Christ Church Cathedral is pleased to present a conference on homelessness in Victoria. All events are free to attend and open to all.
7:00pm Thursday May 21 - A Framing Lecture
"A Theology of Home in a Time of Homelessness" presented by Dr. Siobhan Garrigan
Dr. Garrigan is the Loyola Chair of Theology and Trinity College Dublin and the Head of the School for Religions, Peace Studies, and Theology. She works primarily at the intersection of theology and social justice, specifically through the lens of sacramental theology, interpreting the material as spiritual and the embodied as the locus of divine revelation. Dr. Garrigan previously served as founding director of Emmaus Coventry, a charity that empowers people to overcome homelessness through tailored support in communal living and gaining employment skills in the recycling industry. She has a weekly radio broadcast called Witness that connects theology with current events.
Friday May 22 - Panel Discussions on Policy
Panel 1 (9:00am) - Explaining Basic Issues
This panel will help people understand things like what factors lead to people being unhoused, what is the relationship between mental health, addiction, and homelessness, and why is the indigenous homeless rate disproportionate to the overall population, in an attempt to dispel misperception and equip people with the knowledge to meaningful think about public policy.
Participants from Salvation Army, Peer2Peer Indigenous Society, Our Place Society, and Cool Aid Society.
Panel 2 (10:30am) - Gaps, Barriers, and Policy Failures
The second panel will inform us about what perpetuates homelessness in Victoria, including gaps in service, barriers to re-housing, and policy failures that exacerbate the struggle.
Participants from Portland Housing Society, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, Mental Health Recovery Partners, and Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness.
Panel 3 (2:00pm) - Signs of Hope and Avenues for Advocacy
The third panel turns to what is working, where we see progress, and areas where advocacy and direct involvement can make real and lasting change.
Participants from New Roads Recovery, Mustard Seed Food Bank, Threshold Housing, Beacon Community Centre.
Panel 4 (3:30pm) - Faithful Response - Theological Reflection on Public Policy
This final session will see our keynote lecturer, our bishop, and our diocesan theologian reflect on how our faith should inform the policy decisions we support and the call it puts on our lives to love all our neighbours and create a better community.
Saturday May 23 - Storytelling and Engagement
Session 1 (10:00am) - A reading from "Encampment" by author Maggie Helwig
The Rev. Maggie Helwig tells the story of the encampment that set up on the yard of her church in Toronto’s Kensington Market. She befriends the people living on her churchyard and fights for them to be able to experience it as a home. The book calls us to confront the callousness that allows is to live with so many neighbours who are unhoused and asks us to respond with compassion and grace.
Session 2 (1:00pm) - A viewing of "940 Caledonia" with documentarian Krista Loughton
Shot during the pandemic, this film tells the story of Tina Dawson who found herself living on the streets of Victoria for the first time during a frigid winter. It helps the viewer to understand the realities of such an ordeal while also advocating for the creation of sanctioned spaces for the unhoused rather than the proliferation of encampments in various parks and alleyways.
Session 3 (2:30pm) - Life Stories from Those Who Lived Them
We will hear from people who lived unhoused for some time in their lives – what it was really like, what helped them survive and now thrive, what they want us to know.