Letter of Complaint to the city of Ottawa
The link above opens the full colour pdf of My Letter of Complaint to the city of Ottawa for failing to ensure the Salvation Army acts in compliance with the city of Ottawa Emergency Shelter Standards. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but essentially the city of Ottawa contracts with private organizations to provide emergency shelter services and the Emergency Shelter Standards was designed to ensure that shelters maintain minimal standards to protect the rights of, and to afford some dignity to, the Canadian People subject to them… In a nutshell.
This is why I love the Law. For a long time I had no Idea what kind of contracts the Salvation Army might have with the city of Ottawa, I only knew they existed. What I do know, is that every organization that registers with the Canadian government to do business (with the public), is bound to operate that organization in accordance with Canadian Law. Canadian Law is Founded on its constitution, and Canada’s constitution is founded ‘upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the Rule of Law’.
That is in fact the first line of Canada’s constitution, and that was enough for Me to know that the living conditions I experienced at the Salvation Army were a violation of at least one of their contracts. What kind of policies and procedures were in place to ensure that the Salvation Army act in compliance with Canadian Law to protect the rights of the Canadian People was still a mystery to Me.
The Emergency Shelter Standards is the contract designed to protect the rights and dignity of the Canadian People subject to emergency shelters, and it outlines the minimum standards they are obliged to maintain in order to receive funding from the city for their contractual services. They have breached their contract with the city of Ottawa for several years and their funding needs to be withdrawn and returned to the Canadian People. All the money received by the Salvation Army Booth Centre while in violation of the terms of their contract should be placed into a housing fund to get these People into reasonable, dignified living situations, along with any of the health care needs necessary for an individual to live a productive, healthy Life. That is My resolution proposal. It was inspired by a couple of letters I recently received from Deanna Vecchiarelli which Will be the next couple of Pages Posted in this thread.
I hope this day finds You all well.