0:19  
In 2013, there were about 3000 people reported to be homeless in Toronto. Among those people, Doug Hess was one of them. None of his family members knew why he ended up on the streets and they didn't even know that he was homeless at all. But eventually, his daughter Laura found out the truth. A year later, Doug was found dead in a motel room.

0:48  
Police officer came to my door and he told me that they found my dad's body. And it was something that I sort of expected, but it was really also so shocking, because I knew for about a year that he was homeless. And it gave me that like really bad anxiety because I was constantly worried about him, constant thinking about him. Is he eating as well? Is he healthy. Is he, you know are people being violent towards him is like, is he begging for change on the street? It was like every day I would wake up and every single person on the street would trigger me heavily. So when he when I got that police officer coming to my door that was an equal amount of like devastation and relief and just I can't describe it.

1:27  
Although she's still grieves over her father's death, Laura was inspired to do more for people like Doug. She started the t-shirt company Inclusive Love Apparel, to help spread a more positive and inclusive message on homelessness. Her shirts say Toronto loves everybody.

1:46  
It was a play on the peace collective Toronto vs. Everybody shirts. I just really didn't agree with the messag and I thought that that's just didn't represent Toronto. Sometimes when I when I try to describe the shirts somebody and why they matter, it's because if you if you really break down what everybody means, when you say Toronto versus everybody, break it down, say everybody means LGBTQ groups. It means homeless groups. It means people of color, it means everything. It means your whole community. So when you're saying Toronto versus everybody, it's literally you saying Toronto does not accept this and does not accept these groups. It's those subtle messages that we need to actually pay attention to because those matter.

2:24  
Majority of the proceeds from each shirt goes to Eva's Initiatives, a foundation that provides a safe space for 123 homeless youth every night. Laura decided to partner with Eva's after another clothing brand called Homeless Toronto exploited the organization.

2:46  
They basically made clothes that looked like what homeless people would wear on the streets, so it was ripped and ragged shirts, they were dirty and bleached. There was tin cup mugs that said change please. There was shirts that said homeless on it. It was really, really, really insulting and they had claimed that they were giving all their proceeds to Eva's Initiatives, which is a youth shelter. And they weren't because Eva's came out and they came forward. They said, we have no idea what what they're talking about because we would never align ourselves with a brand that was so stigmatic towards homeless people and feeding into the culture that we are trying to prevent. When I saw that I was really, really, really upset and really angry. But then I was like, how can I turn the situation into a positive one? So I reached out to Eva's Initiatives and I was like, how can I help? So I'm trying to like, see how many clothing companies and stores out there I can get to, to sell my shirts and then not take any profit to see if I could?

3:57  
Inclusive Love Apparel is slowly growing and gaining more attention, but Laura never forgets why she started it all.

4:06  
I keep my dad in the back of my mind every single day. And with every single decision that I make is like what I make my father proud? What I make, you know would I shame him or what I bring, you know, how would my father feel because he's a very proud man, you know? And it's not that people living on the street just all of a sudden don't have pride. You know, they're human beings. So how can we bring pride to people that are in just in a situation where it's hard to be proud of it?

4:32  
Although the shirts are designed specifically to Toronto, Laura hopes to spread her message all over Canada. One day, she hopes to sell a shirt that says Vancouver loves everybody.

4:47  
I want to expand. I've already, you know, trademarked a bunch of different major places in Canada that I want to go to. And I have started with like I have, you know, friends that have clothing companies in let's say, Vancouver, and Calgary, Saskatchewan, those places. And I would really love to go into those populations where you know, especially Vancouver where there is a high high high population of homeless people and addicts, I would really love to expand over there and to push that over there. So that's my next move is expanding within Canada and focusing on other cities basically that have these same kind of issues.

5:25  
Today, Laura is only 26 years old and showing no signs of slowing down. She helps to promote love and positivity, not only through her company, but through everything she does in her day to day life.