When Rev. Maggie Helwig was fielding phone calls on Wednesday, congratulations had given way to commiserations and condolences. Article content

“Everyone wants me to be the public face of homelessness in Ontario right now, apparently,” said Helwig, a writer, social-justice activist and ordained Anglican priest. Article content Article content

Last week, Helwig won the Toronto Book Award for Encampment: Resistance, Grace and an Unhoused Community, her account of the fight to keep open the grounds of St-Stephen-in-the-Fields Anglican Church, the parish in Kensington Market where she has been the rector since 2013.

Just days after the award, the City of Toronto informed Helwig of its plans to clear the homeless from the church’s grounds. According to Toronto Fire Services, “combustible

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