Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community - written by Maggie Helwig Coach House Books, 2025
Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community is a heartfelt reflection on the Rev. Maggie Helwig’s time as an Anglican minister at the epicentre of one of Toronto’s most visible encampments. Among the goals of this book is to give voice to the experience of the people who live in encampments and highlight how our failing system has created an impossible situation. Maggie shares some of her sermons and weaves in spiritual reflections about the experience of being a caregiver, minister and community leader, navigating ethics, bureaucracy and power.
This makes a fantastic book club read and provides a good insight into parts of the homelessness crisis that doesn’t make it into the news. The following are some questions that will ensure there is no shortage of reflection and discussion:
• What did this book highlight that is not being represented in the media? What was new for you?
• How does the book portray the relationship between the housed world and the unhoused world?
• How does the book portray the impact of encampments on people’s sense of identity, dignity, or humanity?
• What does the account suggest encampments take away from people—and what, if anything, do they give in return?
• What does the book say about the concept of “Moral Injury”? How are people put in a position where they are forced to act in a way that is contrary to
their value system?
• Did the book change the way you think about encampments, homelessness, poverty, or social responsibility? If so, how?
• What does the book have to say about grief, loss and hope?
• Why might this be important when we think about encampments?
I read this book as part of the Housing Book Club hosted by the Canadian Housing Renewal Association. While I read the paper copy, others said that the audio book was wonderful, as Maggie herself narrates and sings the hymns.
