Cathy Crowe

Early life and education

Born in Cobourg, Ontario but raised in Kingston, Ontario, she went to Toronto to work and study at the Toronto General Hospital, where she received a diploma in nursing, in 1972. In 1985, she received a Bachelor of Applied Arts in nursing, from Ryerson Polytechnic Institute. In 1992, she received her Master of Education in Sociology, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). She has received multiple honorary degrees including from the University of Victoria, which granted her a Doctor of Science in Nursing in 2001, a Doctor of Letters from McMaster University in June 2005, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ottawa in 2008, an honorary Doctor of Laws from York University in 2010, an honorary Bachelor of Applied Studies from Humber College in 2012 and an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Windsor in 2015.

She was married twice; with her last one, to former Metro Toronto Councillor Roger Hollander, ending in divorce in 1995. She has a daughter and three grandsons.

Community work

She came to public prominence as a "street nurse", a term coined in the early 1990s by a homeless man in the impoverished downtown Toronto area where she worked. She is noted for her work with the homeless and poor populations in Canada's largest city, Toronto. She is an activist for affordable housing, public health and social justice. In 1998, along with other social justice activists and academics, she co-founded the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC). They brought public attention to homelessness declaring it to be a man-made disaster, which in their view, qualified as a social welfare disaster requiring the same kind of response that governments give to natural disasters. This human-disaster was the basis for the name of the group and many of its ideas. The TDRC and Crowe promoted the idea of a "One Percent Solution" to end homelessness. The one percent solution calls for each level of government to commit an additional one percent of their budget towards affordable, social housing.

Electoral politics

In January 2010, Crowe entered electoral politics, by offering to run for the Ontario New Democratic Party, as their candidate in the February 4, 2010 by-election in the provincial riding of Toronto Centre. At the ONDP's January 10, 2010 nomination meeting, her candidacy went uncontested. She faced Ontario Liberal Party's candidate, Glen Murray, and Pamela Taylor for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Crowe finished a strong second, doubling the NDP's vote totals by taking 33 percent of the popular vote. She ran a second time in the 2011 provincial general election but lost to incumbent Glen Murray. For many years she worked closely with former Toronto City Councillor and leader of the federal NDP Jack Layton. She wrote the foreword to his book Homelessness. How to End the National Crisis which he co-authored with Michael Shapcott.

Dying for a Home

Crowe's book, Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out, is a first-hand account of Canadian homelessness, and the practical steps needed to address the problem. Drawing from 17 years of experience, Crowe's book brings together the voices of ten homeless activists advocating for change. In so doing, they clear "homelessness" of its negative stereotypes and endow the word with alternate qualities, such as bravery, courage, charisma, and intelligence. Dying for a Home gives details on how to implement the TDRC's one percent solution.

Films

Crowe has been involved in multiple documentary films about homelessness:

Home Safe Hamilton (2010), Development research with filmmaker Laura Sky, Skyworks Charitable Foundation.

Home Safe Toronto (2009). Executive Producer. Filmmaker - Laura Sky, Skyworks Charitable Foundation.

Home Safe Calgary (2008). Executive Producer. Filmmaker - Laura Sky, Skyworks Charitable Foundation.

Street Nurse (2002). Subject participant. Filmmaker - Shelley Saywell, Bishari Film Productions.

Shelter From The Storm (2001). (development research) A profile of Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and Tent City Toronto. Filmmaker - Michael Connolly.

Awards

Besides the aforementioned honorary degrees, she received an International Nursing Ethics Award in 2003 in Amsterdam. She was also the recipient of the Economic Justice Fellowship Award, from the Atkinson Charitable Foundation, in 2004 which was twice renewed. She is a Paul Harris Fellow (Toronto Rotary Club 2007), was named Person of the Year by the Toronto Sun (2000), received the City of Toronto Persons award (2004), and was named Toronto's Best Homelessness advocate by NOW Magazine (2005). In 2017 Cathy was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada.