News

Hunger draws people in but once they are there they can access job training and a host of other social services

(Joanna Smith, The Toronto Star, April 18, 2008) She showed up because she was hungry, but once the local food bank filled her bag with groceries, it moved on to changing her life.

"She was at home and she was suffering from panic attacks," Angella Pieter, now a program facilitator at the Yonge Street Mission in Toronto, said in an interview yesterday.

National Poverty Plan Hearings Begin

OTTAWA – Members of Parliament beginning historic hearings into a national poverty plan heard a poem from North Bay schoolchildren Thursday on how being poor excludes them from what so many of their friends enjoy.

"I do not necessarily think that simply getting tougher when it comes to these kinds of behaviour and simply providing for minimum mandatory sentences is actually going to do the trick."

Lack of definition means you can't craft programs targeted at the poor, advocates tell public hearing.

(The Toronto Star, April 16, 2008) The federal government should hurry up and define poverty so it can move on to doing something about it, said witnesses at a parliamentary committee laying the foundation for a national poverty strategy yesterday.

MPs are hearing the latest research on the extent of poverty in Canada, both the number of poor and the depth of poverty among some groups. Here is that research.
FEDERAL CONTRIBUTION TO REDUCING POVERTY IN CANADA:
OVERVIEW OF POVERTY IN CANADA

A. Key Facts About Poverty in Canada

(By Alana Toulin The Chronicle-Journal, April 13, 2008) After spending the morning touring the city and visiting local hotspots like the Country Market, Layton, accompanied by federal NDP candidates John Rafferty and Bruce Hyer, held an impromptu news conference held at the Street Reach Ministries on Simpson Street on Saturday afternoon.

Originally slated to take place at the Underground Gym, which was closed for the weekend since the owner was in Toronto, the second locale turned out to be just fine.

Sault Ste. Marie – Sault Ste. Marie MP Tony Martin issued an open letter to the Ontario Minister of the Environment, John Gerretsen, to request that a ‘Certificate of Approval’ be withheld by the Ministry until Algoma Steel Inc. installs a baghouse on blast furnaces Number 6 and 7.

Algoma Steel Inc. will be making a request of the Ministry of the Environment in the very near future for a ‘Certificate of Approval’ to operate the refurbished blast furnace #6 without a baghouse, while continuing to operate #7 without a baghouse as well.

Excerpt from last Thursday, April 10 first day of HUMA poverty plan hearings.. This is an exchange between Tony and a government HRSDC official, Frank Fedyk. this is followed by a brief exchange with Sheila Regehr, NCW.

Mr. Tony Martin: Just a couple of short questions....

I've heard all of your reports, and the populations most at risk, and I call it the face of poverty, but none of you referred to female. I know it's inferred and it's there, like lone parent is. Is that for some reason?

OTTAWA – The NDP’s Opposition Motion being debated in Parliament today condemns the Conservative government’s fiscal agenda that sees billions of dollars going to corporate tax giveaways while working families and middle class pay an increasing share of government services.

“Sault Ste. Marie Algoma sees the devastating consequences of these unbalanced fiscal policies. Money is not available to resolve the healthcare crisis including investing in homecare and long-term care,” said Sault MP Tony Martin.

A parliamentary committee is setting out to establish the framework for a national poverty strategy

(Richard Brennan, The Toronto Star, April 4 2008) A parliamentary committee is setting out to establish the framework for a national poverty strategy by meeting with groups and individuals across Canada already doing their bit to help the poor.

The Human Resources and Social Development Committee decided yesterday it is high time for a plan, which would ultimately require federal government approval, to tackle the growing problem.