My life has changed a lot since I created this page. I went through an eviction due to an abusive, manipulative landlady, who came over unannounced multiple times. One time she moved our possessions outside the house. Another time she fabricated a scene by taking her clothes off, screaming at us that she lives there and that we are trespassing and had her daughter call the police stating we were assaulting them. First, she said we don't live there, then she said we do live there but were not paying her rent, and then she said we were paying her but she was refusing to accept it. This was said to the police officers when they arrived at the scene. I captured the whole event on my cellphone. The police sided with us thankfully, and told the landlady not to return to the house. So what does she do instead? She sends some men over to the house who threatened to kill us. After all of this, we went to the Landlord and Tenant Tribunal, where the landlady's lawyer continued to spew her lies. That was the final straw for us, and at the recommendation of our Legal Aid lawyer, we moved.
I ended up dropping out of school and losing my scholarship money due to these issues. I ended up having to go back on methadone (from suboxone) because I wanted to start using again because of these issues. This lady ruined most of the progress I was making in my life, much of which revolved around my PTSD and social anxiety, increasing my overall depression and suicidal thoughts. Even though our last interaction was around 6 months ago, it continues to affect me. This post has taken me a few hours to write, as I keep rereading it over and over again. My emotions spike and crash through my window of tolerance, to the point my body cannot handle it anymore and I end up falling asleep. There is much more to the situation, but it bothers me too much to want to share anymore. I am only now understanding how much mental health can affect physical health. I will never forgive nor forget what she did to us. I must find out a way to heal from these events.
A couple positives that came out of the situation: 1) I learned a lot about Landlord and Tenant Rights/Responsibilities. 2) I joined a few Tenant Rights Organizations, and it has completely changed my perspectives on landlords in our society. 3) The situation reignited the activism flame inside of me. Hopefully, I can prevent things like this happening to myself as well as other people.
One of my roommates and I were able to find an apartment with a much better landlord, in a much safer neighbourhood, but the downfall is that it is even more expensive than the slum we were previously living in. It was one of the cheapest apartments I was able to find, but every month, I have to dig into my savings, which I am nearly out of (again):😞. I do not think I will be able to sustain this for another year... All of my money first goes to rent, then to the bills that I have (bank, phone, wifi, etc). All of my food comes from food banks or is grown by myself, my neighbours or other community gardeners. An extremely small percentage goes to grocery stores: I may buy some bananas every now and then, and in the summertime, I would treat myself to Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream. That ended up filling the void of my late-night addiction, which is a much better choice than the drugs and alcohol that used to occupy the timeslot...
To go along with my move (I have moved at least 12 times in the past 15 years), the government has denied me ODSP for a third time, which means I have to appeal their decision. Thankfully, Legal Aid is supporting me. They say that this is not uncommon for the government to continually deny people, as they do it in the hopes that people just give up...
For years, multiple doctors and health professionals have been telling me that I should be on ODSP. Many have written letters of support for me, yet the government still denies my claim. It keeps affecting my mental health and I am slowly whittling away at my financial savings.
This is an ongoing issue for many people in Ontario, not just myself. You would think the government would want people to better themselves so that they can eventually get off social assistance, but that is not what I have experienced. It is as if these systems were intentionally created to keep people at the bottom, forcing desperate people to make bad decisions which lead to a jail cell or a grave. This is what happens when corrupt politicians do what is in the best interest of corporations as opposed to their citizens...
I have tried to write a post about what has been happening in my life multiple times over the past year, but it has been extremely difficult. The landlady tried to scam us and now I understand why it is so hard for people, who are being scammed or who have been scammed, to share their situation with others.
A week or two after I made this "Buy Me A Coffee" page is when everything started popping off... I wanted to keep people informed and up to date about what was going on in my life, but it was too painful. Even now I find it difficult to share, but I do so in hopes of inspiring others to share what they are going through. These predators do not want us to share our stories, but I think it is extremely important that we do, and that we take a stand together. We need to shift the power dynamic away from these massive corporations, governments, and people in positions of power who abuse their authority, and put it back into the hands of the people.
Together, we are stronger!
❤️ 🤲 💪🤲 ❤️
If you made it this far, I really appreciate you taking the time to read my post. I will continue to learn from my experiences, grow my mindset and continue spreading information and positive vibes.
PS: I have a dozen or so jars of chili peppers fermenting and will be making some hot sauces soon. I appreciate any advice, tips, tricks, solutions or suggestions that you may have and would like to share with me. They are more than welcome. I will start sharing my progress with some videos and posts.
Thank you again for all of your support.
Much Love,
Pete, Peter and/or Petey