About 30 people came out to the HJA Brown Education Centre in Mississauga on Friday morning, December 12 to a presentation of the Blueprint by Marvyn Novick and Peter Clutterbuck. This was the 27th presentation and discussion of the Blueprint since the tour started on November 12, not counting two pre-tests done in Renfrew County in the last week of October.

The event in Peel was sponsored jointly by the United Way of Peel Region and the Regional Municipality of Peel, both of which provide leadership to the Peel Poverty Reduction Committee. Adaoma Patterson, Policy Analyst with the Region of Peel welcomed the participants and introduced Peter and Marvyn.

Participants raised the following points in discussion:

• A discussion of how the Blueprint positions poverty reduction as a strategy for social inclusion in that it promotes common living standards that reduces the social distance among people within the population.
• Building affordable housing is only part of the equation for poverty reduction. We also need to deal with the affordability issue in terms of the gap between incomes and average market rents (i.e. increase the Rent-Geared-to-Income units available to low income people). This is what the housing benefit would attempt to address.
• There was a discussion of the injustice and harm caused by deducting child support payments from a mother’s OW basic needs allowance. Some fathers even go “underground” to avoid paying child support because they know it would worsens the financial situation of the mother and children if child support is paid. It was noted that in the UK a “maintenance disregard” has just been implemented which totally discounts any child support payments as additional income, thus enabling mothers to get additional support from former partners without any effect on the level of their pubic income support.
• Restructuring social assistance must also deal with changing the work culture and ensuring appropriate training and support to workers in the system. Increasing the discretion that workers have to assist OW recipients would enable them to be more responsive and creative in supporting their clients.
• There was an inquiry about some of the economic authorities advancing the economic and fiscal imperatives outlined in the Blueprint. There are Canadian economists working in this area such as Hugh Mackenzie of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. A major American authority is the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., which the Obama administration is drawing on.
• There was a discussion of how to generate public goodwill towards low income people, since there is such a negative image now and also a cynicism about the effectiveness of government action and the use of tax dollars to fight poverty. How we frame the issue is very important, pointing out the social and economic benefits to the whole community of effective action on poverty reduction.
• There was reference to the Government’s interest in the role of social enterprise and social innovation in the Minister’s Report. The Peel Poverty Action Group is investigating social enterprise approaches that may help cash poor people get ahead.
• There was a discussion of the importance of getting low income people involved in the poverty reduction fight and supporting them to participate in the political and democratic process. Again, the Peel Poverty Action Group has worked to support low income people in Peel to get out to vote in elections.

Following discussion, Adaoma Patterson stated that the Blueprint will be brought forward to the Regional Council of Peel in the New Year.

Janet Menard, Executive Director of Transition and Integration in Human Services Department of Peel Region also thanked Marvyn for the presentation and indicated the Peel Poverty Reduction Group’s intent to pursue the issue in Peel and to remain connected to the work of the 25 in 5 coalition.

More than 40 members of the community came to the Simcoe County Council Chambers on Thursday afternoon, December 11 for a presentation of the Blueprint by Marvyn Novick and Peter Clutterbuck.

Participants included Garfield Dunlop, PC MPP for North Simcoe, Simcoe County Warden Tony Geurgis, Terry Talon, General manager of Simcoe County Social Services, and a representative of Conservative MP Helena Geurgis’ office. Local media covering the event were Rogers Cable TV and the Barrie Examiner.

Seija Suutari of the United Way of Greater Simcoe opened the meeting and asked Tony Geurgis, Warden of Simcoe County to offer some opening thoughts on the importance of the poverty reduction issue.

The following points were raised in discussion following the presentation:

• Simcoe County has a lot of agriculture and poverty in farming communities takes its own particular shape. The Blueprint seems to address these needs to some degree but the main poverty reduction strategy in rural areas seems to be for people to move out of rural communities. It was acknowledged that, although the Blueprint has been presented in several rural communities, it would benefit from more input and understanding of the particular conditions of poverty in farming life in Ontario.
• One problem that lawyers and community legal clinics in the area have encountered since the OCB has been introduced is that parents, mostly moms, who have their children apprehended, the only have the single rate of OW to live on, which makes it extremely difficult for them to stabilize their lives and have a fair chance to get their children back. Splitting off basic needs support into the OCB for children, therefore can contribute to family breakdown. This is the kind of issue that needs to be part of the social assistance review. Implementing social assistance requires a calibration that reflects the spirit of things rather than a mechanistic, rigid application of rules and regulations. For example, child support payments are deducted dollar for dollar from social assistance benefits in Ontario but in the UK child support will now be disregarded in determining income eligibility.
• What can we do in Simcoe County to help make that 25% reduction? What will to move this forward? How do we organize locally? One way is to get resolutions passed to support the declaration through the County Government and other local institutions such school boards and boards of health. As well, forming a local poverty reduction leadership group and focusing on a specific issue to tackle is recommended. The 25 in 5 coalition through the SPNO is prepared to provide some facilitative and strategic planning support to a Simcoe County leadership group if it comes together.

Terry Talon, General Manager of Simcoe County Social Services closed the meeting, stating that the County was prepared to help with local research and to facilitate how we learn what is now going on poverty reduction across the province. Seija Suutari said that the United Way will follow up in the New Year on the interest in pulling together a local leadership group and to stay connected to the 25 in 5 coalition.

More than 30 people attended the presentation of the Blueprint in Peterborough on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 10. Convened by the Peterborough Social Planning Council, the session was attended by the Chair of the Peterborough Committee for Poverty Reduction, the City Councillor Chair of the Social Services Committee, members of the health, social services and faith communities, low income people and other interested citizens and community volunteers.

Brenda Dales, Executive Director of the PSPC, introduced Peter Clutterbuck of the SPNO who provide an overview of the 25 in 5 Network and presented the Blueprint.

Discussion covered the following areas:

• A discussion of the reasons for the choice of the Low Income Measure instead of the Low Income Cut-Off to measure progress on the child poverty target.
• A suggestion that the Blueprint give more emphasis to strategies to create affordable housing, noting that the current Affordable Housing Program does not really create housing for very low income people. We should be pointing out the difference between “affordable housing” and “rent-geared-to-income housing”.
• The social determinants of health should also be more emphasized as a key factor in the Blueprint’s imperatives and create an opportunity to bring more people to the table on poverty reduction such as the LHINs. The LHIN in Peterborough is engaged on the poverty reduction issue.
• We must be sure not to let the federal government off the hook for all of its responsibilities to reduce poverty which should include a clear role in affordable housing as well as improving the NCBS and Employment Insurance.
• Reference was made to the Ontario Auditor’s report showing that the investment of provincial funding in mental health remains heavily weighted toward the institutional rather than the community support sector.
• It will be important for the 25 in 5 coalition to engage other sectors in order to advance the proposals in the Blueprint, but it is also very important to have strong representation and participation directly of low income people.
• The sustaining employment part of the Blueprint needs strengthening. Good, stable jobs are the real key to escaping poverty, which any person living on low income will say.
• The removal of barriers for people on OW or ODSP to earn extra money are essential. People on ODSP are now “taxed” 50% for any effort they make.
• It was noted that changes were occurring even this very day to better protect temporary workers through strengthening the Ontario Employment Standards Act and improving enforcement. Federal labour law should also be reviewed and greater protections introduced.
• There should be greater harmonization of federal and provincial programs related to medical expenses and supports for families with members who are disabled, perhaps a tax credit for medical expenses.
• Participants expressed a strong interest in staying engaged with 25 in 5 and asked for guidance about how to participate in the upcoming work of the coalition to strengthen and build on the Government’s Plan.

In closing the meeting, Stephen Kiley, Chair of the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Committee, the body succeeding the Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty Reduction, briefly responded to the presentation and referred to the recently released Root Causes of Poverty Report. As recently appointed Chair, Mr. Kiley expressed his intention to continue the local work and to reach out for broader engagement of other parts of the community on poverty reduction.

More than 40 members of the health and social services community attended two sessions in York Region for presentations and discussions of the Blueprint for Poverty Reduction on Tuesday, December 9. The afternoon meeting was held at the York Region Children’s Aid Society in Newmarket and the second was held at Richmond Hill United Church in Richmond Hill. The meetings were sponsored and organized by the Social Planning Council of York Region with the logistical and administrative support of the United Way of York Region.

Discussion at the two meetings covered the following areas:

• The distinctions made among poverty alleviation, poverty prevention and poverty reduction in the Blueprint presentation were appreciated.
• There was agreement that it is important to make public investments in the next three years in order to achieve the 25% reduction target in five years.
• The breadth and complexity of the Blueprint calls for an organized strategy to engage the public in discussion and understanding.
• It will be important that anti-poverty leaders in the community have a document that clearly articulates the case for poverty reduction and especially counters the right wing “truisms” about how the economy works that we often encounter when advancing our objectives.
• To do effective community development work on poverty reduction using the Blueprint, we need good resource material and tools that communicate effectively with the public.
• We need to be clear on how poverty reduction can be part of the solution when it comes to economic recovery. There needs to be recognition that all governments must spend in order to stimulate economic recovery and poverty reduction must be part of that spending.
• The Blueprint is an excellent presentation that defines the issues well but really should advocate more strongly for the eradication of poverty and does not go far enough in some of its policy proposals. For example, why not pursue raising the OCB to $2,000 as in Quebec? Quebec public supports collective investment in families as important, so that we would have to develop a similar political culture in Ontario to support the OCB at that level.
• What about poverty beyond income. Racialized communities experience disproportionately higher levels of poverty and don’t have access to resources. The discussion indicated that some measures are universal and apply to all while some others target the particular issues of populations disproportionately affected by poverty. For example, all would benefit from a more adequate minimum wage and card certification but some special labour market programs may need to be put in place to deal with differential access of certain populations to employment. Fundamentally poverty is a structural and class issue that is intensified for certain populations that are historically disadvantaged.
• Blueprint includes Employment Equity Office but needs to more strongly identify targets for poverty reduction in certain populations. Employment equity frameworks must be complementary to a good jobs strategy not a substitute for a goods jobs strategy.
• Will there be an influx of labour into Ontario if we raise our minimum wage while other provinces do not. There is no evidence that minimum wage affects migration patterns across the provinces. The decision to move from one province to another is not generally made on the basis of marginally different minimum wage levels.
• A substantial downturn in the economy will affect revenue levels and hence debt service charges but still within a manageable range (e.g. may raise them from 10.3 cents to 12 cents on each revenue dollar).

Interest was expressed in working locally and regionally on further development of the poverty reduction plan and in coordinating work in York Region with other communities across Ontario.

Sunderland

About 30 people attended a presentation and discussion of the Blueprint on Tuesday morning, December 2 at Sunderland Town Hall in North Durham Region. Participants included the Mayor of Brock Township, several town councilors, civic officials, faith leaders, health and social service leaders, and residents of North Durham communities.

The meeting was sponsored by the Community Development Council of Durham in conjunction with the local host, the North Durham Social Development Council.

It was noted at the outset that the SPNO had held its very first meeting on poverty reduction at the Sunderland Town Hall in September 2007 to launch a series of twelve community meetings across the province during the 2007 provincial election campaign. After more than 100 community meetings in communities across Ontario since the fall of 2007, it is gratifying to know that the Premier is about to release the Province’s Poverty Reduction Strategy this week.

Discussion covered the following areas:

• This work is very relevant to public health and municipalities so that participants were encouraged to hear that 25 in 5 had connections with alPHa, OMSSA, ONPHA and other similar organizations.
• Great concern in the region about the state of the economy. Always told that a growing economy would take care of poverty – but latest periods of economic growth did not produce poverty reduction effort. Learning that governments have an active role to play in the economy and distribution of wealth.
• Concern is that economic pie is only so big and that we need to address the inequality that exists – lower the highest incomes rather than just raise the lowest. We should work with the business people who understand the new economy.
• There was no knowledge among those present that the dental care funding that had been announced in March had been used in the Region to actually start working o low income people’s teeth.
• Core funding needs to be provided to strengthen the work of community groups. Reference was made to the Community Opportunities Fund identified in the Blueprint and support expressed for it.
• What about the risk of more people falling into poverty and the need to prevent that happening? Poverty reduction must also be about people hovering around poverty – modest income families and individuals. The labour market component of a poverty reduction strategy is crucial for this group just at the margin and this is why a good jobs strategy is important as part of poverty reduction.
• We should also identify and develop local indicators for our own accountability, such as how many affordable housing units can we create in our local area within a defined period of time – or set local and regional public health indicators that we could tackle.
• Interest was expressed in a follow up meeting to think about a community blueprint for poverty reduction in North Durham. A conversation has been started with the Durham Region Health and Social Services Committee in this regard on what the regional municipality and the community can do together on poverty reduction directly (e.g. transportation, recreation, public health, housing) in addition to what is needed from the province.

The North Durham Social Development Council and Community Development Council of Durham will follow up with groups and individuals who wish to pursue the idea of a community blueprint for poverty reduction at a meeting in January.

Whitby

More than 45 participants in Durham Region attended a presentation and discussion of the Blueprint at Durham Regional Council headquarters in Whitby on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 2. The meeting was sponsored by the Community Development Council of Durham.

Participants included regional and city councillors, the Chair of Durham Health and Social Services Committee, the Region’s Chief Administrative Officer, and Commissioner of Health and Social Services, local regional social services and public health staff, residents, recent immigrants, staff and volunteers of local community health, social service and community development agencies, and leaders in employment, housing, and food security networks.

The following points were raised in discussion:

• Communities build strong communities – government needs to hear from community about what needs to be done.
• The food supplement is an important and good idea. There should be no concern about controls about how individuals spend any extra money that they receive. Moving toward decency and adequacy is the issues and respecting people as adults who can make their own choices in their own best interests. Food security is a major issue in Durham.
• Durham Region will be putting together a framework over the next few weeks to respond to how the province decides to implement the strategy – how do we develop our own blueprint for Durham Region.
• How will the economy affect us in Durham? Especially with GM closures and job losses. It will change a lot about how we live in Durham and bring higher levels of poverty. We need to focus on labour market and creating good jobs in our community – need to both protect good jobs and to create good jobs.
• Need to find different way of doing business. Agree with Blueprint – on importance of social assistance restructuring. Child care is essential to poverty redcution for single mothers to have real choices in life – should be able to get education with child care support and no penalties.
• There are certain programs that are promoted and funded by government that do more harm to people than help and they need to be made accountable and actually work.
• Sales tax – why not a consideration as part of the Blueprint? Retail sales taxes are actually fairly progressive, especially since food is not taxed plus there is the GST credit. Governments need a variety of sources to raise revenue they need – low income people should be able to contribute to public revenue – big issue in public revenue is the loss of the progressivity in the income tax system.
• Placement agencies and other schools exploit government funding for skills education – public school system is not adequately preparing people with basic functional skills.
• AIDS community – younger ages affected – mental health not factored into the strategy. Agreement that people with mental health problems require improvement in basic living conditions as well as more adequate community supports (reference to the Community Initiatives Fund).
• Concurrent disorder charter exists in Durham Region – concrete look at people with mental health and addictions – poverty very clearly a common condition.
• Queries about the LIM. It is a concept of poverty as social distance – if too far from the basic standard you are being excluded. – allows international comparison – LIM is criticized as not being about poverty but about inequality.
• Nordic countries – healthy economies – how do their health conditions compare? Early population health studies showed that as incomes increased health status improved. Anthony Wilkinson has established that material conditions are important for people’s health and psycho-social status.
• Shortsighted as a society – more compassionate environment would deny people licence to steal when they achieve higher levels of education and professional development. Sometimes there is a sense that “self-made” people, who actually depend on family support and public services for their success, have no sense of collective responsibility. Now discovering that we all must pull together under current difficult conditions in Ontario – affirm greater solidarities.

Starting to think about how to work on a community blueprint for poverty reduction in Durham. Community Development Council of Durham will be convening meeting in January to talk about that locally.