1/ I want to thank @OliviaBowden__ for speaking with me to report on my parent's story. Two days before they were supposed to get jabbed, they tested positive for COVID. My mom ended up hospitalized (thankfully discharged). My dad works in a factory. Both live in Jane and Finch. https://twitter.com/OliviaBowden__/status/1381272506368155652

2/ I hope the @TorontoStar considers removing the paywall for this excellent reporting in the public interest from @OliviaBowden__ and @maywarren11 but understand that it costs money to produce thoughtful reporting. As it is paywalled, I will annotate some of the quotes.

3/ First of all, I no longer live in Jane and Finch. I also work as a white collar professional that works remotely, a luxury that my dad and many of his friends don't have. My story is a common one for many upwardly mobile children of newcomers. That's the perspective I bring.

4/ Secondly, my parents while happy for me to speak, did not want to get interviewed themselves and didn't want to be named. English isn't their first language and they also didn't want to look like they were complaining. This captures it.

5/ So Jane and Finch is a very multi-racial neighbourhood and a hub for many newcomers. It's a huge hub for Vietnamese migrants for example. Both my parents are very active members of the Vietnamese community through their church. There's a lot of pride in that neighbourhood.

6/ Some of that pride is derived from the fact that it's a community that is unfairly looked down upon, which I remark upon. There are countless people I got acquainted with like @TiffanyFordTO or @directorpaul who are true community leaders in combating the stigma.

7/ Anecdote I wish they included:
I shared but I was saying that about how Jane and Finch seems to be on people's radar when there's gun violence happening there. The media comes in and swoop in and then leave. People living here are very aware of this dynamic.

8/ I shared how I interviewed for a role at the @cityoftoronto where a hiring manager remarked that I said I was living with my parents in a postal code where there are high rates of gun violence (a cautionary tale on including postal codes on your cover letter and CV).

9/ This hiring manager asked me if I could be "objective" and not emotional if I could interview gun violence victims in places such as Jane and Finch. I was floored. I asked the hiring manager to repeat the question because I thought I misheard. Nope real thing asked.

10/ I don't exactly recall what I said in response but the next day, I withdrew my candidacy for this role. Couldn't make up a better metaphor for systemic racism if I tried if policymakers @cityoftoronto see Jane and Finch as nothing more than a hotbed of gun violence.

11/ I was really bummed since I was initially excited for the role. I told my parents that I withdrew. They didn't agree with me, they also said they were proud that I stood up for our home. This is what I mean.

12/ Back to the article:
Jane and Finch also is home to many essential workers like my dad. He works in a factory. During the day, he says he works with Vietnamese people like him with many of them being newcomers. These jobs are often found out about through informal networks.

13/ These jobs don't offer paid sick days and pay just either at minimum wage or marginally better than minimum wage. Rent in Jane and Finch is increased. My dad said one of his friends was paying $1800 (utilities not included) for a 2BR apartment right on the intersection!

14/ My dad insisted on working in the factory still despite me begging him not to. I'm in a position where I can financially support my family and in fact I already do. He's already thinking about how to go back to work. This is a common story, captured here:

15/ I've been trying to help my dad apply for the CRSB, which he can apply for next week. When my mom got hospitalized, I tried to help my dad and asked him for his SSN, his direct deposit info and his CRA account. As he was distressed, he didn't know what I was talking about.

16/ I talk about how I resent that it's up to impacted individuals to apply for benefits and do the paperwork necessary. CRSB is more straightforward compared to other government services but the onus is still on my dad.

17/ Paid sick days would have placed the onus on the party in my view very likely caused this otherwise preventable situation from happening: the employer. This is why CRSB =/= paid sick days. This among reasons in this info-graphic explains it.

18/ Anecdote I wish they included:
Lest the likes of Premier Timbit thinks it's irresponsible to advocate for paid sick days, the morning after my mom was discharged, I called into check in on her. I told her I'd be speaking to a reporter ( @OliviaBowden__ ).

19/ I asked her if she wanted me to share anything. Roughly translated, she said

"Three years ago, I remember there was 3 paid sick days but Grandpa Ford came in and got rid of it. I don't know why. If we had that, then people would just stay home rather than go to work...

19/ ...and tell themselves they have allergies when they might have COVID. That's why people don't get tested. They don't want to know they have COVID so they can go to work. Rent is expensive and they're worried not having enough money. So they go to work...

20/ ...b/c they are worried. Paid sick days means they wouldn't need to worry and lie to themselves . They don't need to go to work to accidentally spread COVID. Grandpa Ford should bring that back."

This is what my fairly unpolitical mom said the morning after discharge.

21/ Another element I wish they included is how my dad thought something like CRSB was taking "a hand-out." I explained it is not but even services meant for him carry this "welfare stigma" in a way that I hypothesize that "taking money" from "paid sick days" won't have.

22/ Back to the article:
I then talk about the reality of navigating government services and that for many immigrant communities where it's their kids doing it. It's a super common story.

23/ This is more hypothesis on my part to be honest and I wish they qualified my thinking here where I said we should find out (1) how do people know if they have a health need, (2) how do they currently get their health needs met and

24/ (3) is the "official health system" meeting those needs? People are getting their health needs met but maybe not at the doctor's office. Let's understand this and not chalk it up "hesitancy." There's a job the health system is failing people we don't fully grasp.

25/ Woo I had a lot to say clearly. Anyways, this is some solid reporting from @OliviaBowden__ and @maywarren11 . Grateful for @OliviaBowden__ for listening and asking thoughtful questions. Lastly my mom made the masks in my photo. She wants you to know. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/04/11/a-tale-of-two-neighbourhoods-jane-and-finch-with-the-lowest-vaccination-rate-moore-park-with-the-highest.html

26/ Woops on 4/ https://twitter.com/ADoAboutThings/status/1381325380318064649?s=20 this is the quote I meant to upload that speaks to my parents not wanting to be named and directly interviewed

27/ I noticed they cut-off our graphical t-shirts which is probably for the best. That being said, this was the shirt I wore to that photo-shoot, a quote from my friend @albanvillamil gave at @UXRCollective that applies:

28/ It says "Studying up is when you research the users and processes that hurt marginalized users, not the marginalized users themselves."

29/ In this context it means, while there's a lot of value in understanding behaviours of the "marginalized," it's also important that this isn't something that randomly happens. The neglect in Jane and Finch did not randomly happen. It was done to them by somebody.

30/ So yes let's understand the people living in Jane and Finch but let's not just leave it to them to fix the problems other people have caused. Let's also "study up" and understand the people and systems causing harm and put the onus on them to fix the mess they made.

31/ point is let’s understand the systems and people (because systems are made of people) that cause harm like employers who still fail to provide sick days and leaders who refuse to make it legislation and design solutions to make them stop hurting people.

32/ For example, understand leaders like @SylviaJonesMPP who refused to listen to the evidence and straight up said “We wanted to make sure that the modelling was actually showing up in our hospitals. Sure my mom will be glad to know she was an experiment.

33/ I am a vindictive person when crossed so you know would mean a lot for @SylviaJonesMPP to call me and my mom and thank her for civic duty to prove the model right. Make it happen by signing this petition y’all https://www.change.org/p/ontario-s-progressive-conservative-government-for-ontario-s-solicitor-general-to-thank-hospitalized-covid-patients-for-their-service