The Edmonton Homelessness Commission reports that a chronically homeless person costs taxpayers $100,000 annually — but one night’s accommodation in an emergency shelter costs only $42
Some of Canada’s homeless people are being described as “frequent flyers”–people frequently picked up by emergency services and taken to hospitals or police stations, often multiple times–and the costs associated can be staggering.
The Edmonton Homeless Commission reports that a chronically homeless person costs taxpayers $100,000 annually. 1 in 5 visits by EMS/Fire was to a homeless person–and a homeless person is forty times more likely to use an emergency room in severe weather than the general population. The average length of stay in hospital if homeless is 66 days (compared to the general population average of 9.4 days). The top ten ‘frequent flyers’ to emergency rooms averaged 66 times per year. From February 2013… (more…)
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses with significant, life-threatening medical and psychiatric morbidity and mortality, regardless of an individual’s weight. Anorexia Nervosa (AN), in particular, has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. Risk of premature death is 6-12 times higher in women with AN as compared to the general population, adjusting for age. From February 2013… 
A drum circle is a rhythm-based event where people gather in a circle to express themselves with African drums and percussion instruments. A facilitator guides the session, encouraging and supporting people as they reconnect with their innate sense of rhythm. Inclusiveness is a core principle–people of all backgrounds, mobility, ages and skill levels (even first-time beginners) can participate. From January 2013… 
The beginning of February each year marks the launch of the Provincial Eating Disorders Awareness (PEDAW) campaign and National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
Demonstrations were held across the country Thursday July 25, 2013 as a growing chorus of Canadians urged the federal government to release documents related to nutritional experiments done on aboriginal children decades ago. The protests, which varied in size, were sparked by a report published earlier in the month that said 1,300 children in northern Manitoba and at six residential schools across Canada were deprived of food and used as subjects to test the effects of minerals and vitamins in the 1940s and 1950s. [