Honouring Names and Stories

Toronto Homeless Memorial, Holy Trinity

I’m not always able to attend the mid-week Homeless Memorial on the steps of Holy Trinity to honour the memory of the people who die in the streets or as a result of being homeless, but I am always deeply grateful for the dedication of the folks who faithfully show up each month.

This month I arrived a bit early to see the names chalked on the pavement in the busy noon-time courtyard of the Eaton Centre.  You might not notice the display case outside the church that houses the names, but printed along the path they cannot be missed in the way that we have learned to miss so much of what is going on around us.

I spent some time saying them out loud, Peter, Alice, Dave, Frank, Jimmy.  Every time there are also those terrible place-holder names, Jane and John Doe, for the people who have not been identified.

The memorial makes room not only for the names, which is an act of resistance in itself, but it also creates an opportunity to share the stories and for folks to grieve their friends. For some, this will be the only funeral ceremony that is held.  This day the story that stayed with me is the one of the man who died with a list of 90+ names in his pocket, names of the people in his own life who he had lost. Names that he recited every day in his own remembering practice.

There’s a whole river of loss flowing through our city and for too many people it is the defining feature of their lives.  It’s too much for one person to face alone which is why we need places like this to gather in support of each other, with people who are willing to wade through this river together.

One of the things I love about the Memorial is the way that people engage by sharing memories and songs that they have written, by sharing news of the next rally or critiquing the inaction of  City Hall, or by coming up with their own ways of honouring loss.  I have a few marbles now from one fellow who always passes them out and asks us to put them in our pockets so that when we find them we will always remember.  These marbles became the inspiration for how to spruce up the memorial and make it stand out a little more in the square with so many people rushing by.

If you do find yourself in Trinity Square at any time, do stop and pay your respects. Or come down on the  second Tuesday at noon and add your warmth to the crowd who will be there until they don’t need to be anymore.