Social In-Activists Worried About Cameras

And well they should be because now we will have a permanent record of their failure as organizations who prey on the poor and unfortunate rather than actually help.,.....when was the last time Heroux, Dodd, Clark, et al missed a meal or slept on the street or in a shelter?

Cameras 'no help for poor'
Activists slam money spent on surveillance TV
By TAMARA CHERRY, SUN MEDIA

Here's another take on Toronto police surveillance cameras: "A total waste of money."

That's what Gaetan Heroux had to say yesterday about seven CCTV cameras recently erected in the Dundas and Sherbourne Sts. area.

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) spokesman joined a small group of neighbourhood residents in protesting cameras which, for months, have gained public support for their role in nabbing suspects in police investigations.

It's not the suspects -- such as those involved in the shooting death of a man in a Shuter St. apartment building Tuesday -- who police should be worried about, Heroux said.

"This camera will capture images of hundreds of poor people going into the church looking for warmth, looking for food," he said. "These cameras will not feed us. They won't keep us warm and they won't give us housing."

'DISTURBING'

Calling the Oct. 31 installation of the seven cameras "disturbing," Heroux said $2 million given to the city by the province to erect cameras should be allocated elsewhere.

"There are serious issues here and there's a pretence that police and cameras can deal with them," he said.

"Basic survival needs are not being met," said Zoe Dodd of Street Health Community Nursing Foundation.

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