By Hugh Kruzel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The Sudbury Star
Travelling from coast to coast, you see that the challenges facing Sudbury are not unique. Every city has homelessness, people with mental health struggles, drugs, and crime. What has happened? Some say we are a nation in crisis.
Alcohol on the streets is now nothing compared to the effects of cocaine, fentanyl, crack, and a plethora of manufactured chemical cocktails that result in dependencies, overdoses, and death.
Finger-pointing at scores of people experiencing the "fentanyl fold" - a posture common to those experiencing the drug - in Vancouver's downtown east side, Calgary's core, Lethbridge's park adjacent to the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, or even our nation's capital, does nothing to improve the situation. We can't just ignore and scurry by. The Nickel Capital is not immune to the waves of past and future human-produced, increasingly potent pills, injectables and inhalables.
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Not exactly a new mover to Sudbury, Holland Marshall does bring fresh perspectives to looking at the city and region. He recently spoke about not just the challenges here, but on the flip side, the host of benefits to living outside the GTA.
Starting out as a draftsman for eight years, he went on to production controls and management in Brampton. After 28 years or so at Nortel, he moved on to safety systems in aerospace.
"I worked until I was 72, now I am 77."
Marshall is a very energetic writer and advocate. He says, "just do it." He wrote a book on supervision that has been used by companies, including the high-tech firms of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
He may be known to readers and Sudbury media watchers for his activism around securing barrier-free 24/7 public washroom facilities for the city's homeless population. He took this to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
Though his challenge was denied, he continues to propose alternatives. He has been critical of the City of Greater Sudbury and councillors devoting more than $200 million to downtown projects while neglecting the basic necessities of life.
"I have four Substacks and my most recent is on foreign movies ... mostly Korean," so with that, you see Marshall's interests are wider and more diverse than at first blush. "I enjoy Netflix, and we hardly watch Hollywood anymore.
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"I was working in China for a while, in Manchuria. I've been to most of the major cities in the north and as far south as Hong Kong - 20 cities and 12 provinces."
That's a lot of exposure and even chances to reflect on the diversity of governance and political models.
But after all of this, you have to ask Marshall how he came to be in Sudbury. He has a connection to the north, being born and raised in Timmins.
"Mostly, I grew tired of condo living. We had a condo in Toronto, but condo living is fraught with troubles. Another of my Substacks is on condominium ownership. Condo boards are not adequately trained for the responsibilities. I wrote a lot on this."
He and his wife sold the condo. With half the proceeds, they bought a house here. "We found the perfect location. We sunk about $100k into renovations. You know you can drive to anywhere in Sudbury in 10 minutes? The dentist is at the bottom of the street, and the cancer centre is only five minutes away."
Marshall pointed out how impossible it has become to move around in Toronto.
"I moved here with the cat on Christmas Day 2020. My wife and furniture showed up New Year's Eve."
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He wrote an early essay on why Sudbury: "We had to stay in Ontario. We kept our phone numbers. We have grown children in Toronto and one in Sudbury, plus a grandchild here."
There was awareness of Sudbury, "and Toronto is not so far away," he adds.
"We wanted a city with a university, decent shopping, a cultural community, and high-speed internet," he added. "A teaching hospital is another nice thing. A nursing school, research, it is all here.
"Within three months, we had a vet and a family doctor. In other places, you wait years for a doctor. In smaller towns, the only way to access healthcare is to travel."
He loves the independent coffee shops in Sudbury. "I worry about Kuppajo, though. I think they are under a lot of tough pressure from the street issues."
Of course, there is a Substack devoted to Sudbury. "In the beginning, the essays were all pretty positive. We made trips to Capreol, Levack, and Chelmsford for strawberries. I see the advantages and the disadvantages. I don't expect change. We are not in bad enough shape to make the changes that are necessary."
Asked how we fix the perception of the downtown being dangerous, Marshall says: "You can't."
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He calls himself a realist when it comes to the now and the future. "Sudbury is not just the five blocks of downtown. It gets all the attention, all the money, wall murals, flower beds. Sudbury really has other downtowns, and they get nothing."
Another topic is drug addiction. "I follow the news in Seattle, Portland, Denver ... they went through waves of drugs before: opium, cocaine, heroin. Fighting crystal meth and the new drugs are more difficult. They are faster, cheaper and chemically manufactured."
Beyond the immediate impact of drugs, there is the sharing of needles that results in blood-borne diseases like AIDS transmission and Hepatitis C. The cost of paramedics, policing, and fire services in downtowns concerns Marshall.
"My essays are not just words, but photographs. I am more like Time or Life magazine. The text is just to support the images. I use my phone for photos, I hardly ever use my Nikon these days."
His collection of images is sometimes not pretty.
Marshall tried to understand the landscape of Sudbury municipal politics and administration. "I went to two city hall meetings. I was bored to death. I saw councillors who were not adequately briefed sounding off without sufficient knowledge."
Marshall says he digs deep to comprehend issues. "Whatever it is, I want to really understand it. I don't want to have a Reader's Digest version of things. Society does expect great things from older persons."
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Clearly, Marshall is not going to accept that perception and will instead keep learning and continue speaking out.
Washrooms for the homeless ruling
Holland Marshall has been at the forefront of a campaign in Sudbury to secure 24/7 public washroom access for people experiencing homelessness. His efforts included filing a human rights complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, arguing that the lack of barrier-free, round-the-clock washroom facilities in downtown Sudbury constitutes discrimination against the homeless population.
Marshall's complaint was based on the premise that the absence of such facilities causes shame, discomfort, and stress, and violates basic human dignity. He cited the United Nations' recognition of access to toilets and potable water as fundamental human rights. He also pointed out that many homeless individuals are forced to relieve themselves in public spaces due to the lack of alternatives, which has led to complaints from downtown businesses and the erection of fences around buildings to deter such activity.
Despite his advocacy and support from 21 individuals experiencing homelessness, the Tribunal dismissed the complaint in July. The decision stated that homelessness is not a protected ground under Ontario's Human Rights Code, which covers 17 grounds such as disability, race, and gender. While some of the applicants had disabilities, the Tribunal concluded that the complaint was centred on homelessness and thus fell outside its jurisdiction.
The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.
Bluesky: @sudburystar.bsky.social
X: @SudburyStar
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