors
Beric German is a long-time advocate on homelessness and housing. He has pioneered numerous coalitions including the Toronto Coalition Against Homelessness, Recession Relief Committee, Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and SHJN. He was a key lead in the advocacy work at Toronto’s Tent City that led to a rent supplement housing program win for all the residents.
David Hulchanski is a professor of housing and community development at the University of Toronto who has focussed on mass ‘houselessness’ and Canada’s dehousing processes and policies since the 1980s. He is a co-founder of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and SHJN.