Is Toronto pushing out its homeless population for the World Cup? | DW News

[00:00:00]They assaulted me. They even more aggressive.

[00:00:02]>> Is Toronto hiding its homeless population for the FIFA World Cup?

[00:00:05]>> I think Toronto had a real opportunity to position themselves as committed to human rights. Instead, we have put on this image that we don't have social issues. We don't have poverty. We just have nice places to visit.

[00:00:17]>> They're being targeted. They're being told, um, you have to move. Um, which is absolutely discriminatory. Now that we have a bunch of visitors coming in, it's uh-oh, we got to like look really good and we got to put our best face forward.

[00:00:29]>> This is Union Station, Canada's largest railway hub. And it's here where police and private security are accused of targeting homeless people and using violent tactics of displacement. DW spoke to some of the victims. We conceived their identities in order to protect them. had no problems up until about a month ago and when they assaulted me. And ever since then, I've been like kind of on guard and trying to avoid them at all cost because I don't know what they might do, you know, being dressed the way I'm dressed. They've been more aggressive. They've been pulling people out of bathrooms. Um people have been buying things they're not allowed to sit at McDonald's. Um they've been uh assaulted and um uh straight bullied. And the police are also helping them. It's unclear if it's the city or private companies or both in charge of the security situation.

[00:01:25]>> We're in the city of Toronto. That's a public building. The city should take responsibility for the securitization of that space and should take responsibility of of the processes of how we um compassionately engage with those who are unhoused or underhoused.

[00:01:39]>> The city of Toronto said it's committed to respectful conduct and supporting people who experience homelessness. But it was one of the last host cities to submit their final FIFA human rights plan just days ahead of the country's World Cup opener right here at Beimo Field. Critics say the plan doesn't protect those who need it the most.

[00:01:59]>> It's not just Union Station, by the way.

[00:02:00]We've got a really large several blocks here that are FIFA territory and people are experiencing this all throughout that