"5 out of 5 stars. A Knapsack Full of Dreams is a cogent, genuine nursing memoir straight from the front lines of social justice...an eloquent case for political nursing."
-Foreword Clarion Review

A Knapsack Full of Dreams: Memoirs of a Street Nurse

"My nurse hands once did more useful things. They immunized the fat, healthy thighs of infants, they carefully measured cardiac drugs to administer to young heart patients, they bathed both the elderly lady after her surgery and the 24-year-old Italian-Canadian woman after her death. My hands once mixed linseed poultices, rubbed twenty backs a night before darkness fell and, by flashlight, checked intravenous drips, catheters, and other tubing. They made hot milk in the middle of the night and then, later at home, soothed a child with too-frequent earaches.

These are good uses for hands.

Now they carry a black bag into streets, alleyways, and ravines. The bandages I carry no longer cover the wounds of my patients. My vitamins will not prevent the white plague of tuberculosis from taking another victim. The granola bars I carry cannot begin to feed the hunger I meet. I cannot even help someone achieve one peaceful night of safety and sleep. Only roofs will do that. And I am not a carpenter."

There is no right to shelter or housing in Canada.

Over the past three decades, a series of federal governments cut funding for social programs and eliminated our national housing program, leaving hundreds of thousands of people victim to the tsunami of homelessness that was declared a national disaster twenty years ago. No one knows this reality better than Cathy Crowe, who witnessed the explosion of homelessness across Canada while working as a Street Nurse. This fallout was accompanied by great suffering, inhumane shelter conditions, new disease outbreaks, and clusters of homeless deaths.

It is a reality that spans across the entire country.

In A Knapsack Full of Dreams, Cathy Crowe details her lifelong commitment as a nurse and social justice activist—particularly her thirty years as a Street Nurse—with passion, grace, and fortitude. Presented through the lens of someone dedicated to the power and beauty of film, A Knapsack Full of Dreams will move you, then inspire you to act.​

Buy your copy

Purchase your copy of A Knapsack Full of Dreams in person at these Toronto bookstores:

Another Story: anotherstory.ca
Spacing: spacingstore.ca
​Queen Books: queenbooks.ca
​And Chapters/Indigo across Toronto
You can also purchase A Knapsack Full of Dreams from the book producer, FriesenPress, now and from most major online retailers and ebook platforms. 

Now for the lowest price
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Reviews
"By sharing inspiring tales of battles won by collective action against poor public policy, Cathy powerfully articulates the connection between health and governmental(in)action with real accounts of what happens when vital programs are cut.

Cathy’s energy and spirit is felt throughout the pages of this book... She takes the reader on an emotional journey and generously shares key learnings with fascinating insights and anecdotes along the way."
​-Leigh Chapman and Roxie Danielson,
​'Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse'

***

"5 out of 5 stars. A Knapsack Full of Dreams is a cogent, genuine nursing memoir straight from the front lines of social justice...an eloquent case for political nursing."
-Foreword Clarion Review

***

“Cathy Crowe grew up aspiring to be a good hospital nurse like her mother, but ended up doing ‘hard political nursing’ on Toronto’s streets. Her tale is powerful and affecting, and reminds us of the gross injustice we’ve committed as a society in leaving so many people without a home.”
 -Linda McQuaig, journalist & author

***

“A remarkable memoir that captures, with true heart and soul, the tribulations and hopes that mark every day and night in the lives of the homeless. The life of Cathy Crowe shines through as a testimony of grit, commitment, and love for all humanity—especially the most vulnerable.”
-Miloon Kothari, Former Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, UN Human Rights Council

***

“Cathy Crowe’s reporting from the streets of Toronto and beyond is vivid. This deeply personal journey through housing and health policy is both despairing and hopeful. A must-read if you care about cities.”
-Shawn Micallef, Author, Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness; Toronto Star columnist, co-founder Spacing Magazine

***

“A Knapsack Full of Dreams is a gift of raw lived experience, analysis, and history. Cathy’s vulnerable, reflective account of her journey evokes a sense of the dynamic and influential capacity nurses can have to champion social good. This memoir is a powerful call to action for all nurses, nursing students, and educators; a lesson in tenacity, advocacy, and translating theory to practice.”
-Hannah Stahl, Co-founder of Nursing Students for Social Justice

***

“Fearless Cathy Crowe’s activism memoir reveals how a devotion to nursing and film, inspired her to be become a leading social change advocate in Canada, determined to fight homelessness. Read this book and create your own social change journey.”
​-Professor Myer Siemiatycki, Politics Department, Inaugural Jack Layton Chair, Ryerson University

***

"A Knapsack Full of Dreams chronicles the heartbreaks, intimate conversations, and the indomitable spirit of one of Canada’s greatest homelessness advocates. Cathy Crowe is a truth seeker and speaker. Read this book to understand what it truly means to never give up on the dreams of pursuing a just world—no matter what the personal cost.”  
-Kristyn Wong-Tam, Human Rights Activist and Toronto City Councillor ​

***

"[A Knapsack Full of Dreams is] the property of all those who ask why destitution is allowed to exist alongside great wealth and want to challenge and defeat this great injustice. Cathy’s book should be read by all those who share this objective. "
-John Clarke, writer and retired organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)

​***

"Crowe writes persuasively and with conviction, offering both a useful historical analysis of the housing crisis and a rousing call to action. A Knapsack Full of Dreams will move you to think about what you can do to speak out in support of the right to housing, however small."
-Maytree Foundation, www.maytree.com
Produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.

Cathy's stories, in her words

Listen to Cathy Crowe talk about Memoirs of a Street Nurse on The Art of Resistance
(broadcast from CIUT89.5FM studios at the University of Toronto.)
Check out the interview below from 2002 for some of the stories revealed in A Knapsack Full of Dreams.
Follow Cathy Crowe on social...