by Tomislav Svoboda
In the winter of 1996, Eugene Upper, Kompani Mirsalah-Aldin and Irwin Hardy froze to death on three separate nights in the streets of Toronto. A coalition of poverty and housing activists led by street nurse Cathy Crowe and human rights lawyer Peter Rosenthal advocated for an inquest. A coroner's inquest determined that in addition to homelessness, uncontrolled heavy alcohol use and severe mental illness were implicated in the deaths. The jury recommended that a 24-hour in-shelter harm reduction program including in-shelter provision of alcohol be implemented in the shelter system. A 12-hour municipally run shelter was designated as the program site. Front-line staff led by Arthur Manuel developed the Annex Harm Reduction Program within this shelter, which included an in-shelter drinking program despite senior administration statements that such a program was neither necessary nor feasible.
