Anti-poverty activists crashed a Toronto pop-up restaurant Friday night that promised luxurious dinners in heated glass domes near the site of a former homeless camp.
For a minimum of $550, guests at 鈥淒inner With A View鈥� enjoy a three-course meal prepared by former 鈥淭op Chef Canada鈥� winner Rene Rodriguez, while seated in terrarium-like domes. The event is located in an area under the city鈥檚 Gardiner Expressway known as the 鈥淏entway,鈥� close to where city officials removed a large homeless encampment on March 13.
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) says it鈥檚 opposed to the heated, terrarium-like domes placed for diners near the area where homeless people were evicted after struggling to survive all winter. That鈥檚 why activists staged a free counter-event Friday called 鈥淒inner With A View Of The Rich.鈥�
鈥淚n our city, homeless people living under the Gardiner with no heat are evicted, meanwhile pop-up restaurants serving luxury dinners in heated domes under that same highway are granted permits. The brazenness in our opinion begs a challenge and we鈥檙e happy to oblige,鈥� Yogi Acharya, event organizer and activist with OCAP, said in an interview with CTVNews.ca.
The domes are temporary and will be removed once the event ends in May. Protesters brought noisemakers such as drums and speakers and were as loud and lively as possible in an effort to disrupt the diners.
But Acharya wants to make it clear that OCAP鈥檚 鈥渂eef鈥� is with the City of Toronto, Mayor John Tory and his backers. Activists said they want the city to stop closing down respite sites without adequate replacements and they want officials to build more shelters so that people don鈥檛 have to sleep in tents under the Gardiner. OCAP also wants the city to buy land and create more rent-geared-to-income housing.
Dinner With A View responded in a public post stating they were familiar with OCAP鈥檚 plans to protest.
鈥淲e are very sympathetic to Toronto鈥檚 homelessness crisis for sure, but please understand that there were no encampments removed to make room for this event. The encampment removal was approximately 2 kilometres away and we were committed to our location nearly a month before this happened,鈥� a spokesperson with Dinner with a View said in an interview with CTVNews.ca.
The same spokesperson said both the venue and the dining event are independently run.
鈥淒inner with a View is an independent organized event. Our venue, the Bentway, is run by an independent charity and is also not an agency of the City of Toronto. Events like ours generate funds that allow the Bentway to offer free, low-cost programming for the entire year,鈥� the spokesperson said.
鈥淲e for sure respect the right to protest, I just ask that people please respect our patrons and our staff.鈥�
The pop-up was prepared for the protest by having police present and putting a tarp on their fence to hide the domes. Protesters destroyed the fence around the pop-up in an effort to expose the diners. Police patrolled the barrier and stopped anyone from trying to pull down the tarp, climb in or throw things into the event.
Protesters yelled 鈥渟hame on you鈥� at every guest walking in or out of the pop-up event. They were also chanting, 鈥渆at the rich, feed the poor鈥� and holding up signs that said things like 鈥渂uild shelter and social housing.鈥�
A representative from the pop-up declined to comment during the protest.
