The Poverty Project

Wheelchair etiquette

2010-12-14T22:41:32-05:00

By Maggie Hughes When you see a wheelchair, especially a big powered one, with an empty seat because the person who uses it is having to push it, what goes through your mind? Do you ignore the person, because you think they don't "need" to use the chair and thereby should be punished, so you are justified in ignoring them? There are many reasons people use these power wheelchairs, usually because...

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Province announces social assistance review and changes Special Diet Allowance

2010-11-30T21:38:44-05:00

By Bill Johnston The Ontario government today announced its long-promised review of social assistance in the province, while also saying it will change rather than scrap the Special Diet Allowance. The review is to be conducted by Frances Lankin, United Way Toronto's past President and CEO and a former NDP cabinet minister, and Dr. Munir Sheikh, Canada's former Chief Statistician. The...

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Ontario moves on housing as 25 in 5 Network lays out a plan for 2011

2010-11-29T22:50:28-05:00

By Bill Johnston The McGuinty government announced a new affordable housing strategy in Hamilton today, about the same time as a coalition of poverty reduction advocates urged the Ontario government to redouble its efforts to cut poverty by 25 per cent by 2013 or it will fall short of that goal. The government's announcement said it was introducing a Strong Communities through Affordable Housing...

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Demands for a healthy increase in social assistance rates

2010-11-26T17:10:49-05:00

By Bill Johnston The posters said things like: "Let's make poverty history." "More justice, less poverty." "1 in 5 children live in poverty." "Stop robbing our children." And "No one who works for a living should live in poverty." Some 90 people braved the cold and wind (CHML said it felt like minus 10) to march from Gore Park to a rally at City Hall this morning to demand a first step toward...

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Rally Friday to save the Special Diet Allowance and raise the rates

2010-11-22T11:07:35-05:00

By Bill Johnston The Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits has organized a rally for this Friday morning for save the Special Diet Allowance and push for higher Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program benefits. Friday, Nov. 26 Gather at Gore Park at 10 a.m. March to City Hall at 10:30 a.m. There will be a peitition to sign that will be presented at Queen's Park a few...

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Farmers' market plan doesn't meet customers' needs

2010-11-18T15:22:14-05:00

By Maggie Hughes Saturday Nov. 12 I went through the current farmers' market at about 3 p.m. and saw many empty stalls. Owners were being told how many days or hours they can operate a stall. If you cut back on paying stalls, you cut back on income coming from a much needed business – farmers supplying food. I have also been told 12 to 24 stalls will not be allowed into the “new” farmers' market,...

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How the rich get richer

2010-10-16T10:56:19-04:00

By Maggie Hughes How many billion dollars does one person need in their lifetime? According to the recent Forbes list, even $53 billion isn't enough. Now let's ask ourselves who owns our factories. Why have we lost so many jobs? Why did our recent economic summit still call for Hamilton to make itself more attractive for outside (anyplace but here) business and employees? I didn't hear anything...

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Mayoral candidates to debate housing issues

2010-10-03T19:30:39-04:00

A City of Hamilton Mayoral Candidates’ Debate will take place Monday October 4 (United Nations’ World Habitat Day) at Jamesville Community Centre, 209 MacNab Street North from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. Come and hear what our candidates have to say about housing and homelessness in Hamilton. All candidates running for mayor in the upcoming election have been invited to discuss and debate housing issues...

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Let's talk about the municipal election

2010-08-26T22:08:12-04:00

By Bob Wood Municipal election day is fast approaching. On Monday October 25, we'll all head off to the polling stations and cast our ballots for the candidates for various offices who we believe will best reflect our world view (or in this case city view) for the next four years. Our choices will, of course, be informed by debates, various public events, so-called campaign literature, election...

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A bigger picture

2010-07-29T20:17:57-04:00

By Bob Wood Tuesday I went to City Hall to watch a Hamilton Future Fund meeting. As most of you will have read, much of their discussion focused on the Pan Am stadium issue and this group’s support or opposition to the two proposed sites. But there is a broader context that needs to be taken into account. I haven’t paid as much attention to this board as I should have. It’s a group that is doing...

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Can't the Pan Am/Parapan Games Benefit the Whole Community?

2010-07-13T18:46:55-04:00

By Bob Wood I had problems with the pursuit of the Pan Am/Parapan Games but I put those aside when the games were actually awarded last fall. I'm one of those guys who think these big international events don't really build community and, in fact, can do damage. (In the interest of full disclosure, I was at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 when the unheard of happened and a man had a baby.) But...

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Precedent setting municipal planning

2010-07-08T21:20:47-04:00

By Bob Wood An Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) ruling that came out earlier this year may have implications for tenants and others living in Hamilton. The ruling involved an attempt by to use zoning tools to “clean up” a 10 block area in Kitchener known as Cedar Hill. It seems that Cedar Hill needs cleaning up as 20 per cent of this area’s residents are persons with disabilities and/or persons in...

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Bad vibrations

2010-06-23T23:03:46-04:00

By Maggie Hughes The earthquake was all that the local TV channel could talk about. Different people were calling in basically saying the same thing about their experience. As a person that has to deal with MS all the time, my experience was a bit different. The vibrations caused pain to shoot up my arms as the table started moving, and when I tried to stand up to leave the apartment, it shot up...

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Videos on the Special Diet Allowance cuts

2010-06-21T21:50:14-04:00

For those who missed the rally last Thursday opposing the cuts to the Special Diet Allowance, Maggie Hughes has posted a video of part of the event. And watch this video for one person's poignant story about what losing the Special Diet Allowance will mean to him.

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Hear the speech Wednesday, march for change Thursday

2010-06-14T22:21:32-04:00

By Maggie Hughes John Stapleton will be giving his talk on poverty this Wednesday June 16 and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty will be doing a rally in Gore Park over the Special Diet Allowance this Thursday June 17. Over the years, I have watched various governments cut social programs instead of taking more tax from the power house global businesses. They can’t fight off large corporate...

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