Helwig, Maggie, 1961- author

Encampment : resistance, grace, and an unhoused community / Maggie Helwig.

First edition.

Toronto : Coach House Books, [2025]
©2025

197 pages : illustrations, map ; 21 cm

"An activist priest provides sanctuary for an encampment of unhoused people in her churchyard We think, maybe, that homelessness is some kind of stable state, like being housed except without housing. Without really considering it, most people imagine that people who are homeless live in, if not one place, at least in one condition, that their days are in some way predictable. But homelessness is, more than anything else, a life of constant displacement. The housing crisis plaguing major urban centres has sent countless people into the streets. In spring 2022, some of them found their way to the yard beside the Anglican church in Toronto's Kensington Market, where Maggie Helwig is the priest. They pitched tents, formed an encampment, and settled in. Known as an outspoken social justice activist, Helwig has spent the last three years getting to know the residents and fighting tooth and nail to allow them to stay, battling various authorities that want to clear the yard and prefer to keep the results of the housing crisis out of sight and out of mind. Encampment tells the story of Helwig's lifelong activism as preparation for her fight to keep her churchyard open to people needing a home. More importantly, it introduces us to the Artist, to Jeff, and to Robin: their lives, their challenges, their humanity. It confronts our society's callousness in allowing so many to go unhoused, and it demands, by bringing their stories to the fore, that we begin to respond with compassion and grace."-- Provided by publisher.

9781552455043 (softcover)
1552455041 (softcover)

Helwig, Maggie, 1961-
Church work with the homeless Ontario Toronto.
Homeless camps Ontario Toronto.
Homelessness Ontario Toronto.
Social justice Ontario Toronto.
Homeless persons Ontario Toronto Biography.
Political activists Canada Biography.
Pastorale des personnes sans-abri Ontario Toronto.
Camps de personnes sans-abri Ontario Toronto.
Itinérance Ontario Toronto.
Justice sociale Ontario Toronto.
Church work with the homeless
Homeless camps
Homelessness
Social justice
Ontario Toronto

Biographies.
Autobiographies.

Location: Library study room new acquisitions 327929
Call No.: 327929
Copy: 1
Status: Available