MY MOTHER NAMED ME SUNSHINE

Personal advocacy and information sharing website of Regan Sunshine Brusse,

Current Site focus: Affordable Housing, Homelessness, and Unsheltered Lives

Where our Federal and Provincial aids hold gaps, we must persist. Where our local government needs time to change, we must loudly be patient. Loudly, so they feel our support for change. Loudly so they may know our desires and evolve towards them.

Because we do evolve, and in this moment, I'm thinking, we are.

Our world and lives are all in their own variants of chaos. So let's come together on the smaller levels to assure each others care. With innovation, transparency & willingness there is a beautiful way through this all.

Some of my more recent Thoughts and Ramblings:

Community & Health Services Committee - May 6, 2025

PECH Mid-Year Update - Region of Waterloo

View PAge

Video to the left, of full meeting, is set to preview a councillor comment, also quoted below. Additional information about this meeting and topic can be accessed using the button above.

"I understand there are some co-creators that are quite upset about the bylaw and how that was rolled out, and so I wonder if you could speak to what is being done to repair some of those relationships or what we might be abe to do to help foster that repair as well?"

Councillor Chantal Huinink

REgion of Waterloo Council Meeting &
Proposed BYLAW RE: 100 victoria
Being held April 23, 2025

View Meeting page

Nickles and Dimes: Seeking Change

(& Trying to somehow make cents of it all)

some initial thoughts
RE: 100 Victoria proposed Bylaw

Published April 18, 2025

Until this bylaw becomes a bylaw, it remains a choice.

We still have the opportunity to shift our approach to better reflect the current work, available tools, and most importantly, heart of this community. In this spirit, could we not instead bring this conversation back to the Region-selected experts within the PECH functions before solidifying an approach that risks causing further communal harm?

a little bit of background before delving in
RE: 100 Victoria proposed Bylaw

Before I get into specific aspects and share more of my thoughts on the proposed bylaw, I’d like to offer some background to help provide context for a few of the points I’ll be raising within these.

read part 1

General topic history related to regional encampment policy, as passed by council December 15, 2021. (and a few other ramblings)

read part 2

The Plan to End Chronic Homelessness (PECH) & Regional Code of Use Bylaw 13-050

read Part 3

The Valente Decision - Court ruling on 100 Victoria, A Human Rights based approach, Point In Time Count Data, and Unsheltered Campaign Candidate Pledge

Visit Fightback! KW's Website HERE
(Above image source)

Open Letter (to Region of Waterloo CAO):
Seeking aid for Unsheltered people in face of current Extreme Weather Crisis

As sent by email January 29. 2025 (PM/After Office Hours)

Dear CAO of The Region of Waterloo,

We’re reaching out to discuss the dire situation taking place currently for our unsheltered Waterloo Region community members.

It is cold outside, with wind chill factors posing an undeniable risk. The potential for harm clearly increases when an individual faces little to no relief from the extreme weather elements at play.

While municipal policy contains responses intended to be enabled in times of communal duress, this policy contains substantial gaps....

Sign the Petition:

Click the image below to vist Change.org where you can add your name
to this message too!

January 2025: Extreme Weather & Relief Needs

January 21, 2025

It’s difficult for me to view our failure to adequately and quickly respond to the extreme weather our unsheltered community members are currently facing as anything but negligent..

We have the tools to address situations of community risk, yet the municipality is right now failing to use them. This is a choice - one that directly impacts the wellbeing of others.

It’s brutally cold right now....

Continue Reading...

To our municipal leaders:

I urge you to step up and protect our community members who are at risk from this weather.

This crisis demands a response—and it must happen NOW. The province’s failure to act and offer proper support does not absolve us of our own responsibility.

There are community members at risk, people who cannot afford to wait. We must act before someone pays for the cost of our non action with their life.

The Region of Waterloo has committed to a Human Rights approach in addition to its Housing First approach. This approach includes providing relief from the elements, among other basic needs.

We must activate emergency responses immediately to ensure this need is being met. The disproportionate level of potential impact those without the insulation of a brick and mortar home are facing from this current weather is enormous. The "list" of potential consequences being faced for some people right now include possible death or loss of limb.

We have surpassed our ability to handle the volume of #unsheltered supports needed, and the need continues to grow. Supports continue to do their best to manage despite being exhausted and overwhelmed.

This is an emergency in the strictest political sense. This is an emergency by both Provincial Act and local policy definition.

This is also a human rights issue.

Right now, we are failing to meet the basic needs known to be required for human survival, all while being fully aware of the risks associated with our inaction.

I urge you to step up and protect our community members who are at risk from this weather immediately.