A Submission from the not-for-profit group Wipe Out Poverty in Niagara
On Wednesday, May 22, 2013, the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network (NPRN) will be hosting the Wipe Out Poverty in Niagara Call to Action Launch at the Welland Community Wellness Complex from 8:30am – 10am. You are invited to be a part of the community action working together to wipe out poverty across Niagara.
Join us and take a closer look at the growing poverty issues in the Niagara Region and discuss the options we have as a community to cultivate change and wipe it out. There are four things we know about poverty in Niagara that guide the way we address it and the steps we take to reduce it: Poverty is a complex problem with interlocking causes and effects and solutions must also be interlocking, comprehensive, and preventative. We absolutely must address income to address poverty. Poverty is an individual experience and the whole community’s problem. Poverty comes with a price tag. These four facts help to frame the call to action that will be shared May 22.
“The cost of the consequences of poverty in Niagara is estimated to be $1.38 Billion per year” says Judy Reid, Manager, Community Projects, Business Education Council of Niagara, “it’s important for the community to recognize that this affects everyone, not just those experiencing a rough patch.”
There are many ways you can get involved in the quest to wipe out poverty in Niagara as an individual, educator, business, faith group, health care professional or service club. Join us at the launch and learn how to be part of the solution.
JOIN US
Wipe Out Poverty in Niagara Call to Action Launch
Wednesday, May 22 from 8:30am-10am at The Welland Community Wellness Complex .
For more information about the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network and how you can help, visit wipeoutpoverty.ca .
(Niagara At Large invites you to join in the conversation by sharing your views on the content of this post below. For reasons of transparency and promoting civil dialogue, NAL only posts comments from individuals who share their first and last name with their views.)
Niagara At Large 
First thing that needs to be done is to wipe out the shame and the stereotyping of people who are poor and on social assistance. Because of a few welfare cheats, people who need to get help are reluctant because they fear the judgment of their neighbours and the community at large. I have seen it and lived it. It’s not coming from the wonderful people who assist the poor; it comes from those righteous ones who think that anyone who is out of work is a slacker. In the small town in which I live, there are no secrets. Many, including myself, have been publicly harassed for being on social services. It becomes political if someone who is on social services dares to speak out about anything. Like the poor have no voice. Get rid of that discrimination and you might be able to tackle the larger issue.
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These organizations do not tend to invite people with lived experience in their leadership roles. If they did, they might have more solution-focused strategies about reducing and eliminating poverty. For example, there was one group here — not this one but a previous one — that thought it would be a great idea to merge Ontario Works and ODSP, which everybody I spoke to who is on ODSP or has family on it, absolutely does NOT want and for good reasons. To me, it is also hypocritical to have directors of agencies that earn well above the average salary speaking “for the poor”. I think poor folks need more opportunities to speak for themselves and to direct organizations like this in a way that is more supportive and focused directly on their self-identified needs. However, I also agree with Sharon above that the stigma against the poor is there and we need to collectively battle it, whether online, through the media or in our own neighbourhoods. However, I do disagree in that many of the poor bashers, per se, are people that volunteer for many of these same agencies that are set up to “serve” the poor. Unfortunately, they bring their bad attitudes with them to these agencies and those in charge of these agencies are not always aware of how they deal with people or how they act online. I have brought a few of them to the attention of the very agencies they volunteer for and have yet to hear anything about what happened. We as a community need to develop a zero tolerance for these kinds of attacks and attitudes that seem so prevalent among many. To me, what is the difference if somebody says something about “people on welfare” and making a derogatory statement about this group of people, than if this same person used the same reference using the same words, except for “Jewish people”, “African Canadians”, “gays/lesbians”, etc.? Or is some kinds of prejudice and hateful remarks acceptable, while others aren’t?
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