June 27, 1996: The court melted when they saw my 8 months pregnant landlady and I knew I was screwed

Thirty years ago today

            Thursday was the day of my court appearance to fight my eviction from my apartment 111 Sheridan Avenue. Raven was kind enough to appear in court with me as a witness to dispute the complaints made by my landlords Helga Schlatter and Peter Bird, with whom I shared the kitchen. Raven and I were there early and so I saw the effect on the court when Helga walked in, eight months pregnant. She and Peter looked like Little House on the Prairie and the whole court melted when they saw her. I noticed the judge and all the other court officials smiling when they saw her and I knew right then that I was screwed. It didn’t matter to the judge that Helga had snuck into my apartment to take photos of my space heater, which I’d left on in the winter because Helga and Peter refused to turn on the furnace. When I was writing I often crumpled up discarded drafts into balls and threw them on the floor. Helga showed pictures she’d taken at floor level to make it look like the balls of paper were very close to the heater. She also presented pictures of some food that I’d let go bad in the fridge. Who the hell doesn’t have something that’s going bad in the fridge? She claimed that I’d damaged a baking pan of hers by playing with it in the yard with my daughter but I had an identical pan to hers and it was my pan that I’d dented, and I still have it. She claimed my daughter was poorly behaved (which is ironic considering that the child she gave birth to grew up to be a murderer). She presented a letter from someone who spent the night with her and Peter confirming that my friends and I were loud. Helga gave a dramatic performance to express how much stress I had caused her and while she was emoting I could see the court stenographer giving me the evil eye. I was shocked when Judge B. Wright wouldn’t even let me present Raven as a witness. He just said, “I’ve heard enough. You are a very bad tenant!” He ruled that I had to vacate the premises by the end of July. I was very upset but was grateful to have had Raven’s support. 

            It probably would have been a different result if I’d been able to get legal aid but 1996 was the worst year for Legal Aid in Ontario history. Ontario Premier Mike Harris had slaughtered the budgets for a lot of social programs but especially Legal Aid.