Anti-Poverty Actions Tomorrow and Thursday
September 26, 2005

Low-income Hamiltonians and anti-poverty activists will begin a trek to Toronto tomorrow morning for social assistance rates that reflect the real cost of living, "safe and affordable housing", and an end to the clawback of the national child benefit supplement.

Supporters of the Campaign for Adequate Welfare and Disability Benefits (CAWDB) will gather at Hamilton City Hall at 9 am to join the province-wide "Walk, Wheel and Ride for Dignity" action that will culminate in a rally on Thursday morning at Queen's Park. Participants in the latter are converging on Toronto from across Ontario, including walkers from Ottawa who started out on September 10.

The action marks the 10th anniversary of a 22% cut in social assistance imposed in 1995 by the then newly-elected Mike Harris government. The reductions remain in place, compounded by a failure to provide cost of living increases for all but one of the subsequent ten years. During that period homelessness and poverty have sharply increased across Ontario with more than one-fifth of Hamiltonians now officially living below the low-income cutoff line.

A report last year from the Social Planning and Research Council found that the maximum assistance available to a single male is nearly $150 a month LESS than what is required just for rent and food. Welfare payments to a family of four in Hamilton amount to about 55% of the minimum defined by the poverty line.

In 1998, the federal government introduced a national child benefit payment to low-income families of at least $100 per child, but the Ontario government nullified its intended effect by deducting the amount dollar-for-dollar from provincial support payments. Premier McGuinty campaigned on a platform of ending this clawback but has yet to fulfill the promise.

The protestors are also demanding a minimum wage of $10 an hour. "It's high time the provincial government did something about poverty in Ontario ", says John Argue, Coordinator of the Ontario Coalition for Social Justice. "It's shameful that we live in a society that ignores the fact that children go hungry, that families live on the street, and that working full-time isn't a guarantee that you won't live in poverty."

Tuesday morning's events in Hamilton include information pickets at various downtown government offices. A bus has been organized to take local residents to the Thursday rally at Queen's Park. It will leave Thursday morning at 9:30 am from the Wesley Centre on Ferguson Street. For information or to book a seat, contact CAWDB at 905-546-8755 or huttonp@web.ca.

CAWDB meets twice a month at First Pilgrim United Church on Main Street East. Its objectives include "a living income or living wage reflecting the real cost of living in our community for everyone, regardless of individual circumstances".

Additional information is available on the CATCH website at
http://www.hamiltoncatch.org/pdfs/cawdb%20flyer.pdf.

See http://www.walkwheelridefordignity.org/index.html for more info on the province-wide march and
http://www.sprc.hamilton.on.ca/Reports/povincfullrprt04.pdf for the Social Planning and Research Council report on poverty in Hamilton.