Extreme Makeover: Witness Canada's Largest Youth Shelter Transform
TORONTO, October 29, 2004 — Canada's largest shelter for homeless youth held an event to mark the start of renovations. The shelter is undergoing extensive repairs to ensure the buildings are safe and meet building codes.
Comprised of two buildings located in downtown Toronto near Yonge and Gerrard Streets, the two adjacent structures that make up Covenant House are in desperate need of repair. The buildings will be renovated thanks to a total of $874,100 in funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) Shelter Enhancement Program (SEP).
In addition, $75,000.00 has been provided by the Government of Canada's Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI), administered by the City of Toronto. Ongoing operating funds are provided annually by the Government of Ontario and the City of Toronto.
"For more than 20 years Covenant House has offered support and shelter to thousands of young people in the Toronto area," said the Honourable Bill Graham, Minister of National Defence and Toronto Centre Member of Parliament on behalf of the Honourable Joseph Fontana, Minister of Labour and Housing. "The renovation of the two facilities will not only bring the buildings up to health and safety standards, but the improvements to the interior spaces will help those youth accessing services feel much Read More ..cure."
"We are grateful to the Government of Canada for their generous grant that will help us with much-needed renovations to our shelter, where some 5,000 homeless youth come for safe refuge and services each year," Ruth daCosta, Covenant House Toronto Executive Director said. "Since we rely on donations for most of our funding, these additional funds will enable us to direct Read More ..ney to taking care of our kids while we repair our buildings."
"Covenant House provides a safe haven for young people who need our support," said Councillor Kyle Raye, Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale. "The City of Toronto is pleased that government and private sector partners are helping homeless youth in the community."
Covenant House's McGill Street building will undergo $672,000 in renovations and repairs, including the replacement of heating boilers, windows and sills, and more than 6,500 square feet of rotted roof. Security is also on the repair list, as the building will be fitted with new doors, locks and security cameras.
An additional $202,100 allotted for the Gerrard Street facility will replace rotted windows, sills, brickwork, eaves troughs, and an emergency generator. The building's front entrance will also undergo a facelift as the cracked marble steps and flooring will be replaced, and the 1,800 square foot worn carpet in the great hall will be substituted with vinyl tile.
The $75,000.00 from the Government of Canada's National homeless Initiative through the Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative, will help Covenant House make small capital improvements.
Established in 1982, Covenant House offers young people safe shelter and support services annually. Much more than a shelter, Covenant House gives young people the tools they need to build independent lives including counselling, health care, educational and employment assistance. At night, staff are on the streets to reach kids most at risk. Longer-term housing is also available.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's Shelter Enhancement Program offers financial assistance for the repair, rehabilitation and improvement of existing shelters for women and their children, youth, and men who are victims of family violence, as well as the acquisition or construction of new shelters and second stage housing where needed.
CMHC is Canada's national housing agency with a mandate to help Canadians gain access to safe, quality and affordable housing. CMHC supports the Canadian housing industry and improves the living conditions of Canadians through mortgage loan insurance and securitization, assisted housing, research and information transfer and the promotion of Canadian housing exports.
For further information, please contact:
Kathie Howes
CMHC
416-218-3488
Rose Cino
Covenant House
416- 204-7081
Catherine Kaye
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
416-954-7302
Cynthia Ross
City of Toronto
416-392-0546
Please visit:
homelessness.gc.ca
toronto.ca/housing
covenanthouse.org
Top: left to right Ruth daCosta, David (past resident of Covenant House), Jennifer Arp, Assistant to
Minister Bill Graham, Minister Kyle Rae, Leila (past resident of Covenant House), Paul Alof, Covenant House
Board Chair, Brian Smith, HRSDC Front: left to right, Andrea Delgado, HRSDC, Nicole Baptiste HRSDC,
Christina Haddad, Manager Operations, Assisted Housing, CMHC, Lindsay MacNeil, CMHC Special Initiatives
Officer, Assisted Housing
TV Show about Parental Alienation
W5 investigates: Children on the frontlines of divorce
November 7, 2009
The world of divorce is scary for any child. But when a divorce becomes especially toxic, children can become the target of an unrelenting crusade by one parent to destroy the child's relationship with the other. Experts call it parental alienation.
Affair led to mother murdering her own kids
Days after buying another woman Valentine's Day flowers, a Sydney father came home to find a trail of blood leading him to the bodies of his two young children lying next to their mother, a court has been told.
Australian Associated Press
Aug 24 2009
The woman had given the couple's three-year-old daughter and four-year-old son rat poison and an unidentified pink liquid before smothering them and killing them, court papers said.
She then tried to take her own life, the NSW Supreme Court was told.
Doctors agree the mother, from Canley Heights in Sydney's west, was suffering from "major depression" when she poisoned her children on February 19 last year.
She has pleaded not guilty to the two murders by reason of mental illness.
As her judge-alone trial began, the mother's lawyer told Justice Clifton Hoeben his client didn't think life was worth living after learning about her husband's affair.
American Psychological Association
Dating Violence Statistics in the United States
Nearly one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys say they have been raped or experienced some other form of abusive violence on a date, according to a study released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
Teen depression on the increase
More and More teens are becoming depressed. The numbers of young people suffering from depression in the last 10 years has risen worryingly, an expert says.
BBC, UK, August 3, 2004
Government statistics suggest one in eight adolescents now has depression.
Unless doctors recognise the problem, Read More ..uld slip through the net, says Professor Tim Kendall of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.
Guidelines on treating childhood depression will be published next year. Professor Kendall says a lot Read More ..eds to be done to treat the illness.
Woman convicted of killing 3 kids after custody battle
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, USA, August 26, 2008
HELSINKI, Finland - A court in Finland has convicted a woman of murdering her three young children and has given her a life sentence.
The Espoo District Court says Thai-born Yu-Hsiu Fu was found guilty of strangling her 8-year-old twin daughters and 1-year-old son in her home.
She tried to kill herself afterward.
The verdict on Tuesday says the 41-year-old woman was found to be of sound mind at the time of the murders.
Court papers show the murders were preceded by a bitter custody battle with her Finnish husband who was living separately from her at the time of the murders.
A life sentence in Finland mean convicts usually serve at least 11 years in prison.
New Brunswick woman ruled responsible in burning of baby's body
ST. STEPHEN, N.B. - A New Brunswick judge says a woman who burned and dismembered her newborn son is criminally responsible for her actions.
Becky Sue Morrow earlier pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to a dead body and disposing of a newborn with the intent of concealing a delivery.
Judge David Walker ruled Friday that the 27-year-old woman may have been suffering from a mental disorder when she delivered the baby but that that was not the case when the baby's body was burned and its remains hidden.
It is not known if the baby was alive at the time of birth.
At a hearing last month, the court heard contrasting reports from the two psychiatrists. One said Ms. Morrow was in a "disassociated" mental state when the crime occurred. The other said she clearly planned her actions and understood the consequences.