If you are in need of a device and/or a phone plan, our fundraising and case work committees can help. Below, please let us know an address to pass off the device. Additionally, let us know what kind of phone you prefer, whether that be an iPhone, Android, or any other kind of phone. While we cannot guarantee that we can provide the exact kind of phone you are looking for, we will do our best to accommodate what you need and are most comfortable with.
Since the beginning of COVID-19, the importance of digital life has grown exponentially. Jobs are found, friends and family are connected, critical and essential services are accessed, all through the internet. Still, the government has yet to ensure everyone can actually access these essential digital spaces. With the government's assistance, the big Canadian telecom companies have cornered and manipulated the market to make access to digital life too expensive for many to afford even if they have the tools to access these spaces. With the City of Toronto's upcoming encampment evictions - the Pathways initiative which will displace countless people, removing them from their communities and support networks - our unhoused neighbours need phones now more than ever.
The Encampment Support Network (ESN) and ALAB Resource Clinic have been and will continue to connect our unhoused neighbours with phones, charging banks, and phone plans in an effort to make up for our governments' failure at all levels. By refusing to make telecom affordable, by failing to ensure everyone has the means to connect, and by shifting day-to-day life into online spaces without thinking about our unhoused neighbours, they have created one more barrier to access services, jobs, and their communities. Every time the city forgets about people experiencing homelessness, they contributing, intentionally, or accidentally, to the erasure of unhoused people. We need to stand by our unhoused neighbours and connect our communities.