Bonnie Briggs

Bonnie Briggs (1952/1953-2017) was a Canadian affordable housing advocate and poet. She created the Toronto Homeless Memorial in 1997.

Early life and education

Briggs was born in Brampton, Ontario[1] in 1952 or 1953.[2]

She studied community work at George Brown College,[3] graduating in 1997.[4]

Adult life
Toronto Homeless Memorial

Briggs was an author and a poet.[3]

Briggs was made homeless twice, in 1987 and 1989.[2] She was featured in the book Dying For a Home by Cathy Crowe.[2][5] Briggs worked as an ambassador for Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre where she led their Tiny Houses Project to provide affordable housing to homeless people.[6] As an activist for affordable housing, Briggs attended meetings, protests, and took part in activities organized by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, the ODSP Action Coalition, the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, Parkdale NDP, United Tenants of Ontario, and ACORN.[2][3] She created the Toronto Homeless Memorial in 1997,[7] having started working on the project in 1996.[8] By 2021, the memorial, located at the Church of the Holy Trinity, had over 1,200 names of people who died while experiencing homelessness in Toronto.[9]

She was married to husband Kerry Briggs who she met at a dance in Kleinburg in 1982.[2] They married in 1983.[4]

Death

On August 4, 2017, Briggs died in her home in Parkdale.[2] She was aged 64 at the time of death.[2]

References
  1. Small, Peter (28 November 1993). "Illegal tenants hope new law to give them protection rights". Toronto Star. p. A20. ProQuest 436921006.
  2. Adler, Mike (8 Aug 2017). "Toronto activist Bonnie Briggs remembered as advocate for housing, creator of Homeless Memorial". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  3. Crowe, Cathy (2017-08-23). "Remembering Toronto housing activist Bonnie Briggs". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  4. Bonnie Briggs, Poems from Street Level, About the Author, 1998
  5. Crowe, C., Baker, N. (2007). Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out. Canada: Between the Lines.
  6. "A tiny housing project hopes to be a big solution to the affordable housing problem in Toronto". The Parkdale Villager. 27 January 2016. ProQuest 1761037540.
  7. Forget, Andre (January 2015). "Pilgrimage explores homelessness". Anglican Journal. 141 (1): 7. Gale A397831372.
  8. White, N. J. (12 April 2008). "She ensures the homeless are remembered". Toronto Star. ProQuest 439417876.
  9. "'Unconscionable injustice': Unprecedented number of names added to toronto homeless memorial in December". The City Centre Mirror. 13 December 2021. ProQuest 2610184106.
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