$72-84 billion for Ontarians this means between $2,299 and $2,895 every year.

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17

th
, a day designated by the United
Nations General Assembly to promote awareness of the need to eliminate poverty and
destitution in all countries. While its important to recognize a specific day to address
Eradicating Poverty, its something that we need to be thinking about on a regular basis because
hunger doesnt happen once a year. We also need to identify with at a more personal level, and
then perhaps wed be willing to coordinate to do something about it. Right here in Bruce Grey
Owen Sound that is happening. We are talking, we are listening. We encourage you to talk to us
too.
Below are accumulated scenes witnessed and heard over the years, with variations to protect
identity.
Janet is a senior who just suffered another financial blow. Her twin sister broke her hip; she
finds that they must make a choice between covering the costs of transportation, paying for
drugs not covered under the plan, paying for car insurance and moving out of their family home.
They know that somewhere, there is a place where they have to cut to make ends meet, they
started with living with less heat, not going to the doctors, denying themselves medication.
Carol followed her partner to another community and thought theyd have a new start only to
find that he refuses to change. He continues his abuse of drugs or alcohol, a cycle of hope, hate
and love. The money is spent in the spiral of drugs and alcohol. Carol too finds herself needing
something to fill the void; she spends money buying a piece of new clothing. They are not going
to make the end of the month. She now finds herself trying to cross a familiar road with a
bundle buggy and two children hanging on to the edges.
A young man is sitting on the bus, his child sits playing on the smart phone oblivious to their
circumstances. John came to the big city with aspirations of good job. He went to school and got
a degree. There are no jobs in the city that use his degree, he could however leave to another
province for a job offer there, but family court prevents him from leaving so far from the
mother. He holds down a job that will not promise advancement and there is no union. He gets
to buff metal for minimum wage. Hes still waiting for daycare and in the meantime, hes
subjected to the whims of an unstable mother. He looks at his son and for a moment thinks it
would be easier to give him up. The bus comes to a stop. The son takes Johns hand
immediately; his son holds absolute trust and unconditional love for his father. They walk off
and head to the big brown building.



Marriage dissolved, Laura finds herself as an immigrant living in a new country scrambling to pay
for huge lawyers fees for divorce. She also gets the call that her sister is in the hospital and her
mother pleads with Laura to send money. Laura has assets, but cash poor. She cant sell
anything because of the legal proceedings. The legal proceedings have eaten more than half the
value of her assets, credit card is maxed, and she uses other cards to revolve the loans. Shes
driving a five year old car and pulls into a parking lot barren of cars. Shes relieved.

Greg has been working at a factory for years. Pay was enough to get by and enough to help his
Mom and Dad. Dad suffers a stroke, disabling him, leaving him in a wheelchair. The factory
decided to shut down and move to Mexico. Greg was making 22 dollars an hour for labour work.
Greg takes on two part time jobs, still its not enough to pay cover the needed costs to make the
home truly accessible. Hes at his wits end, makes a phone call. He hangs up and gets in his car.
Chase and Joanne are on OSDP, each was receiving 1250 a month living in different residences.
They started attending more events together and over time fell in love. They decided to move
together, their income was chopped and now they receive less than what they would have
received if they were single. They are afraid to tell the agency that a baby is on the way. They
cant make ends meet, so rather than increase the income, they were given a bus ticket.

All of these people are well dressed, with kempt hair but broken pride. They enter the building,
pick a ticket and sit down with others, some who are obviously homeless. They are all there
together waiting in line to apply for a food voucher and a bit of groceries. They sit amongst each
other not separated by class or race but united by the common issue of poverty. Janet sits there
wondering less of food and wondering if they can make rent. John sits in his chair trying to be
stoic, thinking that no one should be happy here, but his son who is innocent and full of life runs
off to play with Carols children. The children are all oblivious to their precarious situation.
Laura doesnt know whether she should be social, or hang her head in shame, she wonders
whether they will provide considering she has assets. Greg is angry, he shouts to the staff about
moving the line quicker and complaining that he needs to get back to his parents because the
PSWs only stay for 2 hours. Hed already been there for 1 hours waiting for his ticket to be
called. Chase pats Joannes belly worried about what the system is going to do about the baby
that is going to come; Jack is developmentally delayed and Joanne has high needs too.
Thats the truth about food bank lines; its filled with all kinds of people coming from different
sectors of life. In fact, it could be your neighbor, or your sister, aunt, brother mom and dad.
What if we started looking at poverty in a different way? Rather than people being strangers,
realize that they could very well be someone you know that is using the food bank. What if we


started looking at poverty as something can be contained and that perhaps its time to stop
thinking that poverty is inevitable. What if we stopped thinking that poverty is just about food
and food banks? What if we really could give a prescription for poverty? What if we dared to
buck the trend? The answer to poverty is in training and education and its providing more low
income housing. The answer is also better accessible daycare. The answer is to better accessible
mental health care. The answer is lobbying companies to come rural cities. The answer is to
have other satellite colleges and universities come to the city. The answer is to provide the
transportation infrastructure to make the area viable to companies. Perhaps its not just
thinking about what comes first, the chicken or the egg- maybe its a combination.
The answer is in acknowledging the rights of disabled to live their lives to the fullest of their
capacity. The answer is pushing for a living wage. The answer is in the rights to give seniors the
dignity to live out their lives in peace. The answer is in volunteering. The answer is in controlling
the cost demands of insurance companies. The answer lies between those who struggle and
those who are providing the services to those that struggle. The answer is drawing together job
seekers, bankers, community developers, entrepreneurs, city councilors, indigenous, and other
stake holders to find out what is stopping us and then finding out what we can do to break the
barriers that confine us. The answer is seeking out other communities across our country and
other countries to find what has worked for them that helped reduce poverty. The answer is in
realizing youre a community not an island.
There are many people who are actively trying to keep the focus on poverty related issues and
what we can do about it. There are many dedicated people out there seeking to understand
precarious lives, poverty issues and working to try and find solutions to it because poverty is an
issue that affects us all. We want to hear from you because without your voice, solutions cannot
be found.