Luisa D’Amato

Waterloo

Columnist at The Waterloo Region Record

Columnist at Waterloo Region Record.

Featured in: Favicon

therecord.com Favicon

thestar.com Favicon

thespec.com Favicon

guelphmercury.com Favicon

stcatharinesstandard.ca Favicon

thepeterboroughexaminer.com Favicon

niagarafallsreview.ca Favicon

mississauga.com Favicon

wellandtribune.ca Favicon

niagarathisweek.com + 8 more

Articles

Before he died, one of the founders of the Prime Ministers statue project wrote me a letter. Here’s what it says

Jan 22, 2025 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

Before Jim Rodger died, he wrote me a letter. He didn’t have time to finish it before pancreatic cancer took him in May 2024. His widow, Alison, shared the letter with me this week. With her permission, I’m sharing parts of it with you. Rodger was a retired high school principal, an art lover, and a founder of the Prime Ministers Path project, which aimed to create statues of all Canada’s prime ministers as a focal point for research and discussion.
‘The middle class thought they were safe. They’re not, anymore’

Jan 16, 2025 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

It’s like having a trap door open underneath you. You’re managing OK, in your affordable older apartment that’s protected by rent control. But then, you get a notice from the landlord that you have to move out, because extensive renovations are planned. You can’t afford the rents anywhere else, because rent control doesn’t apply to new tenants moving in, or newer builidings.
The homelessness crisis is too big for municipalities to face alone

Jan 12, 2025 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

We’re in trouble. A new report on homelessness, released by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, reveals three frightening points that tell the story:There were 81,515 homeless people across Ontario in 2024, a 25-per-cent increase from 2022. Nearly a quarter of those were children or youth. That’s bad, but it could get a lot worse, very quickly — in 10 years, if the economy takes a downturn, the reports estimates there might be almost 295,000 people in the province who would be homeless.
Budget pressures in Wilmot are causing bad behaviour

Jan 9, 2025 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

Wilmot councillors are under tremendous pressure as they contemplate an unconscionable tax hike. And it’s beginning to show. To their credit, councillors have been hosting town hall meetings so that the public can give their input and ask questions about the 51 per cent property tax hike that is proposed by staff. Hundreds of residents, many of them angry and anxious, have been attending. Then, last Saturday, Coun.
School trustees must face the public at a town hall meeting

Jan 7, 2025 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

Is jeewan chanicka still influencing decisions at the Waterloo Region District School Board, or isn’t he? We don’t have a clear answer about the former education director of the public board, whose employment was terminated late last year following an internal human resources investigation. At the time of his departure, chanicka (who spells his name in all lower-case letters) still had 18 months to go in his contract. Scott Miller has been placed in the role on an interim basis.
Wilmot’s budget troubles didn’t happen overnight

Dec 10, 2024 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

A property tax increase of more than 50 per cent in one year is a nightmare for elected officials in Wilmot, and the people they represent. But it didn’t happen in just one year. Just as a roof on a house that is left too long eventually gets holes in it that let in the rain, the blame for Wilmot’s financial troubles belongs much more to former elected officials than it does to the current crop of councillors.
People who are homeless are not the problem

Dec 8, 2024 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has his folksy side, and he has his heartless side. It used to be that people who were homeless could decide if they wanted to be in a shelter or if they preferred to live “rough” in a tent. In Waterloo Region, vulnerable individuals would pitch tents out of sight, often in wooded areas or other places where they wouldn’t be seen.
‘Is it my fault for being a girl?’ Spoken-word poet commemorates 35th anniversary of Montreal Massacre at Kitchener event

Dec 6, 2024 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

It has been 35 years since the massacre of 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, and yet women are still afraid when they walk the streets. On Friday morning, at an event organized by the YW Kitchener-Waterloo, there was art, words of remembrance, and a spoken-word poem written especially for the occasion by Cambridge-based author Donnique Williams.
‘We’ve let this go too long:’ Is Waterloo Region losing the battle against homelessness?

Dec 3, 2024 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

More than 1,800 people in Waterloo Region have no roof over their heads, not even at a shelter. Are we losing the battle against homelessness? That includes people in shelters, but there are only about 550 shelter spaces in the region. This means more than 1,800 people are living in tents, or vehicles, or are asking friends if they can sleep on their couch for one more night, or have no shelter at all.
To stop gendered violence, boys and men need to be on board

Nov 29, 2024 | newhamburgindependent.ca | Luisa D’Amato

Almost 93 per cent of gendered violence incidents are perpetrated by men — but men are also essential to be part of the solution, an anti-violence advocate said Friday. Men are badly needed as allies in the battle against gendered violence, he told a group of people at an educational event. Landon Kenney, a male allyship educator working with the Sexual Assault Support Centre, told an audience of about 35 people that boys and men are expected to try to be “tough” and dominant.