[Lapg] The Gift that Lasts

[Diana Liu]

Hi, everyone.  I echo Diane's message, but also want to share the following article that I received from another listserv.  Even though this article is about ending poverty in Canada, it's reminder to us that we need to also work at the root causes of the problems, and not just the symptoms.
   
  Wishing you and your family a Happy Holiday and a Wonderful New Year.
   
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  WHERE THERE IS HUNGER, IT'S NOT FOOD THAT IS LACKING 
by Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Chairperson of the New Brunswick Advisory
Council on the Status Of Women.

My holiday greeting card to readers would be the one being distributed this year by a group in Prince Edward Island. It has an image of an orange in a child's hand with the message: "Where there is hunger, it's not food that is lacking, but justice." 

The holidays bring out our generosity. We want everyone to enjoy Christmas.  We want it to be one day out of the year when people living in poverty, especially children, don't feel deprived. Some cynics might say we are generous so that we can better enjoy our plenty on that day.

One of the holiday gifts offered for sale by Oxfam Canada this year is a $60 package called Train 10 Change Promoters. If you buy this gift for someone on your list, Oxfam provides 10 community leaders in developing countries with training and materials to make changes in their communities that reduce poverty. 

Were such gifts offered in Canada too, we might give justice, not just charity, for Christmas. 

Practically no one doubts that we could end poverty within Canada, if we decided to do so. We've drastically reduced the level of poverty among elderly Canadians in the last decades. Some countries have done the same for all vulnerable groups, such as female lone parents, minimum wage earners,
and so, children.

In 1989, a unanimous House of Commons - yes, it was close to the Christmas season - resolved to abolish child poverty in Canada by 2000. Today, child poverty is at the same level it was in 1989, about 12% nationally, even though the intervening years were good for Canada, with low unemployment and recently, consistently large budget surpluses. 

That lack of progress should not be a surprise. A unanimous even heartfelt resolution will not change anything by itself, no more than Christmas hampers will. A wish is not a plan. If we are to end poverty, we must have a plan.

Since 1989, politicians have made hundreds of references to their concern about poverty and how Canada must do better. 

Do we allow governments to pretend to share our concern about poverty, if there is not at least a plan to end poverty? When a government really expects to reach a goal, it puts a plan into action, a plan that is the result of the collaboration of several government departments, people living in poverty, community groups and others. 

Newfoundland/Labrador has a plan that is expected to soon make it the province with the least poverty in the country and Quebec has solid anti-poverty legislation. 

Today it is clear that economic growth alone is not providing a way out of poverty: 41% of low-income children in Canada live in families where at least one parent works full-time all year. In New Brunswick 28% of our poor children live in families where at least one person worked full-time all year. 

So what do we do? Charity and food banks will not do it. In fact, charities sometimes perpetuate the status quo. They may only remove the most  urgent need - the most compelling reason for society to get at the root cause.
 
The most successful anti-poverty strategies don't just add new tax cuts or benefits, they don't just increase welfare and minimum wage rates, but rather they provide support for all people with low income in a comprehensive way. They untangle the mess of rules that end up giving people more reason to stay poor than to try to improve their lot. They confront
attitudes towards people in need that end up costing children, for one, the opportunity to get out of poverty.

When Toronto Mayor David Miller recently came in contact with this tangle of rules, he erupted in a rage that has led to a fascinating report. He had been working with some companies that were prepared to invest in helping disadvantaged youth get experience and training. He had discovered that parents were telling their children to turn down these opportunities -  the families' benefits would be reduced. Many families lived in public
 housing and the family's rent would have gone up based on any new income. If  the
child moved out to protect the family, the family might get an eviction notice. A bursary might reduce the amount of other student aid and many benefits provided to these families would be cut if the children received aid. 

The youth that everyone wanted to help were caught in a maze that made it worse for them and their parents were they to take advantage of opportunities. 

In our society, children often stay at home past 18 while they study, get full-time work experience or pay off student loans. But when children in welfare families reach 18, they stop receiving social assistance as part of the family and can only apply in their own right if they move out.

As the Metcalf Foundation report shows, when a person receiving welfare starts to work, each of the programs from which they receive benefits takes money back - welfare, public housing, child benefits, etc. For every dollar earned, they may be cut back by more than 100 cents: one program might take 50 cents, the next 30 cents and the next 25 cents. 

A tax of 100% or more is not how we encourage anyone to do something.

Those who give to the poor, at Christmas or all year, deserve thanks.  But the gift that lasts is justice. Those who advocate with disadvantaged people and expect governments to get to the root causes of poverty and injustice are also heroes. 

Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, of Moncton, is Chairperson of the New Brunswick
Advisory Council on the Status Of Women. She may be reached via e-mail at acswcccf at gnb.ca 


Diane Dodge <dianefaydodge at hotmail.com> wrote:
      .hmmessage P  {  margin:0px;  padding:0px  }  body.hmmessage  {  FONT-SIZE: 10pt;  FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma  }    Hello everyone,
 
Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative (GFJI) was formed in 2007 to look at issues such as those mentioned in the subject line through a grassroots, egalitarian, anti-racist lens and  to work collectively, inclusively and in partnership with individuals and organizations who share this vision.  
 
Each and every person who contributes to this listserv does so from a pretty cushy "comfort zone" (compared to those who suffer from food insecurity due to a socially unjust system), and can expound on the social injustices and then go off and have an opulent dinner which serves our particular lifestyle choices.  I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on all of you, I'm merely stating a fact.
 
The people in need don't necessarily have access to foodand/or shelter, much less computers.   If we are to find a solution for the necessary distribution of our most basic NEEDS (I'll go out on a limb and define basic needs as  healthy food,  adequate shelter and the support of our fellow species members within a sustainable context...all else is merely window dressing), perhaps we need to look at the way we currently do our work...does it address the problems of those who don't share in the abundance we have come to expect?
 
GFJI is still in its formation stages, and welcomes all who eat and want to address the above issues in positive ways to the table.  
 
Please contact me for more information.
 
A Happy, Healthy and Sustainable New Year to you all.
 
In solidarity,

Diane Dodge
listserv administrator
Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative
email: dianefaydodge at hotmail.com
cell:   (651)278-6748



   
   



     
  
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Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
                                   - Lao Tzu
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