Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Crowe, Cathy
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1952-present
History
Cathy Crowe is a long-time Street Nurse in Toronto. She has worked in the area of homelessness since 1988.
Cathy obtained her diploma in nursing from Toronto General Hospital in 1972, her Bachelor of Applied Arts in Nursing from Ryerson in 1985, and her Masters of Education (Sociology) from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 1992. In 1998 she co-founded the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) which declared homelessness a National Disaster. The disaster campaign is a three level campaign targeting federal, provincial and municipal solutions to the homeless disaster and housing crisis. Its signature 1% slogan refers to the demand that all levels of government commit an additional 1% of their budgets to affordable housing.
Cathy has received a number of awards including an International Human Rights Award in Nursing in Amsterdam from the International Centre for Nursing Ethics in 2003 and in 2018 Cathy received the Order of Canada. She has also been the recipient of many honourary degrees: in June 2001 an Honourary Doctor of Science in Nursing from the University of Victoria in British Columbia; in June, 2005 an Honourary Doctor of Laws from McMaster University in Hamilton; in 2008 an Honourary Doctorate of the University from the University of Ottawa; in June 2010, an Honourary Doctorate of Laws from York University (Canada); in June 2015, an Honourary Doctor of Laws from the University of Windsor; and in 2021 an Honourary Doctor of Laws from the Law Union of Ontario.
From 2004-2009 she was the recipient of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation’s Economic Justice Award and worked both locally and nationally on issues related to homelessness. During her fellowship she authored Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out (Between the Lines, 2007). She was the Executive Producer of Home Safe Calgary and Home Safe Toronto, a national documentary film and community development project on homeless families and children, with filmmaker Laura Sky. Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) appointed Cathy Crowe Distinguished Visiting Practitioner in 2013 and she is currently situated in the Faculty of Arts, Politics and Public Administration Department.
At Toronto Metropolitan University Cathy collaborated with the Jack Layton Chair to launch the Jack Layton School for Youth Leadership, and launched Community Health and Social Justice Walks for students from across the University.
Her most recent books include "A Knapsack Full of Dreams. Memoirs of a Street Nurse" (Friesen Press, 2019) and "Displacement City. Fighting for Health and Homes in a Pandemic" (UofT Press with Greg Cook).
More info is available on her website www.cathycrowe.ca