Homelessness in Canada

As a Christian I find it appalling that Canada treats its homeless so poorly and ignores them so much.

Nobody wants to be homeless. There is a stereotype that homeless people take a "vow of poverty" and "like being homeless". This is simply not true. Regardless of what TV may teach you about homeless people NONE of them actually want to live in the gutter.

And it isn't a matter of laziness. If homeless people were lazy they would be on welfare, inside and safe, content on leeching off the rest of society. No, homelessness is really a combination of bad luck and governmental neglect.

Some people also say the homeless are "crazy", but if they are crazy its likely also because some of the homeless people really belong in an old age home, but due to senility wandered off and have since become missing persons.

Which in my mind means that senior citizen homes should be held accountable and should be SUED when the people they are hired to take care of wander off and get lost.

Its difficult to track Canada's poverty. There is no official census of how many homeless people there are on the streets. Soup kitchens and street missions may try to keep track of how many people use their services but the fact of the matter is that nobody really knows how many homeless a particular city has and how many there is overall in Canada.

Also there is a lot of debate about how to fix the homeless problem. Some people argue in favour of ignoring them, cutting funding to soup kitchens/homeless shelters and even "arresting" homeless people for vagrancy. Others argue that we need more action helping these people find work and getting them into a safe/warm place.

I agree with the later. It is a Christian Duty to help those less fortunate.

And I have an idea on how to accomplish at least part of the task.

You know how Alberta is always looking for workers and can't find enough people to do even the simplest of jobs? So much they are recruiting in faraway Newfoundland?

Well, how about they start recruiting on the streets of Toronto and Vancouver? Find homeless people who are willing to relocate and work in Alberta, help them get to Alberta and set up a program to help them find jobs there.

That is not just a great idea, its a BRILLIANT idea. It solves two problems with one program (which means its more efficient and saves tax dollars).

We would also need a 2nd program to track old homeless people, find out who they really are and reunite them with their families so they can live in the safety/security of a senior citizens' home (or with their family).