HONOURING ‘JOHN DOE’
Man shot by police added to list of 800 homeless people who have died in the city since 1985,
None of them knew him when he was alive. None of them even knew his real name.
All they knew was that he was 42, reportedly homeless and fatally shot by Toronto police last month. But that was enough for the roughly two dozen people who gathered at the Toronto Homeless Memorial as his fill-in name, “John Doe,” was added to the running list of more than 800 homeless people who have died in the city, from natural causes or outside forces, since 1985.
The memorial, next to the Church of the Holy Trinity near the Eaton Centre, is updated on the second Tuesday of every month. Doe, the only name added in July, is the 20th this year and the 831st in total. He joins eight other John Does and three Jane Does who have died in 2016 so far.
A short service held near the memorial at noon included a moment of silence, a poetry reading, calls for better housing programs and the reading out of the few details known about Doe’s death:
On the morning of June 17, several police officers, including members of the emergency task force, tried to arrest Doe along the rail corridor between Weston Rd. and Hwy. 400 for trespassing. There was a “confrontation.” Police fired both a Glock pistol and a Taser. Doe was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Special Investigations Unit, which investigates all deaths and injuries involving police-civilian interactions, has not released any other details and could not be reached for updates Tuesday.
Memorial organizer Greg Cook, a street outreach worker with Sanctuary Toronto, said it’s concerning that another name was added to the list and that homelessness is still affecting so many.
“It really hinders the quality of life for many citizens,” he said. “It makes life really unbearable.”
He added it’s been difficult to identify the deceased man, as the incident happened outside the downtown, where most of the agencies involved in the memorial are based.
“We’re going off what was in the press,” he said.
The SIU has a policy of not re- leasing victims’ names unless it gets family consent — a practice critics say hinders accountability and is coming under scrutiny during Justice Michael Tulloch’s review of Ontario’s three police oversight bodies.
Vivian Harrower, a volunteer at Holy Trinity for 30 years, said it was important to acknowledge all homeless deaths, even without names or personal connection to the deceased.
“It’s still important to recognize that these were people who had families, maybe lost contact with families and have been living on the streets,” she said. “They need to be recognized as human beings, too.”
Before the service, Michael Mallard was handing out “memory marbles” for attendees to remember lost ones in honour of his friend “Bev,” who he said was part of the homeless community and was always being told she was “losing her marbles.”
Mallard also didn’t know the deceased but said he makes an effort to show up at the service every month.
“I’m at every memorial because I know a lot of people on that list,” he said, adding that he recognizes more than 100 names added since 1996.
“Every John Doe has a family.” With files from Evelyn Kwong and Christopher Reynolds