FORWARD
The Women’s Report from the Grid (incl Guaranteed Annual(LICO)) Revised Oct/2010
Oct 13th, 2010 | By Patricia Cummings-Diaz
FORWARD
FOR Women’s Autonomy, Rights & Dignity
The
Women’s
Report
from
the
Grid
Written by FORWARD (For Women’s Autonomy, Right’s & Dignity)
Patricia Cummings-Diaz, April 2010
We are human beings
born with inherent rights.
We are now older women,
mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and friends.
We come from all religious and spiritual backgrounds,
of the four colours, from the four directions,
of all sexual orientations,
single/or not, mothers/or not.
We are poor women
most born into this specific class
in our stratified society.
We have elementary to university education.
We live in the streets, shelters, rooms, or apartments
with substandard subsidized or private housing.
We subsist on welfare or disability.
Used as menial labourers for
a minimum wage, with no benefits,
and pittance for pensions.
However vulnerable we are,
we are not weak!
The Women’s Report from the Grid is the result of a 6 month project completed by FORWARD (For Women’s Autonomy, Rights & Dignity) a multicultural grassroots group of women who have experienced or are experiencing homelessness and under housing. The theme “Aging at Home” focused on older women and was funded by Woodgreen Community Services and the Local Integrated Health Network (LHIN) in Toronto. The Ontario Women’s Health Network (OWHN) was not only gracious enough to sponsor this project but allowed us to use their concept of Health Circles as a portal to let our voices be heard. That is the point of healing!
We adapted the Health Circles to reflect our daily-lived experiences and watched as the meetings transformed into a safe space that was flexible, informal, and non-judgemental with an “around the kitchen table” atmosphere. No flipcharts, no guidelines, no “activities”, no Miss know it alls, and no breaks. “We are not children”. The women chose the topics and engaged immediately. Sharing their experiences with each other in relation to a particular chosen topic empowered them to take control of the discussions. Adapting to our needs was the priority.
In the 3 Health Circle meetings we examined the social determinants of health and poverty using a professional and a peer speaker to share their knowledge. Health Circles acted as a forum for knowledge exchange where each of the participants, including the facilitator, co-facilitator and professional learned from one another and all knowledge, academic and experiential, is valued equally.
Our Follow-up was more than 50% of the project and included 6 meetings at Low Income Families Together (LIFT), one on one home visits and multiple visits to the 3 host drop-ins for the project. The purpose was to continue to share info on health, housing, legal issues and special events. Then pass on this info and referrals to the other drop-ins.
At each drop-in women who were not involved with the project started to come forward with info and referrals to help other women and gladly took our info for themselves and/or others. This “grapevine” of info was passed on to health and service providers we networked with and included the other 20 drop-ins who were involved in our project to the United Nations in 2008.
We had to dig deep to find gender analysis on poverty, homelessness, housing, EI, CPP, ODSP/OW, Children’s Aid Society (CAS), native issues, GBTL issues, immigrant issues, legal issues, incarceration issues etc.. Yet we came up with 28 documents and well over 200 articles, essays, quotes and inspirational quotes and websites with info relevant to our lives.
The Final Results of the Health Circles Survey included 53 participants, ranging in age from 33 to 68 years, 18 had no fixed address. The survey revealed that 79% of the women said they have family doctors yet, 50% went to multiple places (4 or more) in an attempt to access their healthcare needs. While 60% immediately sought out medical attention always and often, 57% said that they seldom, rarely or never are able to do/accomplish
what the professional prescribed. Only 30% felt that their voice is heard when dealing
with professionals. The lack of money was the sole reason that 80% did not use alternative methods of healthcare seldom, rarely or never. Finally 64% said they are not able to access/receive seldom, rarely or never all of the healthcare, services, supports and programs they need. The number one reason for the lack of access to health care was transportation. The lack of money for TTC tickets and phobias from isolation, chronic pain and disorientation/dissociation from extreme duress.
This program served women who are dealing with issues of aging in a population where the rate of death among non-senior women is ten times that of the general population.
We have survived living in fields and under bridges, been forced into the sex trade to feed ourselves and/or our families, and 85% of the children taken into CAS in Ontario are our children or grandchildren. We have been beaten, and/or raped and/or tortured by our own
men/spouses/partners, other men and for some even the police. Some are battling major diseases, dealing with mental health issues, the breakdown of the family, immigrant issues, Native issues, sexual orientation issues and all the discrimination those titles imply. Some have come from war torn countries seeking refuge or looking for a better life. Yet after all the programs and services and even university educations, have not gotten us out of this very specific role we play in a stratified society like Canada.
Our desire in writing this report is to awaken the Canadian conscience “listen to your elders” and to remember who we are as a people. In 1995 the 21.6% deduction on social assistance gave recipients 1000 calories a day. This is not Canadian! The United Nations defines 900 calories a day a “starvation diet”. Art Eggleton announced at a webinar with the Wellesley Institute that social assistance on its own costs Canadians 150B last year. Yet we are still going to drop-ins/food banks for very basic needs! This is not Canadian! Whatever increases you may have heard about did nothing to change our daily-lived experiences. “Employment” is menial, punitive, dehumanizing and filled with over qualified workers. To be poor in a rich country brings great disgrace to those forced into this position regardless of the structures within our society that maintain it. We use a 500 year old system of “aid” with its seven basic concepts intact today. The same is true for the United States. The system is not broken. It has never worked.
Through the Health Circles we are redefining ourselves. We invite you to do the same. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written by a Canadian . It is our document and the greatest vision any nation has offered the “global village”. The spirit of the Aboriginal people and culture has given us democracy. Let’s honour both.
“In a society that promotes saving and cherishes self-reliance, there is no good rationale for public policy that almost guarantees people will grow old in poverty” (Stapleton, 2009)
Our hope is that by letting our voices be heard we will have a home to age in and to live out our days with a quality of life that any 1st World Nation can easily sustain.
The Women’s Report from the Grid
From the beginning of this project our funders asked that specific questions be included in the survey and to offer any recommendations. To accumulate this information we used the Info Session and a meeting in the Health Circles and the Follow-up for the women to express their concerns, tell their stories and collect recommendations.
These are the specific questions we included in the survey.
1) Do you have access/receive all of the healthcare, services, supports and programs you need? (i.e. physical, , language and interpretation) What services do you need that you are not able to access/receive?
The survey as previously mentioned revealed that 64% did not have access/receive all of the healthcare, services, supports and programs they needed. However, lack of money for transportation was the main reason they did not have access to their health needs with physical/mental health issues as contributing factors. Although 80% of the women wanted access to alternative methods of healthcare, lack of money was also the primary reason for not using it.
2) What services, if you could receive them at home, might prevent you or a family member from going to a hospital emergency room (ER)?
This question stimulated a lot of discussion about peer non-medical homecare services, discrimination, and misdiagnoses. For some the question had more to do with why in an emergency they don’t go to the ER. They sit and suffer and hope for the best. “When I’m sick, I isolate because my experience has taught that there is nothing out there for me.”
The women therefore took the questions to task and developed a list of 10 concerns around their health. Food, Homecare & Honoraria, Housing and Accommodations, “Careers” & Micro-businesses, Medications, Transportation, Catchment areas, Language – a disconnect, Using our Ideas and the Guaranteed Annual LICO Income.
Food is a major concern.
Without the drop-ins, however under funded, we would have not survived the last 15 years. In fact they are a major source of food for many older poor women in Toronto today. For women living in rural Ontario we can only imagine how difficult it must be to get this basic necessity.
Drop-ins tend to put more effort into providing nutritious meals and offer as much support as possible in many ways. However, there is nothing normal about getting up in the morning and going to a drop-in for food. To be able to buy and prepare our own food for those who are capable is a return to normalcy.
The attempt to diminish or stop the Special Diet has had a negative effect on our health. Criminalizing recipients takes away from the seriousness of the shortage of their food supply. On February 17, 2009 the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found that government’s Special Diet Program violates the Ontario Human Rights Code. Mary Marrone, Director of Advocacy and Legal Services at the Income Security Advocacy Centre states “People getting the Special Diet are among the sickest and what this announcement (to end it) creates will only put them at greater health risk.”
The OW/ODSP rates equal 1,000 calories a day as prescribed by the Fraser Institute for the “Common Sense Revolution” of 1995 (Face Off/96). The rates are too low to cover rent, bills and food. Menial “employment” offers little security and lay offs are often on the horizon. With 75% of labourers not eligible for “Employment Insurance” (EI), most don’t even apply because who can live on 55% of even the new increase of $10.25/hr? The work “environment” can often be the cause of a multiplicity of health issues. Work and the food bank go hand in hand for menial labourers.
Food Banks are the “choice” we are forced to make. They offer the best they can but there are times when what is in that box/bag is all we have to eat. Except for the surplus of pasta or rice in our cupboards if we have a place to live of course. Another concern was the weight of carrying canned food often long distances to bus stops, especially for the senior women. Then there are times when there is no money for TTC tickets to get to the food bank and so we learn to do without. Mixing pasta with ketchup or mayonnaise or whatever concoction one can come up with is the next “choice”. Tuna has the highest rate of mercury and yet is a major source of available protein . Food banks offer processed/canned items and lack fresh fruit and vegetables. Dairy products are almost non-existent.
Our pets need to eat. Or does poverty mean that we don’t “deserve” to have pets? Whether through domestic violence/torture, eviction or lays off’s we have been forced to give up these life long friends and the deep lasting relationships only a pet-lover can understand. To keep this friend can mean living in the street or giving her/him to a friend, a family member or the Humane Society. Can you imagine what a devastating experience this is?
The Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) 2008 Hunger Report states “We have surpassed a threshold where many communities no longer have the capacity to meet the needs of their local food bank. The continued and unbelievable generosity of community partners and neighbours has been outflanked by the sheer numbers of persons forced to turn to food banks.” (OAFB/2008). “There is $5.25 million spent by food banks across the province every year at a time when food prices have skyrocketed at a rate greater than inflation in the past year.” Social assistance cheques do not reflect this increase.
Shelter food in Toronto is often processed, canned/frozen items and lack fresh fruit and vegetables. All donated food is a supplement. In other words donated food is not to be used as the meal. However when you see the company drop off their donations and you end up eating it for dinner, it brings to mind that perhaps the shelter is not adhering to the policies. Many women reported stealing of food by staff in both shelters and food banks. Here is a poignant example of our vulnerability.
We are also concerned about the chemicals used to produce food and the increase in fast food restaurants in the last 20 years – the average Canadian is 60 lbs overweight. Eating “organically” is a return to food we ate as children except now we have to pay exorbitant rates to get our hands on it.
Food is a basic human right and it is the responsibility of all governments to ensure we have a system that produces truly healthy food at a fair price of for all. Our responsibility is to encourage each other to return to backyard
and/or window sill gardens and to the many kinds of healing this activity offers. Respect food. Respect your body.
Homecare &Honoraria
Homecare was the response the women gave as a means of not using the ER. In fact because so many of their experiences were negative at the ER they preferred to avoid it.
Homecare is the greatest request. There are good days and then there are bad days. When the bad hit, it can be very debilitating and carry on for days and ultimately ends up at the ER. Some women need to be accompanied to doctor/medical appointments, court and the hospital when necessary. They need help with medications/prescriptions, groceries, laundry, cleaning, mail, therapy, massage for chronic pain, help with forms and applications, getting the rent and bills paid and a translator.
One women came home from the hospital after a stroke with no homecare and found she had great difficulty getting her medications, groceries, mail and bills paid. She didn’t know “where my mail would’ve ended up or how I was going to eat if the man next door didn’t help out.”
One way to deal with this is to create a Safety Network from hospital to recovery including peer advocates at the ER, follow-up and homecare with non-medical home visits for an honoraria. “I prefer to have someone like me come into my place. It’s embarrassing where I have to live.” Many women feel this is the reason they have difficulty getting the service. Professionals do not want to come into their unhealthy cockroach infested, rundown apartments. No wonder! Allow us to participate in the non-medical aspects of homecare. This is a situation where the honoraria can be used and is more cost effective.
ODSP allows for $6000 a year in honoraria with no deductions. By allowing us to give back to own communities with dignity in our diminished states after 15 years of human rights abuses is both fulfilling and rewarding. Our world is surrounded by drop-ins centres, shelters, food banks and a host of other agencies and organization created to support us. It is time for everyone involved with our lives to think of honoraria when looking for funding.
The honoraria offers a sense of dignity especially for those who have volunteered for years with the hope of getting a job. When the Canadian Assistance Program (CAP) disappeared the wide gapping holes in our social safety net sent our lives on a downward spiral “It was like being flushed down the toilet. There was nothing to hold on to.” A fair honoraria program will give us enough to buy nutritious food, vitamins, maybe have a mini-holiday, visit family or work on some of our personal issues.
Sensitivity training courses created by us should be given to doctors and hospital staff and other professionals including social assistance, shelters and drop-ins centre workers. According to a Toronto Shelter Training course staff are legally, liable and morally responsible to report abuse with a $5,000 fine included. One women in a shelter had a calcium deficiency which was recorded in her file yet staff restricted her to one glass of milk a day. She ended up at the ER in a life threatening situation. “If you do not pray, you will not eat” was another experience we discussed about shelters. We need professionals to be cognisant of our realities. “Stop abuse at shelters.”
“A lot of people make a living on our poverty” was a comment that echoed the meetings. “You don’t need a university education to do this work.” With most of us having grade 12/13 and university education, we feel strongly that we have a distinct role to play in “the helping industry”. We have the daily-lived experiences and live in those realities. It’s demeaning when another human being assumes the position of “helper” when too often what comes out of their mouth triggers other abuses by the same system and policies we have in place. What a waste of human resources to have so many languishing into what has become a subculture of “food and shelter seekers”. We offer these recommendations to health and service providers.
Believe
“Doctors in ER did not believe me when I tell them about my medical allergies. Some say, “I doubt you have an allergy to that. Meanwhile they ordered another medication with an offending compound in it. Not knowing, I took it and suffered an allergic reaction (potentially life threatening as I had to use elpipon to counteract it, plus venien inhaler). They think all poor aboriginals or any poor person are drunks and drug addicts. This smacks of racism and for poor people discrimination.”
Respect
“I need health care prof’s to treat me with respect/not as a criminal.”
“Respect from health care workers and police”
“Later app’t at doctors, sometimes I can’t sleep before x-ray or tests” “Respect our time”
“We should be paid to do these surveys, after all, the ones asking us to do it are getting paid.”
“Sensitive, non-aggressive medical practitioners”
“They must be more sensitive to traditional native beliefs.”
Dignity
“They need to value us as human beings.”
“Treat us with dignity.”
Time
“Social workers to support us in having time for me.”
“My methadone, prescription and seeing a doctor regularly.”
“ I had workers who wouldn’t get up off the chair to get a pencil for me to write my name.”
Advocate
“We need advocates so that decisions for are lives are not made arbitrarily.”
“I need an advocate to come with me to court.”
“We need someone to take us by the hand and help us. I’m so exhausted.”
Practical
“A walker – difficulty with mobility/escalators sometimes not working” (Think of their housing conditions.)
“I need rest, money for clothing, shoes and winter clothing, less over crowding in apt building.”
“More $ for nutritious food and clothing etc, winter clothing, less stress”
Trust
“There should be a place set up in every poor area for people who want to have their money managed by some(one) trustworthy b/c “ Trustee offices” aren’t always readily nearby or they scam us sometimes. As it is we have to spend money we don’t have on tokens to get to a trustee.”
Access
“Access to family doctors and medical care in general”
“ I don’t know how to find out what benefits/services I can get. I ask but no one helps. You would think I was taking it from them personally.”
“Provide free alternative services/programs – reiki, mindful meditation, etc. Housing and Accommodations
The rents are exorbitant and often 40% to 90% of our total incomes and impossible to pay unless something else suffers and that is usually buying food. “Services” from landlords are almost nonexistent in our world. The buildings are dilapidated from years of non-maintenance. To make matters worst some landlords are from other countries so how do we deal with all of that! Below are quotes taken from FORWARD’s 2008 Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to exemplify our “aging at home” experiences.
“evicted while in the hospital”
“woke up and the landlord was beside my bed”
“the basement apartment was flooding”
“no repairs in 5 years”
“mole and fungus all over the place”
“cockroaches and bedbugs”
“gangs and drugs”
“heat not turned on until the end of October”
“landlord went in and stole my TTC tickets and money”
“You can pay the rest with your ass.”
Housing is a human right. It is also a health issue. We want the government to crack down on “abusive slum landlords” and give them strict options when there are multiple standards broken. Increase the fines for non compliance. If they do not comply within a short period of time, the residents first should have the option to buy the building/boarding house etc for themselves with the help of agencies and organizations. Perhaps develop a co-op. It should be widely published especially among newcomers that they can withhold rent until repairs are complete. Funding must go toward creating Tenant Associations in each building so that the community has a voice on the ground to ensure services and the needs of residents are met. Tenant Associations protect neighbourhoods from devitalisation.
Adequate dwellings are those reported by their residents as not requiring any major repairs. Affordable dwellings cost less than 30 per cent of total
before-tax household income. Suitable dwellings have enough bedrooms for the size and make-up of resident households, according to National Occupancy Standard (NOS) requirements. This is not a reality for us.
In his 2009 report, Miloon Kothari, UN Special Rapporteur on housing stated, “Canada is one of the few countries in the world without a national housing strategy.” He went on to say, “Canada has ratified several international human rights instruments that recognize the right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, creating obligations to take steps for the progressive realization of this right (Kothari, 2009).
The 7th article also states, “Canadian domestic law does not include any explicit recognition of the right to adequate housing – as an enforceable right or as a policy commitment. No such recognition is found in the Constitution Act of 1982, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in provincial or federal human rights legislation, in national, provincial or territorial housing legislation or in federal-provincial agreements. The rights contained in international human rights treaties ratified by Canada are not directly enforceable by domestic courts unless they have been incorporated into Canadian law by parliament or provincial legislatures. As such, the right to adequate housing as codified in article 11(1) of the ICESCR cannot be claimed on its own. Nevertheless, court decisions indicate that a ratified treaty that has not been incorporated into domestic law can and should be used to interpret domestic law. Courts have recognized that the broadly framed rights to equality and to “life, liberty and security of the person” in sections 15 and 7 of the Canadian Charter respectively provide considerable scope for courts to provide effective remedies to violations of the right to adequate housing in Canada.” “ In some provinces, security of tenure protection is almost non-existent” (Kothari, 2009).
“The Special Rapporteur enumerates a number of factors impeding the effective implementation of the right to housing for all, including the non-recognition of a separate right to adequate housing, the absence of a definition of homelessness, the lack of a national housing strategy and issues resulting from the allocation of competencies to different levels of authority. The Special Rapporteur notes the concerns expressed about the rise in the number of the homeless and people in inadequate housing and living conditions, rising prices in the housing sector affecting an increasing number of people with various levels of income, and the decrease in public housing.” (Kothari 2009)
While 40 per cent of all housing in the Netherlands is social housing, 22 per cent in the United Kingdom and Sweden, 14 per cent in Germany, France and Ireland, and 10 per cent in Finland, Canada has only 5 per cent of its overall housing stock as social housing. (Kothari, 2009)
“In 1996, the federal government announced plans to transfer administration of most existing federal housing programmes to the provinces and territories and in 1999, the federal government amended the National Housing Act with the stated goal of giving Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation more flexibility. It seems nevertheless that CMHC’s role in supporting new and existing affordable housing has continued to diminish. In recent years, CMHC has been engaged in providing mortgage insurance to property owners and has generated annual profits in the hundreds of millions of dollars” (Kothari, 2009).
“The Ontario Human Rights Commission stated that it was “extremely troubled to hear that children in Ontario continue to be relinquished or apprehended by children’s aid societies because of inadequate housing – concerns that were previously noted by CESCR (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)” (Kothari, 2009).
Tracy Heffernan from Advocacy Centre for the Tenants of Ontario (ACTO) is challenging the Charter of Rights on housing. We need all governments to remember that what we have ratified internationally on housing issues are legal binding documents and to make it a reality here at home.
The shortage of low-income housing has put us in a crisis and any proposals for new housing must include the environment. Going green with subsidized housing will jump start that economy especially if discounts are passed on to other Ontarians? The surplus from solar energy can be shared with the community. Teaching environmental stewardship is an important component of our new global realities.
Substandard housing has a negative impact on our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. In a recent study on the economic costs of poverty in Ontario, researchers pegged poverty-induced costs related to provincial health care at $2.9B (Laurie, 2008). In total, the public and private cost of poverty was estimated to have a price tag of between $32 and $38 billion annually in 2008 (OAFB, 2009).
“Statistics Canada also reported that over the past quarter century, median earnings for the bottom 20 per cent of working Canadians fell by 20.6 per cent – in the face of large increases in the costs of shelter, energy, medicine, transportation, clothing, food and other necessities. At the same time, social assistance rates across the country are decreasing.” “None of the provinces have welfare incomes that match Statistic Canada’s Low Income Cut Offs. Indeed, in 2006, welfare incomes of single women averaged 40 per cent of this poverty line.” “Three million Canadian households – 24.9 per cent of the overall – are paying 30 per cent or more of their income on shelter. (Kothari 2009)
“Affordable and secure housing is a significant factor in a community’s stability and in the social and economic well-being of its residents”.
(Cheryl Smith, Peacock Poverty on-line magazine, 2009).
Home ownership is the greatest aspect of security for an individual/family in a community. Canada Mortgage and Housing has provided home ownership on native territories for decades and in the early 80’s expanded this to some rural communities in Ontario also. The down payment was “cash or kind” and the mortgage paid according to income. This program needs to be increased and expanded to include urban areas and the “green” aspects as well.
“Discrimination on the basis of poverty has been found to deny women, single mothers, social assistance recipients and other disadvantaged groups access to the most affordable rental housing or to affordable credit for homeownership” (Kothari 2009). Zoning bylaws that target people with mental and other disabilities is a form of prejudice (Dream Team, 2008)
The cost of welfare in Ontario makes up just 5% of the costs of all the income security payments paid to people in Ontario. It seems odd that we reserve our most negative attitudes for such a small portion of our income security budget. (Stapelton, 2007)
The Federal government needs to remove its “step-out” provision in federal funding for housing from the 1996 federal budget and “step-up” to the plate and take responsibility for providing “homes” for all Canadians. Adequate, affordable and suitable housing is a human right.
“Careers” & Micro-businesses
“Education – realistic courses that get me out of poverty.”
It was observed years ago that any courses offered to us would after 1-2 years of study gives only a little more than assistance while losing dental and eye benefits. Even for low-income workers, it feels like we are being used as cheap labour with little attention to the multiplicities of our talents and abilities. Nothing has changed. Even today the women saw no reason to take many of the courses offered to them because the ultimate wage would be no better than what they have now, in fact, worse. Asking a 60 year old unemployed women who is over-qualified, as most of her co-workers, to take a course to upgrade from her employment status or “start your own business” doesn’t make sense. We need to have programs that will allow us to find our way out of this on a case to case basis.
When we accepted the globalization of the economy and allowed the massive layoffs, we should have thought more about people and not about competition. Human beings generate the economy, not money. We need to learn this lesson once and for all. We were warned in the late 90’s what the policies changes would do. Accept that today we have 3rd world poverty in this province. What is happening here has caught the attention of the UN and much to our disgrace.
This negative attitude toward the poor comes from the 500 year old English Poor Laws concept based on working and non-working. When the Black Plaque wiped out a great part of the population it gave workers power to ask for higher wages. They were starving. This one act of asking to provide for their families set up a system of control, discrimination and attitudes that have been transported intact to the colonies. The new Workers Tax Benefit was initiated “to encourage” us to work at a time when the poor are gravelling for employment to the point of taking 2 to 3 part time jobs. And 85% of the children taken into children’s aid societies come from families making under $30,000 annually (Hughes, 2009). This is discrimination!
One of the women found a free 5 week Humanities Course at U of T and shared that info with the other women. “It gets my brain going and I feel good.” This is a great example of how a diversity of disciplines can contribute to the overall health and well-being of their communities. To promote this example of kindness a campaign of “Giving Back” would be appropriate. What talent or ability can you share with your community -rich and poor to enrich all of our lives?
The informal economy is just as present in Canada as it is around the world. With Ontario having a multitude of nations, cultures and ethnicities represented in our province, we need this to be acknowledged and allow us to sell our culinary delights, talents and abilities in the street.
In the late 90’s as the market economy continued to be deregulated, the informal economy was condemned for its lack of regulation and all but disappeared from the streets of Toronto. Today the permits are too expensive and denies people the right to make even a subsistence living. Musicians are allotted only certain places and times to play and the majority of food venders sell hotdogs.
The present system needs to be changed. Increase the number and variety of these micro-businesses. No one can have the power to monopolize others. Three “units” only is a good policy. We need a fair and flexible regulated system. Let a true market economy prevail.
The informal economy has often been used by formal salary workers as a place to make “extra” money or to fill in the gaps in hard times. As “restructuring” and lay offs continue, the decision to declare these earnings becomes a more difficult moral decision to make. We do not belong to this group but understand the precarious position they are in. We lived those experiences at this lowly position and lost everything. When it comes to fraud the pointing of the finger has to stop. OSAP loans? Benefit abuse?
In the late 90’s when stories of welfare fraud flooded our TV’s and newspapers, welfare fraud was actually 2% nationwide – the lowest of all sectors (Stats Canada,1991). Just another example of our vulnerability.
Micro loans are more acceptable than OW/ODSP’s complicated bureaucracy of punitive rules, regulations and policies. Micro loans appear to work very well in other countries and would be a step in the right direction for us.
The sex trade was also an experience many of the women entered into in the last 15 years. This topic drew a lot of discussion from legalising it to not legalising it. Legalising it but only if the taxes are used to help vulnerable young people stay out of it. Don’t legalise it and “leave us alone”.
Stop demonizing the sex trade and decriminalise it was the most accepted view. Some enjoy their work and others were going to a John School. We want to see change as much as anyone. Beatings and rape have increased as well as arrests and prosecutions. No one ever dreams of becoming a part of this lifestyle or thought that this would be a “choice” we would ever have to make during our lifetimes.
However, having these daily-lived experiences puts us in a position to seek positive changes in a “profession” often vilified and more often than not misunderstood. We looked at a paradigm shift from the traditional whore/prostitute/street worker required to perform various sex acts to an alternative “sensual healing” where the massage is the focal point. Since this holistic view lends to healing for all the body both men and women are incorporated in this model.
The massage parlour model developed from the 70’s had more regulations and protection for women who didn’t want to do sex acts. With the influx of “mafias” from all over the world options have quickly disappeared. Contrary to the popular belief, the female “pimp” owner is no better than a male.
Allowing independent workers to control massage parlours through ownership would give them more control over their lives and avoid the criminal elements that so often plaque the profession. For those who do not want to do sex acts creating genuine massage parlours not “rub and tugs” is a step in the progressive realization of alternative healing for the profession.
Motherhood is our oldest profession; whereas prostitution is a specific role for us to play in any society we find ourselves. “When I need money, I just lay down and take it”. The “industry” is a mess and now includes the slave trade. Ontario has the largest proliferation of child pornography in Canada.
There is a mountain of research on sexology available in this group and our insights are invaluable to the greater society. Start useful dialogue and give us a voice to make the changes that effect us all.
Medications & Transportation
“I feel like a vegetable.”
“Overmedication by doctors must end!”
“Doctors don’t connect with each other. Too many meds.”
“Very difficult to pay out of pocket for prescriptions – sometimes can’t.”
“Rehab was for just a month then I had to go back to the street – no home.”
“I’m coping with chronic pain yet the doctor defines me as a drug addict.”
“Don’t go to rehab because of the rules – curfew – same with shelters.”
“Stop putting us on meds and teach us some life skills.”
“We need protection from violent men at housing.”
“Doctor’s stop over booking to end long waits.”
“They want to put me on Zoloft/Paxil.”
“Give meds free until able to pay.”
“I can’t function on meds.”
“too many misdiagnosis”
“I’m not a child.”
“Give meds at home.”
“They numb you out.”
“Stop discrimination against us.”
“Access to free alternative medicine.”
“Free transferring records and doctor’s note.”
“Everyone is more concerned about liability than about us.”
“I’m economically impoverished, not stupid, nor am I an addict or criminal”
Discussing medications brought quite an emotional response as noted above. In the late 90’s many of us were defined with mental health issues rather than the reality that we were malnourished (1,000 calories a day) and unemployed. There were real concerns about the long term effects of these psychotropic drugs. Some opted for “obeying their doctors” and today have to deal with a number of other health issues. Others turned to cannabis as an alternative method of surviving. We need medical marijuana laws to be expanded to include insomnia, eating disorders, anxiety and post traumatic stress. One women with crack issues preferred cannabis to methadone for her treatment. The cost effectiveness is irrefutable and individuals should have the right to decide what works best for them.
Transportation was the main reason we do not have access to health care. “Women need money for transportation to clinic, hospitals etc and when asked to go for tests we need TTC tickets.” Drop-in centres have lost considerable funding for TTC tickets and Sistering one of our host drop-ins from the Health Circles is spearheading a campaign to educate the public about the seriousness lack of transportation has on the lives of the women they serve.
Some recommendation to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC ) are:
Change safety times according to the seasons when it gets dark.
Some drivers are lazy to change to the wheelchair.
Be sensitive to poorer low income women.
Brighter lights at some bus stops.
Bus stops should have emergency numbers on it.
The use of cell phones in the subway for protection especially for the afternoon and evening shifts. Many women have no other option than to work at night when there is greater danger of rape and violence. This is an employment deterrent.
When doing her taxes, one woman was refused by Revenue Canada to accept her TTC Metro pass because she got it from Ontario Works through volunteering. It took her years before she found out she was eligible for not only the TTC Metro pass but also a clothing allowance. “The information on ALL other benefits should be given.” One case worker told her that she is only there to get money when she inquired about benefits. Does not her 100’s of hours of work – looking for work – count for something?
The choice between taxi or ambulance is important to us. Many prefer a taxi because it brings less attention than a fire truck, police cruiser and an ambulance. Of course some of this could be avoided with home care. With physical restraints in travelling a taxi is a less stressful mode of transportation. Why are some people eligible for “taxis chits” on release from the hospital, and others not? Discrimination?
Transportation comes with the notion of freedom of movement. Many of us have been unable to participate in family and extended family events. This isolation can weigh heavy when holiday time comes. It has been years since we have had a vacation.
Catchment areas
The Catchment concept works well for some groups but interferes with poor women getting their needs met. The distribution of catchment areas in Toronto makes it difficult for women to access specific services and programmes. If they were aware of what each catchment area offered it could make the difference on housing decisions. Give people what they need and share info about the different services with TTC tickets to get there.
Our lives are so transient that when we get a service or a service provider that takes interest/is knowledgeable and/or validates our experiences, just moving to another area can end the service and/or positive relationship that often takes months to build up. It’s about filling out new forms and starting all over again, and again, and again. The services available when living in a shelter changes when we move to another area. Familiarity to our surroundings gives a greater sense of safety and security.
The women expressed their frustration that St Clair and Runnymede are in 3 catchment areas. How does someone new to Toronto navigate through this? It’s important again to remember how transient the poor are shifting from small rural communities to the city, city to city, and province to province looking for work/help trying to survive.
Language – a disconnect
As a grassroots group we often find ourselves reading articles from research or newspapers that soften or distort our daily-lived experiences. From a grassroots perspective when we discuss food security or insecurity that means malnutrition for us. Many women have lost a number of teeth and we all have a multiplicity of health issues regarding our dental care.
Literature doesn’t reflect the depth of the issue. How malnourished are we? Can a doctor recognize what stage we are at? Can a police officer interpret that the source of “irratic” public behaviour lies in not eating for 2 days? Rather than being carted off to jail or CAMH to be medicated, packaged and labelled for a lifetime in the criminal justice or mental health care system, something as simple as food is the answer. Knowledge is powerful. It’s also cost effective.
Is it Canadian “sensibility” or the inability to accept that malnutrition has been woven into our perfect tapestry that hinders progress? It is not our responsibility as Canadians to rent buildings, buy/store food, and spend millions of hours in volunteer work for distribution. That is why we pay taxes. It is our responsibility to make sure that this doesn’t happen in the first place. Food banks have no place in a country as rich as Canada.
The Service Canada website “encouraging us to work” maintains the lazy poor stereotype. The “helping” industry makes a living on our poverty as we go to food banks. “Hindering” industry better describes the daily-lived experiences of those seeking “aid/benefits”.
The poor are a specific class within our society with specific roles to play as are the other groups. Our socialization and life experiences have shaped who we are as individuals, family members, and citizens within each of our respective groups. The status quo excludes our voices in these processes and represents even today a white middle/upper class ideology.
Participating in forums, symposiums, workshops, conferences, meetings, and programs has exposed us to an array of research and info about us and for us that would fill libraries and it does. The cost must be enormous. Some literature refers to us as having “authority” and “immediate gratification” issues. That’s the post modern version of criminal and immoral.
The language of proposals for funding are a nightmare. It appears redundant and the formats are difficult to understand. We just want to let you know what we want to do according to the theme, how we want to do it, and how much it will cost? When we do projects we also need to be paid. Including a wage when applying for funding is an important aspect that few grassroots groups know about.
“Your so articulate.” What does that mean? We can talk? Or does it mean that we are so stratified as a society that one group has to learn the “language” of another in order to be understood. To engage in productive dialogue to end poverty, we need to take a look at the disconnect in language between each stratified group. Make the media accountable to you. Make sure that all voices are heard. What happened in this province in the late 90’s can never happen again.
Using our ideas
Many of the women have lived in Toronto for years and have been involved with a number of programs and services at a variety of agencies and organizations. In this process women have come up with ideas and/or began “programs” on their own with no funding. However, there have been times when they shared their ideas/info with staff at meetings or individually. In time they found that their program/idea was adapted with full funding and “I was left out in the cold.” No thanks. No financial compensation. Give honour and payment where both are due.
Support our ideas with the understanding that we are the “experts” of our own realities. Realities that often include on a daily bases dealing with those in “authority” who have never had our daily-lived experiences. The frustration is on both sides and calling out lack of funding as an excuse has ceased to be acceptable. If we can live on pittance even when working then surely together we can come up with a system that is equitable for all. The fact that some of you are unionizing is frightening for us. We want out and you appear to be bunkering in.
In FORWARD’s 2008 Report to CEDAW the women expressed how they felt about the barriers to participation in public affairs which for us is the limited world of food banks, drop-ins centres, shelters, agencies and organizations created to support us.
“Why can’t we run these places? We know how the women feel.”
We don’t need a university degree to care about each other.”
“We don’t need social workers. We need advocates.”
“If we had justice, we wouldn’t need charity.”
“They are more concerned about covering their
own *%#*# than what happens to me.”
This is always a difficult message to deliver because of our deep gratitude to everyone out there who have sacrificed so much of your time, your families time, effort and even money to help elevate our suffering. To end this we need major structural changes. We need you to ask yourself, Does my work maintain poverty or does it lead to its end? We love you.
Guaranteed Annual (LICO) Income
There is one idea we would like you to embrace and that is the Guaranteed Annual LICO Income, non-taxable – why would we tax an individual and bring them below a poverty line?, full health benefits – it will take us decades to recover from the last 15 years, annual cost of living increase – to protect us from the market economy that nickel and dime us now with every increase in the minimum wage, free university education – OSAP loan loopholes have eroded the system, a cap on rental units and home ownership – to stabilize our families and communities. The GAI is not an excuse to extensively end programs; this will happen organically. Shelters will lose 30% – 50% of its clients.
Since the Poverty Reduction hearings of 2009 we are seeing more articles in the media reflecting the reality of the crisis and no end to the number of solutions and opinions expressed by the public in discussions. Is this a language disconnect or does “reducing” poverty mean that it’s okay for some to live in it?
Of the $150B spent of social assistance alone last year in Canada how much actually got in the hands of recipients? This “marketization” of the poor is draining our economy and has left recipients as the focus of the “problem” and worse off than ever in all aspects of basic necessities and human rights.
In the coming months you will begin to hear more about the Guaranteed Annual Income (GAI) and the different theories that go with it. Known as the Speenhamland experiment, the GAI first came up in late 18th century England as a progressive method to deal with the working and non-working poor. The “principal of less eligibility” was its solution. The recipient can not receive aid any higher than the lowest wage earner (in the worst jobs society had to offer). It came to be seen as undermining the work-ethic with “no financial incentive to work”. Infant deaths were at an 80% level!
Swanson(2001) notes “If the poor were portrayed as drunkards, spendthrifts, lazy, promiscuous, and insufficiently religious, even subhuman, then it was easier to believe that they deserved the conditions awaiting them in English factories and poorhouses.”
Even before Darwin came up with the theory of natural selection the mind set of the English upper-class was well in place as exemplified by a quote from Rev Joseph Townsend in 1785. “It seems to be a law of nature that the poor should … fulfill the most servile, the most sordid, and the most ignoble offices in the community. The stock of human happiness is thereby much increased, whilst the more delicate are not only relieved from drudgery, and freed from those occasional employments which would make them miserable, but are left at liberty … to pursue those callings which are suited to their various dispositions.”
These principles, attitudes and the workhouses were quickly transferred to Canada. Today the rates are tied to basic need rather than to the lowest wage rates. However, the “principle of less eligibility” is still reflected in the widespread view that people should not be “better off on social assistance” than they would be working full time at a minimum wage job. In fact the 7 basic concepts of the English Poor Laws are intact today. The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) states in its preamble:
* Emphasizing that the eradication of apartheid, all forms of racism, racial discrimination, colonialism, neo-colonialism, aggression, foreign occupation and domination and interference in the internal affairs of States is essential to the full enjoyment of the rights of men and women,
From lowest wage rates to basic needs, comprehensive to incremental change, it just doesn’t work. Unless we change our ingrained socialized attitudes toward each other, this same continual, cyclical dissatisfaction with all the methods will prevail as the 7th English poor law concept predicts.
Canadian history is complicit with the function and necessity of an underclass. Dr. Patrick Colquhoun a police reformer in 1806 stated, “Poverty is a most necessary and indispensable ingredient in a society, without which nations and communities could not exist in a state of civilization.”
Charlotte Whitton, director of Child and Family Welfare, considered the Widow’s Pension (from husbands who sacrificed their lives for this country in WW1) was “destructive of personal effort and self-dependence and so disruptive of the very basis of initiative, enterprise, and strength of character that must be the greatest resource of any people. Whitton worked to establish social workers in the emerging welfare system. She referred to recipients as “(they) swarm into relief on a year round basis”, raising their living standards beyond anything that they have ever known.” (It was the Depression). Compulsory record of earnings, continual investigation of relief recipients, and a “no work, no relief” policy were the foundation for these policies. By 1936, her recommendations were in place. Social Workers got jobs to control the unemployed and ensured they took low wage casual jobs.
In the 1971 Senate Report David Croll stated that, ”Poverty is a great issue of our times”. (If poverty is to be eliminated,) “it is for the citizens of Canada to demand that this be our primary project; a project that will stir the world’s imagination and commands its respect. We need search no further for a national purpose.”
When the Queen signed off in the 80’s, we were left with the task of defining who we are as a nation in this “global village” of ours. Rather than focusing on our identity in the last 30 years we have been involved in one “conflict” after another not of our making. WE are peace keepers!
In 1992 Christopher Sarlo from the Fraser Institute wrote a report called Poverty in Canada. He stated that poverty was “not a problem” and called the poor immature and their problems had more to do with delayed gratification. So now we’re stupid and immoral. The formula he used gave us the 21.6% cut off in 1995 that led to malnutrition, homelessness, apprehension of our children, the disintegration of our families, deterioration of mental health and for some criminal records. To promote research that has brought so much devastation into peoples lives begs for an explanation.
Downloading to municipalities in the 90’s made it very personal and only exacerbated an already debilitating situation. Many people lost their jobs and homes and were vulnerable to the medias relentless poor bashing that by the way hindered us from getting jobs. We can only express that the hatred toward us was palatable during this historic era.
In 2007 the Human rights treaty implementation – Consensus on Canada -law sheet, stated that many Canadians live in poverty, resulting in serious social problems and group-based disadvantage. The treaty bodies have repeatedly expressed grave concern, particularly about:
• High poverty rates of certain groups, especially women — in particular Aboriginal women, elderly women living alone, single mothers, older women, women of colour, immigrant women, and women with disabilities (CESCR 2006, para 15; CEDAW 2003, paras. 357, 358; CCPR 1999, para. 20); children (CRC 2003, para. 43; and Aboriginal people (CESCR 2006, para. 15; CERD 2002, para. 331; CESCR 1998, para. 17).
• Cuts to social assistance, inadequate welfare rates and restricted access to welfare, implementation of workfare programs, restrictions on employment insurance, inadequate minimum wage rates, and provincial clawbacks of the National Child Benefit Supplement from social assistance recipients CESCR 2006, paras. 21, 23; CCPR 2006, para. 24; CCPR 1999, para. 18; CESCR 1998, paras. 20, 21, 22, 30).
• Disastrous levels of homelessness (CESCR 2006, paras. 28, 62; CESCR 1998, paras. 24, 34, 35, 46) and resulting damaging effects, including damage to health (CESCR 2006, para. 57; CCPR 1999, para. 12).
• Lack of adequate housing, especially for children and youth (CESCR 1998, para. 35, CRC 1995, para. 17), Aboriginal peoples (CESCR 2006, para. 24; CRC 1995, para. 17), and women (CESCR 2006, para. 26; CEDAW 2003, paras. 383, 384).
• High hunger rates. In 1993, CESCR called on Canadian governments to eliminate the need for food banks (para. 26). In 1998, CESCR noted that, despite its earlier recommendation, the number of food banks had doubled during the 1990s and food banks were still unable to meet demand (CESCR 1998, para. 33). In 2006, CESCR called on Canada to intensify its efforts to address the issue of food insecurity and hunger (CESCR 2006, para. 61).
The persistence of poverty, especially in a wealthy and industrialized nation like Canada, is clearly regarded by the treaty bodies as a human rights failure (Poverty & Human Rights Centre, 2007).
When it comes to the Guaranteed Annual (LICO) Income and the concept of “generosity”, we would like to remind you of Speenhamland. It was believed to be a progressive and generous program at the time yet the poor lived in squalor with unbelievable hardships and no rights. Generosity is not the question today – $150B is extremely generous.
It’s about justice. If we are going to put this amount of money into social assistance than it should make a substantial change in our quality of life.
Below is a variety of methods used to calculate the number of Canadians living in poverty
Poverty Measure (Source) Poverty Rate Number in Poverty
60% of median income (OECD)* 19% 6.2 million
50% of median income (OECD)* 13% 4.2 million
Market Basket Measure (HRSDC) 12% 3.9 million
Low Income Cut-off After Tax (StatsCan) 11% 3.6 million
40% of median income (OECD) 7% 2.3 million
Basic Needs Measure (Chris Sarlo-Fraser Institute) 5% 1.5 million
(Canada Without Poverty (CWP), April 2009)
*Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Take the number of people living in poverty in Canada and give them the Stats Canada before tax LICO rate which “a single adult would receive from $22,171 to $15,262 a year” depending on where they live (National Council on Welfare, 2009). Some people will need the full amount while others can have their incomes increased to the poverty line. When exceeding the rate, we pay the customary taxes. This must be non-taxable with a yearly cost of living increase.
This will end poverty among the elderly and rid us of the cumbersome, unrealistic EI. Distribution can be done through Revenue Canada. We need viable employment and if this can’t be produced then we need to provide “a buffer zone” to protect people from falling further into poverty and adding a multiplicity of other cost related burdens to the system. Poverty is a social disease and the programs and policies that reflect discrimination and stereotyping must be replaced by a new kind of thinking.
We create poverty when we assume “to help” or demand “to regulate” the life of another human being instead of recognizing how our own attitudes and ideologies maintain it. Poverty is rarely treated as a consequence of economic or societal changes like the ebb and flow or rather the plummeting or soaring of the market economy. Some might say the problem with the poor has to do with dependency. No, it’s an abusive interdependent relationship.
As Canadians we have done very well with democracy but we need to revisit this concept. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary 1974, “Democracy is the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions and privileges.” The vote and majority rule can not stand on their own. They are the tools we use to obtain a true democracy.
The market economy does create wealth but at the expense of whom? How can one report profits when employees are going to food banks and living in substandard housing? For the market economy to flourish it requires a large pool of workers to chose from at the lowest wage with few or no benefits. For millions of over qualified Canadians that means “survival” jobs and the poverty that comes with it. What kind of market economy system in this new millennium do we want to create within the framework of a true democracy? That’s the question we need to be answering.
“International comparisons show that, compared to other major OECD countries, Canada had the highest percentage of college and university-educated workers who earned less than half of the national median employment income in 2006. International indicators showed that 18% of university-educated adults and 23% of college-educated adults aged 25 to 64 in Canada earned less than half the national median employment income in 2006. This meant that these workers’ annual earnings were less than $16,917 before taxes and transfers” (StatCan website, 2010).
Statistics Canada has refused to endorse any metric as a measure of poverty, including the low-income cut off it publishes, without a mandate to do so from the federal government. The UN Committees have been asking the government of Canada to provide a poverty line for more than a decade.
To honour our position at the UN, we need to honour our commitments.
We are ending the first decade of this millennium and have certainly been presented with many challenges. We need to take the time to reflect on who we are as a people and as a nation among the international communities. Our “global village” is getting smaller and Mother Earth needs tending to.
We have been given the opportunity in our lifetimes to look poverty in the face and really make it history. Again in the words of David Croll advocating the eradication of poverty,
“It is for the citizens of Canada to demand
that this be
our primary project;
a project that will stir the world’s imagination
and commands its respect.
We need search no further for a national purpose.”
References
Cheryl Smith, Peacock Poverty on-line magazine, 2009
College and university graduates with low earnings in Canada – Statistics Canada, www.statcan.gc.ca Demographic and labour market characteristics
Colin Hughes (Social Worker, Community Development and Prevention Program, Children’s Aid Society of Toronto), 40th Parliament, 2nd Session
Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, 2009
Fighting Poverty: The Best Way to Beat the Recession, Ontario Association of Food Banks 2009
FORWARD (FOR Women’s Autonomy, Rights and Dignity), Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Canada’s Human Rights Violations Against the
Poor, Poverty is the worst form of violence – Ghandi, 2008
Gender aspects of Employment Insurance presentation to the Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women by Ken Battle, March 2009
Copyright © 2009 by The Caledon Institute of Social Policy
Human rights treaty implementation – Consensus on Canada -law sheet,
Canada’s failure to address poverty, Poverty & Human Rights Centre, 2007
Last frontier of legal prejudice: Attitudes toward people with mental disabilities are based on myths, Toronto Star, Sunday, April 25, 2010
Laurie, N (2008). The cost of poverty: Analysis of the economic cost of poverty in Ontario. Ontario Association of Food Banks
Merriam Webster Dictionary, 1974
Miloon Kothari, HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Tenth session, 17 February 2009, Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the right to development: Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Mission to Canada (9 to 22 October 2007),
National Council on Welfare, Fact Sheet 1 Source: Statistics Canada. Low income cut-offs for 2008 and low income measures for 2007. June 2009. Catalogue no. 75F0002M —No. 002. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75f0002m/75f0002m2009002-eng.pdf
Poor Bashing, Jean Swanson, 2001
Statistics Canada, “Changing Patterns in Canadian Homeownership and Shelter Costs”, 2006 Census, p. 22, http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/analysis/shelter/ pdf/97-554-XIE2006001.pdf.
The Cost of Poverty Report: An Analysis of thr Economoc Cost of Poverty in Ontario, Ontario Association of Food Banks 2008 (OAFB)
We Are Neighbours, The Dream Team, 2008
What is Canada’s Poverty Rate? Rob Rainer, Canada Without Poverty (CWP), April 2009
Why is it so tough to get ahead? How our tangled social programs pathologize the transition to self-reliance, John Stapleton, November 2007
Why don’t we want the poor to own anything? Our relentless social policy journey toward destitution for the 900,000 poorest people in Ontario, John Stapleton, October 2009
