SEPT. 2015: Actually.... Canada's mainstream media flat out lied with absolutely not truth in Canada Immigration and Syrian child and father.... LIED... without any basis of fact.... turns out the Canada Syrian sister sponsored another brother...??? ewwww and millions and millions of us no longer pay any attention 2 the CNNs and FOX of Canada- global at least is more honest.... how disappointed and cruel to the Canadian public.... and 1, 444 Canadians do NOT represent 36 MILLION people in Canada.... so keep your polls... chill out ok..... we are smart, educated and truly Canadian and we are savvy enough to pick the diamonds from the coals of any and all parties.... ok? imho
---------
Syria the graveyard of US /UNITED NATIONS credibility
WTF??? Never an application for Syrian boy or father from Canada Aunt
SWEET JESUS, MOTHER MARY AND JOSEPH- there was NEV-A an application for this boy or family - WTF??? Earlier reports said Canada rejected a refugee application from the boy’s family in June. But the boy’s B.C.-based aunt clarified Thursday, saying she had not yet submitted an application to sponsor his immediate family. In fact, she had applied for another member of her family, she said.
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/chris-alexander-suspends-campaign-after-news-that-canada-rejected-drowned-boys-refugee-application
NOR IRAN-
PLEASE NOTE: POINTS OF ORDER- Sponsoring refugees is a huge amount of work...and care and compassion and a lot of time and faith and being there embracing them for at least 3-5 years. ALSO: ensuring that if u sponsor them... they promise:
1) to stay in Canada
2) keep their money in Canada
3) not turn around and move to the big cities as soon as they are landed and fill their temporary refugee promise with the church groups or which ever 'recognized' group sponsors them in communities across Canada
4) When they get their Canada Citizenship, they stay in Canada not hide their tax money back in the country they refugeed from.....
5) STAY IN CANADA AND ACCEPT CANADA'S INCLUSIVENESS- we love our gays and women equal men by law in Canada... and be part of Canada and mean it... imho
----------------
QUOTE:
In the process, Syria has become the graveyard of U.S. credibility.
This was not some humanitarian problem distant from the center of U.S. interests. It was a crisis at the heart of the Middle East that produced a vacuum of sovereignty that has attracted and empowered some of the worst people in the world. Inaction was a conscious, determined choice on the part of the Obama White House. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and CIA Director David Petraeus advocated arming favorable proxies. Sunni friends and allies in the region asked, then begged, for U.S. leadership. All were overruled or ignored.
In the process, Syria has become the graveyard of U.S. credibility. The chemical weapons “red line.” “The tide of war is receding.” “Don’t do stupid [stuff].” These are global punch lines. “The analogy we use around here sometimes,” said Obama of the Islamic State, “and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.” Now the goal to “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State looks unachievable with the current strategy and resources. “The time has come for President Assad to step aside,” said Obama in 2011. Yet Assad will likely outlast Obama in power.
What explains Obama’s high tolerance for humiliation and mass atrocities in Syria? The Syrian regime is Iran’s proxy, propped up by billions of dollars each year. And Obama wanted nothing to interfere with the prospects for a nuclear deal with Iran. He was, as Hof has said, “reluctant to offend the Iranians at this critical juncture.” So the effective concession of Syria as an Iranian zone of influence is just one more cost of the president’s legacy nuclear agreement.
Never mind that Iran will now have tens of billions of unfrozen assets to strengthen Assad’s struggling military. And never mind that Assad’s atrocities are one of the main recruiting tools for the Islamic State and other Sunni radicals. All of which is likely to extend a war that no one can win, which has incubated regional and global threats — and thrown a small body in a red T-shirt against a distant shore.
At many points during the past four years, even relatively small actions might have reduced the pace of civilian casualties in Syria. How hard would it have been to destroy the helicopters dropping barrel bombs on neighborhoods? A number of options well short of major intervention might have reduced the regime’s destructive power and/or strengthened the capabilities of more responsible forces. All were untaken.
The horrific results of Obama’s failure in Syria
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-horrific-results-of-obamas-strategy-in-syria/2015/09/03/c16c117a-526c-11e5-933e-7d06c647a395_story.html
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QUOTE: “If they can’t work together to save these children,” Adnan Hadad, an activist from the Syrian city of Aleppo, wrote on Twitter as the image of the boy went viral, “the world leaders better find another planet to rule.”
Exodus of Syrians Highlights Political Failure of the West
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/world/middleeast/exodus-of-syrians-highlights-political-failure-of-the-west.html?smid=fb-share
BLOGGED
CANADA MILITARY NEWS- God's
Watching- Remembering Katrina...post to troops and personal observations
2009/Waylon Jennings -House of the Rising Sun for Katrina/ Why is the kindness
and goodness of our Christian nations so horrifically abused with $$$$trillions
of 50 years fed in2 waste and despots and thieves pockets? why?-The Foreign Aid
Debate/why we still believe in decency and good of each other 2 still give as
Canadians in a jaded-faded world -and will because it's just right-God's
watching
----------------- sept. 5, 2015 QUOTE;
Refugees expressed a keen awareness that Hungary does not want them — and said the feeling is mutual.
“Hungary is a poor country. They can’t give us the life we’re looking for. They can’t even give us food or water,” said Yahya Lababidi, a tank-top-wearing 21-year-old law student from the northern Syrian province of Idlib. “We want to go to the rich countries.”
People in Europe are full of fear’ over refugee influx
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/hungarys-leader-to-migrants-please-dont-come/2015/09/03/d5244c6d-53d8-4e82-b9d7-35ec41ca2944_story.html
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BLOGGED:
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: Muslims killing Muslims ...in 2015 WHY???/Why have Jews- First
Peoples been so persecuted throughout history/Shattered Christian Minorities of
the Middle East/When will the world turn off the $$$ to Muslim Hate and
War???/Our planet- our children of this world deserve education and a decent
world imho/articles and links
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1,447 Canadian adults do not speak for 36 Million of us-
B.C. less willing to welcome refugees than rest Canada: poll
http://www.vancouversun.com/less+willing+welcome+refugees+than+rest+canada+poll/11341326/story.html …
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COMMENT:
United Nations has created and allowed yet another monster infestation that never should have spiralled so out of control over so many years..... there is no organizing no plans no back up created in the year 2015 for this humanity disgrace. Billions of everyday people are just sick of it..... not one politician in Canada better use this for 'voting privilege' ...NOT ONE.... we called this the Middle East Rwanda 4 years ago .... GOD IS ANGRY... and so are the world's everyday people just trying to live another day... imho....
Canada has given and given and given over the years... and $$$trillions is wasted and hidden in2 pockets over and over... We learned the hard way in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s... and still this horror continues.
This is not the shame for everyday billions - this is the shame for United Nations and war mongers who hide under the auspices of United Nations and Security Council... which is overrun with the Persian Snakes and Saudi rats.... imho.... no one in the Muslim states cares a bit about this child.... as they eat Christians, gays, women, girls, unions, education, freedom etc. like sharks hunting goldfish.... Shame United Nations and Muslims Nations.... (WHO ARE THE $$$RICHEST IN THE WORLD).... girls and women matter- One Billion Rising- for NEDAs of this world...
A Saudi Prince and Persian Bigwig told Canada and Nato troops to simply bomb Afghanistan in 2003... and just start over.... how about we help those who can and will achieve and grow...
NOT one politician in Canada better make a peep.... NOT ONE.... Canadians are just getting used to our First Nations horrific suffering.... and Ebola... and horrific world blowing itself up at the cost of humanity.... DISBAND UNITED NATIONS NOW!!!!- the final disgrace
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Over 3 Billion people live on less than $2.50 a day!!
blogspot
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: September 2014- not a thing has changed since the 70s.... POVERTY RAGES THE PLANET- USA RUSSIA CHINA PLAY F**KING WAR MONGERING ... STILL... and our beloved troops crawl home with their victories sold by politicians 4$$$$- Muslims fix urselves/Stop having 2 many children 4 the planet/Environmentfolks- kids matter more than dogs. God bless our troops - on this day POOR MATTERS MORE THAN DUMB HATE
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2014/09/canada-military-news-september-2014-not.html
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The hypocrisy of it all- not in our yards... but Europe's ok...
Egyptian billionaire wants to buy an island to house migrants
http://www.sabreakingnews.co.za/2015/09/03/egyptian-billionaire-wants-to-buy-an-island-to-house-migrants/---------------
SEE!!!!! WHAT'S THE POINT!!!... sent money could not really afford ...again..... come on....
Nepal hasn't spent any of billions donated to recover from devastating quakes:
https://news.vice.com/article/nepal-hasnt-spent-any-of-the-billions-donated-to-recover-from-devastating-quakes via @vicenews
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COMMENT:
See... all the media - hashtags/signs electronic etc. etc- suddenly make the Rwanda of the Middle East now the big 'it' (and we have screamed about this for over 4 years)... BUT... in the real world on the streets - with the real people ... and the years of sacrifice by 2 many just getting by... this is a nightmare... that the UN let rot for over 5 years.... and what about the people who have waited years and applied through the right channels... worked immigration for many years.... United Nations never had a plan..and never will... that's the travesty...billions of people live in horrific poverty and abuse.... it's like this is the newest 'media' toy.... and all will get bored and move on... and everyday people will... once again... clean up the messes.... we should be doing better than this... Europe is sinking and Muslim states could care less...imho
Half of Germans worried by refugee crisis: survey
BERLIN (Reuters) - Half of Germans are concerned the surging number of asylum seekers in the country is overwhelming them and authorities, a survey showed on Thursday, underlining widespread unease about the country's ability to cope with an unprecedented influx.
Germany is the European Union's biggest recipient of asylum seekers, with the number expected to quadruple to 800,000 this year. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has said Germany can cope with such a surge this year but not in the longer term.
The poll on the "Fears of the Germans" for R+V insurance firm was conducted before that drastically revised forecast became public so the number of Germans harboring concerns about the refugee crisis would probably have been far higher had it been conducted later, political scientist Manfred Schmidt said.
Germans in the former Communist east, where unemployment is generally higher than in the west and the far-right has a stronger grip, are more worried that Germany will be overburdened than their western counterparts, the poll showed.
Heidelberg University professor Schmidt said easterners generally had little experience of immigration and were less tolerant of foreign cultures than westerners. Some see themselves as "the losers of reunification" without a fair share of Germany's wealth, he said.
He said while Germany was used to immigration, in the past migrants had tended to come from former German territories, the former Communist East, the Soviet Union or other countries in the former eastern bloc. Now many are coming from the Middle East or southeastern Europe.
Almost one in two Germans thought relations with foreigners living here could deteriorate if more migrants arrive and the same number feared political extremism would rise. In recent weeks there have been almost daily attacks on shelters, with many suspected to have been carried out by the far-right.
Nonetheless, the Germans' top concern is the euro zone debt crisis, with two-thirds worried that they will have to cough up for a disproportionate share of the costs.
The annual "angst" poll of 2,373 people was conducted between June 5 and July 17.
(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Toby Chopra)
http://news.yahoo.com/half-germans-worried-asylum-seekers-shows-survey-092151736--business.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=tw
COMMENT:
The Europeans are foolish. People will keep coming and coming, until there is not enough food and shelter to house them, and it is more miserable in the EU than where they came from. It's just human nature.
The EU needs to deal with the root cause of the problem, but it is afraid to do so, as is the UN.
The UN and the EU need to stop the Middle East wars by getting involved....but they don't WANT to get involved. So....the refugees keep coming and it will go on and on.
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COMMENT:
United Nations created and played this nightmare- as we said over 4 years ago when it was the Rwanda of the Middle East - and nobody was listening.... Europe is being destroyed and Muslims States still don't care..... the indifference of Muslim Nations and lack of commitment for their own Muslim peoples (and God knows Christians, gays, union, women, freedoms and basic rights don't do well in Muslim states) has turned the world's humanity to shame.... the United Nations has $$$TRILLIONS THEY WASTE ... AND MUSLIM NATIONS ARE THE $$RICHEST ON PLANET... if United Nations cared more for humanity than the environment.... perhaps the world's 3 BILLION would not have to live on $2.50 a day..... enough... enough... CHRISTIANS ARE TIRED.... TIRED... TIRED.... ALL OVER THE WORLD... TIRED...
Orbán says migrants threaten ‘Christian’ Europe
Hungarian PM’s comments come ahead of his talks in Brussels on the migrant crisis.
By MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG 9/3/15, 11:49 AM CET Updated 9/3/15, 5:19 PM CET
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered a passionate defense of his government’s controversial refugee policies, casting the debate as a clash of cultures that threatens to undo Europe.
“Europe is not being pressured by a ‘refugee problem’ or a ‘refugee situation,’” he wrote in an op-ed for Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “Rather, the continent is under threat of an ever-growing modern exodus.”
Orbán is meeting in Brussels with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Thursday to discuss the refugee crisis.
His commentary underscores the deep divide between Western and Eastern Europe over how to handle the crisis. Germany and other countries believe Europe has a moral obligation to help the refugees, an argument Orbán firmly rejected.
He said Europe’s focus needed to be on protecting its borders, not letting in more refugees. Hungary lies on the main route for refugees from Syria and other troubled on their way to northern Europe and has struggled to manage the influx.
Budapest is constructing a wire fence to keep the refugees at bay, but so far it has had little impact.
“The protection of our borders is the first and most important question,” Orbán said in his piece for the conservative daily. “There is no point in discussing any other issue until the flood has been halted.”
The Hungarian leader, who has drawn criticism in recent years both at home and abroad for what many view as a dictatorial style, drew on the vocabulary of the far right to make his case, referring to asylum seekers not as refugees but as “illegal aliens.”
He stressed that the “exodus” threatens to undermine Europe’s culture and way of life.
“We shouldn’t forget that the people who are coming here grew up in a different religion and represent a completely different culture. Most are not Christian, but Muslim,” he said. “Or is it not worrying that Europe’s Christian culture is already barely able to maintain its own set of Christian values?”
Orbán blamed the crisis on what he said were the EU’s “failed immigration policies” as well as those in Europe who have said they would welcome the refugees.
“It is irresponsible for any European politician to give migrants hope of a better life and encourage to leave everything behind and risk their lives en route to Europe,” he said.
http://www.politico.eu/article/orban-migrants-threaten-christian-europe-identity-refugees-asylum-crisis/
comment:
Thank you Mr Orban for being brave enough to stand up and speak the truth.
It’s a pity that the majority of other EU leaders are less prepared to stand up for their countries and their people, while being more concerned about their own personal rise to wealth, fame and fortune.
Yes, Christians should be compassionate towards those in need. And indeed they are. But there will inevitably be a limit to how far any country can go before it fails, and is itself unable to cope both socially and economically. This is just common sense.
Those criticising Christians for not doing enough should think hard about this truth and, equally, should recognise the lengths that Christian people and organisations do actually go to to help muslims and others in need throughout the world.
They should also consider the reception that Christians would (and do) receive when they seek refugee status in any muslim country, where they are treated most horrifically by comparison, simply because they are Christian.
One cannot help wondering whether this serves not only to spell out the clear differences in the priorities of the Islamic and Christian religions as practiced by those in each case, but whether it also demonstrates beyond any doubt that the Islamic and Christian cultures are so opposed in their values that successful medium-term integration of such vast numbers of muslims into Western society, whether deemed Christian or not, is highly unlikely to succeed at the least, and at the worst has the potential for considerable social unrest?
By implication, if this becomes the case, it won’t be the fault of the Christians who offered them sanctuary.
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CANADA- AGED- PERSONAL FINANCES
Poll: Parents feel pinch of supporting adult kids
TORONTO (CP) -A new poll suggests adult children are draining their parents' retirement nest eggs.
The CIBC survey has found that two-thirds of Canadian parents polled say they're feeling the financial impact of supporting their adult children.
Almost half of them said supporting their adult kids is hampering their ability to save for themselves, while 20 per cent say it has actually delayed their retirement.
One in four parents said they spend more than $500 a month to cover their adult kids' rent, groceries and other bills.
The top two expenses are groceries and other household expenses and cellphone bills.
The survey of 1,054 randomly selected Canadian parents was conducted two weeks ago. It's considered accurate within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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F**KING EU/USA/CANADA-PUTIN WHITE MAN'S WAR HAS DESTROYED BEAUTIFUL UKRAINE...
UKRAINE
Sweet Jesus, Mother Mary and Joseph
Putin responsible for Ukraine violence caused by anti-Putin forces, Nicholson says
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/putin-responsible-for-ukraine-violence-caused-by-anti-putin-forces-nicholson-says
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ON TARGET: Ukrainian conflict about more than good vs. evil
SCOTT TAYLOR
Published August 30, 2015 - 8:41pm
Last Updated August 30, 2015 - 8:46pm
http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1308362-on-target-ukrainian-conflict-about-more-than-good-vs.-evil
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Four ways Canadians can help refugees
Don't feel helpless in the refugee crisis. You can pressure politicians, sponsor a refugee or donate money and resources.
“You don’t have to feel helpless,” says Ratna Omidvar, the chair of Lifeline Syria, an organization aiming to bring at least 1000 Syrian refugees to Canada.
Thousands of kilometers away from the Turkish beach where the lifeless bodies of young migrant children washed up on Wednesday, Canadians can still make a profound impact on the global refugee crisis.
There are several things ordinary Canadians can do to help people fleeing war-torn countries.
1. Pressure your local MP and the federal government
In early August, Conservative leader Stephen Harper pledged to accept 10,000 refugees from Iraq and Syria, if re-elected.
Considering the drastic situation, Omidvar believes that promise should be fulfilled in the short term.
“Individuals can make things happen,” she
said. “The first thing people should do is speak to your MP and help
make the federal government accountable.”
Public pressure has brought results in
Iceland, where the government was forced into creating a refugee action
committee after a massive online outcry at the country only accepting
approximately 50 refugees from Syria.
Lifeline Syria wants the GTA to initially
accept 1000 refugees, but for that to happen, Omidvar says “the
government needs to play ball.”
“They should assign more visa officers in camps in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. They could do that immediately,” she said.
“It’s happened before during the Indochinese
crisis. We brought roughly 60,000 people here because of that. It was a
very successful and very Canadian response.
“They could also suspend some of the
regulations that prevent us from processing refugees that are now in
Europe. The system says they are safe there, but we know what’s
happening in train stations in Budapest.
“Third, Syrians in Canada with family in camps should be able to arrange an interim family unification.
“At least let’s start with imagination as opposed to process.”
Canadians can volunteer to support an individual or a family for one year, and they don’t have to do it alone.
You can collaborate with friends, neighbours,
colleagues, professional organizations and social clubs to provide the
time and money commitment necessary.
In 1979, after the Vietnam War, 7,000 Canadian groups sponsored 29,269 refugees, thanks to a grassroots Toronto-based operation known as Operation Lifeline.
Government estimates place the cost of
settling an individual refugee around $12,000. A family of four costs
approximately $25,000.
Although Omidvar thinks those estimates are
conservative considering the cost of living in the GTA, the money is
rarely the issue.
“People fixate on the money,” she said.
“Yes, you have to raise it, but that’s not
difficult. You have to commit the time. That is the real commitment from
private sponsors.”
Although it’s a considerable obligation to adopt, the Lifeline Syria website
perhaps puts it best when it says: “Sponsoring a refugee family from
Syria will probably be something you will be proud of for your whole
life.”
3. Donate to groups dedicated to bringing refugees to Canada
Groups like Lifeline Syria need the financial means to continue their work.
If you can’t afford to donate, pledging your time and effort is equally powerful.
The first step is contacting the organization, or attending a Lifeline Syria information session, which you can find details about here when they are posted.
4. Donate directly to an aid organization working on the ground
Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) are often at the front line of the crisis.
The United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, is one of the most effective agencies, although far from the only one.
UNICEF, the Canadian Red Cross, Oxfam Canada, CARE Canada, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, Migration Aid, Doctors Without Borders, World Vision, are all equally meritorious and in need of financial help.
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My wish- Wish all elected Canada politicians; of all levels, would spend less time on cultivating their secretarian fiefdoms instead of governing 4 each and all Canadians where there is so much global hate and destruction spewing even to our children- Wish actual elected politicians would make honest promises and work together as all parties ... focusing on caring and nurturing all Canadians and our environment for the future generations.... we are so world weary.... and the media is so depressing and phony..... CANADIANS DESERVE BETTER.... don't u think.
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I so want one
Cuddly Robot Comforts the Elderly
Baby Seal Soothes Stress and Increases Motivation
http://web-japan.org/trends/09_sci-tech/sci090917.html
PET CORNER: Fight against animal testing at Dal resumes
PAT LEE Last Updated August 31, 2015 - 8:45am
For Amy Scott, it is old news that Dalhousie University is using cats to do laboratory experiments.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1308366-pet-corner-fight-against-animal-testing-at-dal-resumes
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Eight years ago, the Dartmouth resident went to war with the school when she claimed puppies were being used for experiments at their medical school.
SEE ALSO: More Pet Corners
Adoptable of the week
At the time, the school publicly denied the charge and the university had Facebook yank a page she started called Stop Dogs and Puppies from Being Murdered at Dalhousie University.
Besides unequivocally denying the allegations, the university said at the time it would explore its legal options to clear its name.
But Scott says she saw the puppies herself when she slipped into a room where they were kept. She said there were about 100 dogs, and she’s amazed there weren’t more complaints at the time because you could hear them.
“I heard them barking, all these dogs. Anyone who had classes in the (area) or went to Tim Hortons or the cafeteria would have heard them.”
Despite her failed efforts, including a 12,000-name petition that went nowhere, Scott believes the school has continued to use animals for testing and wasn’t surprised to hear cats are now in the school’s laboratories.
As I outlined in my column last week, Dalhousie has been in the news again over the issue of animal testing after someone spotted a pallet of No Name canned cat food at a grocery store with the school’s name attached to the stack.
What Dalhousie has or hasn’t been up to most recently is unclear as they have imposed a media blackout, save a statement given to the Dal Gazette by spokeswoman Janet Bryson, who confirmed cats are being used for research to cure amblyopia, commonly known as lazy eye.
An experiment involving research into amblyopia included sewing the cats’ eyes shut for at least 10 days and keeping them in complete darkness, Truro Daily News reported in 2013.
Cats are also euthanized after the fact to study their brains, research has indicated.
Kittens have been bred at the school for research into amblyopia, Truro Daily News reported in the same article.
For Scott, it all sounded familiar.
“It’s the same old thing,” she told me a few days ago. “It’s been going on for so long at Dal and they just keep spinning it.”
Although she has backed off the fight over the years, she’s happy to see others take it up.
Scott does plan to attend a protest planned for noon next Sunday at Dalhousie.
“I’m really glad this is happening. I’ve tried in the past to get protests going and people were really scared.”
The replacement Facebook page she started called Stop Animal Testing in Nova Scotia is also still active, with new voices entering the discussion.
“I hope students ask questions and keep asking questions,” she said.
“Push harder for Dal to do the right thing and look into non-animal alternatives.”
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love u Evan.... just love ya...
Election 2015: Evan Solomon on the week ahead
Evan Solomon’s three things to watch in the campaign week to come
August 28, 2015
http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/election-2015-evan-solomon-on-the-week-ahead/
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CANADA
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
A lift for the poor
For the long-suffering public, there are very few actual perks. Companies are coming and going, gobbling up other businesses at record-breaking speed. Most of these have shareholders who also want their cut of the action.
Far too many folk are on social assistance or disability benefits and their income is shockingly below the poverty line. In the past, they worked at various jobs that others would not accept due to hours and low pay. Now they’ve been reduced to a daily grind where money runs out long before the month ends. What do they do?
The solution is a guaranteed annual wage for most of these hard-pressed Canadians. With it, they’d be able to pay in full their monthly debts and have extra money for little pleasures, and even emergencies, which is impossible now with their small incomes. Government waste is everywhere and sadly increasing due to the latest jaw-dropping murky mess now unravelling at its worst in Ottawa. People for the people — it’s the only approach that will work.
Marina Outhouse, Digby
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CANADA’S HORRIFIC SECRET- SINGLE MOMS AND POVERTY
The Facts About Women and Poverty
Commonly asked questions about women and poverty in Canada
We
help women in Canada to move out of poverty by funding life-changing programs
designed especially for them. Through these unique programs, they can learn a
skilled trade, start a small business, or get work experience.
1. Canada is a
rich country - is poverty really a problem?
2. Why are so many people in Canada poor?
3. How is poverty measured in Canada?
4. Why should we focus on women in poverty, rather than men in poverty?
5. Why are women more likely to be poor?
6. Is the earning gap between men and women really that significant?
7. Whats the best way to help a woman get out of poverty?
8. Sources
2. Why are so many people in Canada poor?
3. How is poverty measured in Canada?
4. Why should we focus on women in poverty, rather than men in poverty?
5. Why are women more likely to be poor?
6. Is the earning gap between men and women really that significant?
7. Whats the best way to help a woman get out of poverty?
8. Sources
Canada is a rich country—is poverty really a problem?
·
Once the full impact of the recent global economic crisis is calculated, it
is estimated that as many as 4.8 million Canadians will be poor.1 If you gathered this many
people in one place—men, women and children—you would create a city twice the
size of Toronto.
·
On average, 9% of people living in Canada are poor. However, some groups
are much more likely to be poor than others:
·
Aboriginal women (First Nations, Métis, Inuit)—36%2
·
Visible minority women—35%3
·
Women with disabilities—26%4
·
Single senior women—14%7
·
Some groups have appallingly high rates of poverty: In Manitoba, almost 70%
of Aboriginal children under the age of six are poor.8
·
Compared to other developed countries, Canada’s poverty rate is high—we
rank 20th out of 31 OECD countries.9 High
poverty makes a country less competitive, its people less healthy, and its
society less equal.
Why are so many people in Canada poor?
·
In Canada, people may be poor for many reasons:
·
They don’t have enough skills or education to get a good job, one where
they can earn enough to live above the poverty line.
·
There are not enough good jobs in their community.
·
They have lost their job and can’t find another.
·
They have a physical or mental disability that limits their ability to
work.
·
They have an accident or develop an illness and can no longer work.
·
They can’t find a good job because of workplace discrimination. Immigrants
often have trouble finding work because of language barriers and the refusal of
many employers to recognize education or experience from outside Canada, no
matter how impressive.
·
They live on welfare. People who rely on social assistance live in poverty.10 For
example, a woman raising one child on her own could receive as little as
$14,829 per year in welfare benefits. That’s only $1,235 per month. After
paying rent, she would have very little left to buy food, clothing, bus
tickets, school supplies, and other essentials.
How is poverty measured in Canada?
·
Poverty can be described as ABSOLUTE or RELATIVE:
·
Absolute poverty describes deprivation, a situation where a
person can’t afford basic needs such as adequate food, shelter, clothing, and
transportation. Our research shows that 38% of the women who attend our
economic development programs cannot meet their family’s basic needs.11
·
Relative poverty describes inequality, a situation where a person is
noticeably worse off than most people in his or her community. Many low income
families can barely afford to pay the rent and put food on the table, let alone
pay for dental care, eyeglasses, school outings, sports equipment for the kids,
Internet access, or prescription drugs. These are things that most people in
Canada take for granted and would consider necessities.12
·
Our statistics are based upon Low-Income Cut Offs (LICO) as determined by
Statistics Canada.13 LICOs
measure relative poverty and inequality.
·
We focus on inequality because a large gap between rich and poor can have a
devastating impact on a nation’s overall economic health. At the 2011 World
Economic Forum, senior economists called the current increase in income
inequality the most serious challenge facing the world. It not only
“exacerbates political instability” but can also cause economic crises:
inequality peaked in 1929 and again in 2007, directly before the two worst
economic meltdowns of the past 100 years.14
Why should we focus on women and poverty, rather than men and poverty?
·
Helping poor women helps poor children.
·
When children are poor, it’s usually because their mother is poor. Eighty
percent of all lone-parent families are headed by women. This adds up to over 1
million families, and they are among the poorest in the country. Single moms
have a net worth of only about $17,000, while single dads have about $80,000.15 (Net
worth is the total value of possessions such as a car, furniture, real estate,
savings, stocks, RRSPs, etc.)
·
Poverty makes children sick. Poor children often start out as underweight
babies, which sets them up for future health problems. As they grow up, kids
who live in poverty suffer from higher rates of asthma, diabetes, mental health
issues—even heart disease.
·
Poor children have more speech and hearing problems, and score lower on
cognitive tests. Not surprisingly, they are also more likely to struggle in
school. Research shows that poor children have “reduced motivation to learn,
delayed cognitive development, lower achievement, less participation in
extra-curricular activities, lower career aspirations, interrupted school
attendance, lower university attendance, an increased risk of illiteracy, and
higher drop-out rates.”16
·
Poverty can endanger women’s safety.
·
Women who leave a partner to raise children on their own are more than five
times likely to live in poverty than if they stay with their partner.17
·
There’s plenty of evidence showing abused women sometimes stay in abusive
relationships because they know that leaving will plunge themselves and their
children into poverty.18
Why are women more likely to be poor?
·
Women are more likely than men to be poor for two main reasons:
·
Women spend more time doing unpaid work, leaving less time for paid work.
·
Each day, men and women work about the same number of hours, but women do
more unpaid work (housework, childcare, meal preparation, eldercare, etc.)20 Women do
about 4.2 hours a day doing unpaid work, while men do about 2.2 hours.21
Stay-at-home dads do less childcare (under 1.6 hours per day) than stay-at-home
moms (3.1 hours per day).22
·
In addition to doing this domestic work, 70% of women with children under
the age of six also work outside the home. Not surprisingly, women are much
more likely than men to lose time from their paid work because of family
responsibilities.23
·
In order to juggle their domestic responsibilities, many women choose
part-time, seasonal, contract, or temporary jobs. Unfortunately, most of these
jobs are low paid, with no security, few opportunities for advancement, and no
health benefits.
·
Most poor women in Canada are working, but can’t earn enough to lift
themselves out of poverty because they are clustered in these low paid and
precarious jobs.26
·
Canada’s lack of affordable childcare—and the lack of workplace policies
such as flex-time and caregiver leave—often forces women into career choices
that severely limit their earning power. That’s why many women refuse overtime
and promotions, and select careers that promise to be ‘family-friendly.’
Women’s domestic responsibilities also make it harder for them to return to
school or attend training sessions that could advance their career.
·
Women who interrupt their career to care for children or other family members
have much lower earnings: in one study, women aged forty who had interrupted
their careers for at least three years for maternity leave were earning about
30% less than women with no children.27
·
The double-duty demands of home and workplace force many women to sacrifice
their long-term economic security. This is a high price to pay for being a
mother.
·
Women face a gender wage gap.
·
Women who work full-time earn about 71 cents for every dollar earned by
men.28
·
Some people argue that this gap can be explained by the fact that women
can’t or won’t work as many hours as men. However, this wage gap persists even
when hourly wages are compared: women earn an average of $17.96 per hour
compared to $21.43 for men, meaning that women earn 83.8% of the male hourly
wage.29
·
The wage gap also persists even when women have the same education and
experience as men. Although more women graduate from university, they are not
earning as much as men. Female graduates earn an average of $62,800, males earn
$91,800.30
·
Part of the problem is that jobs that have been traditionally done by women
pay less than traditional male jobs. This is true “regardless of the value of
the work to the employer or the consumer.”31 The more
a job is considered ‘women’s work,’ the less it pays.
·
There is a perception that some traditionally male-dominated trades deter
women from entering them: 53% of Canadians believe that women are detered from
becoming a construction worker, 50% believe women are deterred from becoming a
heavy equipment operator and 47% believe women are deterred from becoming
mechanics.32
Is the earning gap between men and women really that significant?
·
Since women still shoulder most of the domestic load and still face wage
discrimination, it’s not surprising that - over their lifetime – they earn much
less than men.
·
In 2007, the estimated average lifetime earnings for men was $803,000. On
average, women earn about 65% of that, or $519,600. While women’s lifetime
earnings are higher now than in the 1970s, given the stubbornness of the
current wage gap it seems unlikely that women’s average lifetime earnings will
ever equal men’s.
·
Women’s lower earning power means they are at a high risk of falling into
poverty if they have children and then become separated, divorced, or widowed.
They are less able to save for their retirement and more likely to be poor in
their senior years. And, as previously mentioned, the fear of falling into
poverty means that some women stay in abusive relationships, despite the
danger.
·
It’s true many women today pursue demanding careers and are very
successful. However, the top female CEOs usually have partners who take on the
bulk of the domestic work and childcare.33
·
When women work outside the home and also do most of the domestic work,
their long-term health suffers. According to Statistics Canada, women at every
age are more likely than men to describe their days as ‘quite a bit’ or
‘extremely’ stressful.34
·
There are now twice as many working women in Canada as there were thirty
years ago35. This
ranks among one of the most dramatic social changes of the last century.
However, the failure of governments and employers to adequately respond to this
new reality leaves women at an incredible disadvantage. Women “simply cannot
participate in the labour market on an equal footing with men.36 According
to Human Resources Development Canada, “One of the major obstacles to gender
equality has been the failure of workplace and social institutions,
historically organized around the male breadwinner model of the family, to keep
pace with changing labour market trends.”36
What’s the best way to help a woman get out of poverty?
·
The Canadian Women’s Foundation works to advance women’s economic equality
by bringing together community organizations to share research, skills, and the
most promising practices for moving low-income women out of poverty.
·
We also invest in community programs that help women to increase their
income by launching a small business, learn a skilled trade, or work in a job
placement.
·
In the programs we fund, women learn to identify their strengths and skills
and build upon them. This positive ‘asset-based’ approach avoids creating
long-term dependency and builds self-confidence—an essential tool for starting
the difficult journey out of poverty. Each woman receives customized
just-in-time services, whether her immediate priority is food and shelter,
budgeting skills, developing personal goals, creating a business plan, learning
a trade, or being matched with a mentor. The goal is to help her to build a
solid foundation that includes stable housing, childcare, employment skills,
self-confidence, financial literacy, a strong social network, and a supportive
family.
·
Through this approach, we have helped thousands of women from across Canada
to move out of poverty. Along the way, each woman has contributed to Canada’s
economy and created a more secure future for herself and her children.
Sources
1. Up from 2008 when just over 3 million Canadians lived
in poverty. The
Problem of Poverty Post-Recession, Armine Yalnizyan, Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives, August 2010, p. 3. At the time of the 2006 census,
2,503,281 people lived in the City of Toronto (comprised of the former
municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Toronto, and
York).
3. Based on 2000 data. Women in Canada, p. 200.
4. Ibid, p. 254.
5. Ibid, p. 297.
6. Economic Wellbeing, Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, Cara Williams, Statistics Canada, December 2010, p. 6.7. Ibid, p. 21.
8. Based on 2007 data. Women's Poverty and the Recession, Monica Townson, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, September 2009, p. 11.
9. Child poverty capital: 68% of aboriginal kids poor, report card states, Kevin Rollason, Winnipeg Free Press, November 26, 2010.
10. OECD Facebook 2010: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics - Poverty Rates and Poverty Gaps, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
11. The only province in which welfare rates are above the poverty line is Newfoundland and Labrador, at $19,297 per year for a lone parent with one child. Welfare Incomes 2009 - Postcards, National Council on Welfare.
12. Beyond Survival: Helping Women Transition Out of Poverty, Canadian Women’s Foundation, 2010.
13. See for example: The Impact of Poverty on the Health of Children and Youth, Rachel Singer, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, April 2003, p. 11-12.
14. The statistics used in Question 1 are based upon Low-Income Cut Offs (LICO) from Statistics Canada. LICOs describe an income ‘line’ which changes according to the number of people in a family, the size of their community, and so on. Families living below LICO have to spend more of their income on necessities than the average family. While LICO was originally designed to measure relative poverty, however, some scholars argue that LICO should now be considered a measure of absolute poverty because its baseline calculation is no longer being updated. See: Are Statistics Canada’s Low-Income Cutoffs an absolute or relative poverty measure?, Andrew Mitchell and Richard Shillington, undated.
15. “Davos WEF 2011: Wealth inequality is the ‘most serious challenge for the world,” Philip Aldrick, The Telegraph, January 26, 2011.
16. Refers to median net worth. Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report—Economic Well-Being, , p. 23.
17. Supporting Education: Building Canada - Child Poverty and Schools, Canadian Teacher’s Federation, 2009, p. 1.
18. Canadian women on their own are poorest of the poor, Monica Townson, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sept. 8, 2009.
3. Based on 2000 data. Women in Canada, p. 200.
4. Ibid, p. 254.
5. Ibid, p. 297.
6. Economic Wellbeing, Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, Cara Williams, Statistics Canada, December 2010, p. 6.7. Ibid, p. 21.
8. Based on 2007 data. Women's Poverty and the Recession, Monica Townson, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, September 2009, p. 11.
9. Child poverty capital: 68% of aboriginal kids poor, report card states, Kevin Rollason, Winnipeg Free Press, November 26, 2010.
10. OECD Facebook 2010: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics - Poverty Rates and Poverty Gaps, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
11. The only province in which welfare rates are above the poverty line is Newfoundland and Labrador, at $19,297 per year for a lone parent with one child. Welfare Incomes 2009 - Postcards, National Council on Welfare.
12. Beyond Survival: Helping Women Transition Out of Poverty, Canadian Women’s Foundation, 2010.
13. See for example: The Impact of Poverty on the Health of Children and Youth, Rachel Singer, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, April 2003, p. 11-12.
14. The statistics used in Question 1 are based upon Low-Income Cut Offs (LICO) from Statistics Canada. LICOs describe an income ‘line’ which changes according to the number of people in a family, the size of their community, and so on. Families living below LICO have to spend more of their income on necessities than the average family. While LICO was originally designed to measure relative poverty, however, some scholars argue that LICO should now be considered a measure of absolute poverty because its baseline calculation is no longer being updated. See: Are Statistics Canada’s Low-Income Cutoffs an absolute or relative poverty measure?, Andrew Mitchell and Richard Shillington, undated.
15. “Davos WEF 2011: Wealth inequality is the ‘most serious challenge for the world,” Philip Aldrick, The Telegraph, January 26, 2011.
16. Refers to median net worth. Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report—Economic Well-Being, , p. 23.
17. Supporting Education: Building Canada - Child Poverty and Schools, Canadian Teacher’s Federation, 2009, p. 1.
18. Canadian women on their own are poorest of the poor, Monica Townson, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sept. 8, 2009.
20. Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical
Report—Economic Well-Being, Cara Williams, Statistics Canada, December 2010, p. 31. It’s true that
women were slightly less likely than men to lose their jobs in the 2008-2009
recession, but only because women are concentrated in “pink-collar” jobs. In
2009, employment for women fell 1% in 2009, compared to 2.9% for men. See “The
Pink Collar Factor,” Rebecca Lindell, The Telegram (St. John’s), December 13,
2010.
21. Cooking, Caring And Volunteering: Unpaid Work Around The World, Veerle Miranda, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, March 2011, p. 19.
22. “Women carry the load of unpaid work in rich nations,” Derek Abma, Vancouver Sun, March 5, 2011.
23. Cooking, Caring And Volunteering: Unpaid Work Around The World, p. 19.
24. Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report—Economic Well-Being, p. 109.
25. Broad Investments: Counting Women in to the Federal Budget, YWCA Canada, Jan. 20, 2009, p. 5
26. Ibid, p. 5.
27. See for example: When Working Is Not Enough To Escape Poverty: An Analysis Of Canada’s Working Poor, Dominique Fleury and Myriam Fortin, Policy Research Group, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, August 2006. : See also: Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line, Stuart Murray and Hugh Mackenzie, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, March 2007.
28. Study: Earnings of women with and without children, The Daily, Statistics Canada, March 24, 2009. Accessed April 8, 2010.
29. Women In Canada: Economic Well-Being, The Daily, Statistics Canada, Dec.16, 2010.
30. Women in the Workplace: Still a long way from equality, Canadian Labour Congress, 2008, p.10
21. Cooking, Caring And Volunteering: Unpaid Work Around The World, Veerle Miranda, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, March 2011, p. 19.
22. “Women carry the load of unpaid work in rich nations,” Derek Abma, Vancouver Sun, March 5, 2011.
23. Cooking, Caring And Volunteering: Unpaid Work Around The World, p. 19.
24. Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report—Economic Well-Being, p. 109.
25. Broad Investments: Counting Women in to the Federal Budget, YWCA Canada, Jan. 20, 2009, p. 5
26. Ibid, p. 5.
27. See for example: When Working Is Not Enough To Escape Poverty: An Analysis Of Canada’s Working Poor, Dominique Fleury and Myriam Fortin, Policy Research Group, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, August 2006. : See also: Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line, Stuart Murray and Hugh Mackenzie, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, March 2007.
28. Study: Earnings of women with and without children, The Daily, Statistics Canada, March 24, 2009. Accessed April 8, 2010.
29. Women In Canada: Economic Well-Being, The Daily, Statistics Canada, Dec.16, 2010.
30. Women in the Workplace: Still a long way from equality, Canadian Labour Congress, 2008, p.10
31. Angus Reid Omnibus Study, Canadian Women's
Foundation, 2012.
32. Women In Canada: Economic Well-Being, The Daily, December 16, 2010.
33. What is Pay Equity?, Equal Pay Coalition.
34. Halving the Double Burden, Liz Bolshaw, Women at The Top, blog March 14, 2011.
35. Percieved life stress 2009, Statistics Canada.
36. In 2006, almost 60% of all females over the age of 15 were in the paid workforce, compared to 68% of all males over the age of 15. From Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report, Statistics Canada, 2006, Fifth Edition, p. 103
37. If Women Mattered: The Case for Federally Funded Women-Centred Community Economic Development, Women’s Economic Council, 2010, p. 5.
38. Gender Equality in the Labour Market, Lessons Learned, Final Report, Human Resources Development Canada, October 2002, p.1.
32. Women In Canada: Economic Well-Being, The Daily, December 16, 2010.
33. What is Pay Equity?, Equal Pay Coalition.
34. Halving the Double Burden, Liz Bolshaw, Women at The Top, blog March 14, 2011.
35. Percieved life stress 2009, Statistics Canada.
36. In 2006, almost 60% of all females over the age of 15 were in the paid workforce, compared to 68% of all males over the age of 15. From Women in Canada: A Gender-Based Statistical Report, Statistics Canada, 2006, Fifth Edition, p. 103
37. If Women Mattered: The Case for Federally Funded Women-Centred Community Economic Development, Women’s Economic Council, 2010, p. 5.
38. Gender Equality in the Labour Market, Lessons Learned, Final Report, Human Resources Development Canada, October 2002, p.1.
-----------------
---------
CANADA-
Mothers under siege
Some say the
B.C. government has violated the human rights of single moms with its punitive
social policies.
Raven
Prince has a job at a bank, doesn’t collect welfare, and works hard to provide
a good life for her two kids. However, during an interview in her tidy East
Vancouver apartment, she told the Georgia Straight that she still senses a
stigma associated with being a single aboriginal mom when she goes out with her
children. She said that in some stores, she feels like she’s under
surveillance.
“People
are always staring,” Prince said. “I always feel singled out or something—when
I’m going shopping, especially. I always feel like I have to buy certain stuff
just so they don’t think less of me.”
That’s
not her greatest anxiety, though. The 26-year-old single mom has been on a
waiting list for more than a year for daycare for her three-year-old son,
Terence. This September, she will also need after-school care for her
five-year-old daughter, Tatiana, who will be starting Grade 1. She won’t find
out until August if Terence has been accepted.
Prince
has been able to work 22.5 hours per week at the bank because her mother has
been looking after Terence and Tatiana during the day. “My mom baby-sits; I’m
lucky to have her,” Prince said. “But now she’s going to go back to school in
September. Now it’s a matter of finding someone who is going to watch him.”
Like
Prince, thousands of single parents across the province struggle with trying to
earn a decent income, finding daycare, and ensuring their kids get a good start
in life. But new data from Statistics Canada show that whereas the incomes of
Vancouver single fathers have increased in recent years, the incomes of single
mothers are in decline. This has some women’s rights and antipoverty activists
claiming that B.C. Liberal government policies discriminate against single
mothers, who are among the poorest citizens of the province. In a curious
twist, the premier and the attorney general were both raised by single mothers.
Prince
said that her children’s father has another family and she isn’t receiving
family-maintenance payments from him. Each day, she leaves her subsidized
Native housing project in East Vancouver and takes the bus to work on the
city’s West Side. The closest child-care centre is several blocks from her
home. It makes her wish she could have attended a recent demonstration for
daycare in Vancouver.
“I
would love to have been at that protest, saying, ”˜Yeah, we need daycare,’” she
said with a smile. “But I had to be at work. I can’t afford to take a day off.”
If
there’s nobody to care for her kids, Prince might have no alternative but to go
on welfare. As a single parent “expected to work” with two children, she would
receive $1,036 per month in social assistance.
The
current welfare rate is far lower than Prince’s annual income, which clears
$20,000. It’s also significantly lower than the $1,368 per month that a single
employable parent with two kids would get if the B.C. Liberal government had
indexed the welfare rate to inflation, according to a welfare-advocacy
coalition called Raise the Rates.
Prince
said that she recently “jumped” at the chance for more hours at the bank, even
though it will mean less time with her children. “I want my kids to get ahead,”
she said. “I don’t want them growing up the way I did—the poverty that I had to
go through. That’s why I took those extra hours.”
Under
Premier Gordon Campbell, the B.C. Liberal government has introduced several
policies to discourage single parents from collecting welfare and encourage
them to find a job. Single moms and single dads are now expected to work when
their child turns three, regardless of whether or not the parent has found
childcare. Under the previous NDP government, single parents weren’t expected
to work until their child turned seven.
A
single parent with two kids in the “expected-to-work” category receives $296
less per month than a disabled single parent with two kids. The B.C. government
recently introduced a rent-supplement program for parents who make less than
$20,000, don’t live in subsidized housing, and who have less than $10,000 in
assets. Only the working poor are eligible. This rent-supplement program is not
available for those on welfare. Working poor don’t pay provincial income tax on
their first $15,000 of income.
Then
there’s all the paperwork for those who apply for a daycare subsidy. Prince
said that in the past, she could walk down the street to a government office
and fill out some forms. “Now you need a referral from your doctor or a dentist
or some sort of social worker,” she said. “What if you don’t have a social
worker? And you have to do this every six months. I have to take a whole day
off work just so I can do this. It is a big hassle because you have to go find
someone qualified to sign this. Then you’ve got to sign all the papers. Then
you’ve got to fax it out. It’s a big hassle.”
The
Campbell government eliminated the monthly earnings exemption of $200 for
welfare recipients in 2002. This means that if single parents on welfare earn
any extra income with a part-time job—and they are “expected to work”—the
provincial government will deduct those earnings, dollar for dollar, from their
social-assistance cheques.
Seth
Klein, B.C. director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, told the
Straight that B.C. is the only jurisdiction in North America that has prevented
people on welfare from topping up their incomes with part-time work. The B.C.
Liberal government also eliminated a monthly $100 exemption for
family-maintenance payments. Now the government deducts spousal payments from
welfare cheques on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
“Before
2002, it was possible for a single mother to combine welfare and other sources
of income in the course of the year and actually get just above the poverty
line,” Klein said in a phone interview. “You could also get $100 in the family
maintenance. And you add up all those different sources, and a lot of women
could just manage to nudge above the poverty line.”
Richard
Chambers, spokesperson for the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance,
told the Straight that in 2001, there were 38,000 “cases” of employable single
parents on welfare in B.C. This resulted in 101,000 people, including children,
receiving benefits. As of this April, he said, that had fallen to 14,000 cases
and 37,000 people. That’s a drop of 63 percent in both categories.
“If
they’re expected to work, the government believes that full-time employment is
much better than having people depend on income assistance for longer periods
of time by mixing combinations of part-time work and income assistance,”
Chambers said. “Full-time employment is better for the children and the
parents.”
For
Prince, one of the downsides of working is not participating in important
events in her children’s lives. She missed Tatiana’s kindergarten sports day.
“I’m going to miss her awards day,” she added.
Another
Vancouver single mother, Karen Schendlinger, told the Straight that she’s
always running from one place to another to get everything done. It doesn’t
leave a lot of time for fun.
“I
think one of the main sacrifices that I have observed in talking to other
single moms is social,” she said in a phone interview. “We don’t go out much,
you know. We maybe see each other and talk to each other on the playground when
we drop off our kids at school.”
Schendlinger,
a library technician with the Burnaby school district, said she was able to find
a two-bedroom suite in a house for $880 per month, not including utilities. She
added that she feels fortunate to have landed a job that pays $40,000 per year
but says she still must watch her expenditures closely. She acknowledged that
prior to this job, she experienced financial challenges as a single mom, often
running up large credit-card debts.
“For
three years before that, my daughter and I were living with my sister,” she
said. “We shared rent and expenses. That was a cost-saving measure for both of
us.”
The
sisters thought about buying a place, but Schendlinger said it was out of reach
in today’s housing market. She also said that she knows how to conduct
research, which is an essential skill for any single mother looking for
child-care subsidies, daycare spaces, or even an affordable place to live. “If
you don’t know how to find it, it’s really hard,” she said.
Social
activist Jean Swanson spent 14 years raising two children as a single mom. In
an interview with the Georgia Straight at the Carnegie Community Centre at Main
and Hastings streets, Swanson spoke frankly about some of her own experiences.
She said there is a big difference in the lifestyles of middle-income and
low-income single moms.
“It
takes time to be poor,” Swanson explained. “You don’t have a car. You walk to
save bus fare for the kids. You don’t go to The Bay. You keep an eye out for
rummage sales and garage sales. You sew. You don’t buy frozen lasagna, right?
You cook your beans from scratch—you don’t even buy them in a can. It takes
time.”
For
a poor single mom, she said, entertainment involves going to the park or the
library, not to places like Science World. With a laugh, she recalled once
reading an ad asking people to send in their favourite stories about the
aquarium. She has her favourite “single-mom aquarium story”.
Swanson’s
children were around nine and 10 years old at the time. They wanted hot dogs
and fries, but they also wanted to see the aquarium. There wasn’t enough money
for all of this, so Swanson decided to wait outside, giving the kids strict
instructions to stay together at all times after entering the facility.
Five
minutes later, her children emerged from the building. “They said, ”˜We miss
you, Mom,’” Swanson said fondly. “They had the hot dogs.”
Swanson,
coordinator of the Carnegie Community Action Project, said the federal Liberal
government’s decision to abolish national welfare standards in the mid 1990s
has played a “huge, huge, huge” role in letting B.C. provide inadequate rates
and deny assistance to people in need.
She
said she cofounded the Raise the Rates coalition in response to government
policies, which she claimed are causing homelessness, suffering, and early
deaths. “Poverty is the biggest cause of poor health and early death in the
world,” she said. “There is no doubt about it.”
In
1988, Swanson ran against Campbell for mayor of Vancouver. When asked what she
would tell the premier if he visited the Carnegie Community Centre today, she
replied, “It would probably be one of those conversations that passes in the
night. He would be talking about competitiveness.”
In
late May, Statistics Canada reported that half of the single-parent families in
Canada earned less than $30,000 in 2005. The median total income of single
mothers in Vancouver in 2005 was $27,700, down from $29,000 the previous year.
The median total income for male single parents in Vancouver, on the other
hand, went up from $41,900 to $45,500 over the same period.
Spokesperson
Chambers said that the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance wouldn’t
comment on the recent Statistics Canada report because the information isn’t
current. On April 1, single mothers who are expected to work received a $100
monthly increase in social assistance if they have one child and a $155 monthly
increase if they have two children.
It
was the first increase in shelter allowance since 1992. Last year, the B.C.
government posted a surplus of $2.85 billion.
Shelagh
Day, a director of the Vancouver-based Poverty and Human Rights Centre, points
out that single mothers have the highest poverty rate of any group in Canada.
In an interview with the Straight in a Cambie Street coffee shop, Day said that
single mothers are poorer as a group than Native people and the disabled.
“Most
people don’t realize that single mothers are the poorest people in the
country,” Day said. “And they don’t think about the combination of social
policies that puts women in that position.”
Day
coauthored a 2005 report, Human Rights Denied: Single Mothers on Social
Assistance in British Columbia, which stated that single mothers who work have
a 35.1-percent poverty rate, compared with a 96.2-percent poverty rate among
single-mother-led families with no income earner. She said that 20 percent of
families are headed by single parents, which makes this a major public-policy
issue.
Day
also alleged that the B.C. Liberal government’s policies toward single mothers
violate the British Columbia Human Rights Code and result in more child
poverty. To her mind, the B.C. government’s delivery of public services,
including welfare, fails to accommodate the distinctive needs and situations of
families led by single mothers.
In
2003 and 2004, British Columbia ranked worst among the provinces in terms of
child poverty, according to figures compiled by the Canadian Council on Social
Development.
“We’ve
got a rising poverty rate among single mothers in this province, while it’s
falling in the rest of Canada,” Day said. “It worsened particularly in the
three years between 2001 and 2004. In other words, under Campbell’s watch.”
In
a speech last month at the University of Ottawa, Day said that 40 percent of
Canadian single mothers and 73 percent of Native single mothers live below the
poverty line. Only 15 percent of single fathers live below the poverty line,
she said.
The
premier himself was raised by a single mother. His mother was widowed when her
husband, a UBC medical-school professor, committed suicide. During election
campaigns, Campbell frequently mentions how hard his mother, Peg, worked to
raise him and his three siblings. The Straight requested an interview with the
premier concerning his government’s policies regarding single mothers. His
office never returned the call.
“I
think it’s very unfortunate that a man in the position of power that he is
in—with personal experience of the kind that he has, apparently—would permit,
if not foster, such social policies,” Day said. “So what can you say about
this? There is a disconnect between his personal experience and what he is
actually doing. You know, he’s got policies in place under his ministers and
his government that are punishing single mothers. And everybody has to ask
why.”
When
the Straight asked Day to elaborate, she replied, “I don’t know his personal
psychology. Personal psychology of politicians is not very interesting to
speculate on. But I think it means that his interests are somewhere else. Who
he wants to serve is some other group of people.”
Swanson
had her own explanation for the premier’s policies regarding single mothers. “I
think the most important thing is the class, not the family status,” she said,
referring to Campbell’s West Side upbringing.
Gina
Whitfield spends 15 hours per week volunteering at a Lower Mainland transition
house. She told the Straight in a phone interview that the B.C. Liberal
government’s welfare rates are forcing some women to remain in abusive
relationships. Whitfield said women who spend time at the transition home have
justified their decision this way: “Well, I’m going to get hit, but at least my
kids won’t live in poverty.”
“It’s
a serious consideration,” Whitfield said.
Day
claimed that governments across the country are pursuing socially conservative
welfare policies to undermine women’s autonomy. “I think we’re still dealing
with a very deep resistance to the notion that women can make choices about
leaving relationships and living on their own and having children on their
own,” she said.
Not
every single mother lives in poverty. Shannon Johnny is one aboriginal single
mom who has beaten the odds. In an interview at a downtown coffee shop after
work, she explained that she raised her 13-year-old son with help from the
boy’s father. She works full-time as an executive assistant for an aboriginal
child-welfare organization, owns a car, and volunteers with the Urban Native
Youth Association.
“Not
all of us are on welfare,” Johnny said. “We do work hard. We want to have that
equal standard of living. I want the best for my son. I want to provide him
with opportunity and to have what other kids have.”
Johnny
estimated that she lived in 30 foster homes. She said that her mother, who had
a drinking problem, was “heartbroken” when Johnny was made a ward of the court
at the age of 13. Johnny doesn’t think of herself as being wealthy, but she
noted that she didn’t qualify for a leisure-access card from the Vancouver park
board, which provides discounted prices for swimming and skating. “I made too
much money for that,” she said.
But
the big picture is still fairly bleak, according to the statistics. Penny
Irons, executive director of the Aboriginal Mother Centre Society, told the
Straight that the single moms who come to her group’s East Vancouver centre are
“extremely poverty-stricken”. She also claimed that poverty is a factor behind
the high number of First Nations children who have been apprehended by the
provincial government, half the total number.
“They’re
on the rise for aboriginal children, while the nonaboriginal rates are going
down,” she said. “There were 9,262 kids in care as of April 30 of this year.
There were 4,678 aboriginal children in care. Aboriginal moms are definitely
being discriminated against. It’s in the research. It’s in the numbers.”
West
Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund has tried to find a woman on
welfare who will file a human-rights complaint against the B.C. government for
discriminating against single mothers. The group’s executive director, Alison
Brewin, told the Straight in a phone interview that some women chose not to be
complainants because they didn’t want to be stigmatized in their own
communities and create additional difficulties for themselves and their
children.
“The
reality is that when most of the women who thought about it went away, they
would come back and say, ”˜I don’t think I can bring that on my life,’” Brewin
said.
Brewin
used the term “adverse-effects discrimination”, which has been recognized by
the courts, to explain how the breadth of government policies violate the Human
Rights Code. Everyone may be able to apply for welfare, she said, but the
effect of B.C.’s policies is to discriminate against single mothers on the
basis of their family status and sex.
Like
the premier, Attorney General Wally Oppal was raised by a single mother. And
like the premier’s staff, his office declined to arrange an interview to
discuss whether he thinks his government’s policies result in adverse-effects
discrimination against single mothers.
----------------
CANADA- FROM FATHERS FOR LIFE CANADA
Children and Single Moms
Whether it is caused by violence or not, children living with single moms don't do well in our society. It used to be the exception.— Now it is becoming the rule and progressively worse.— Is that not child abuse too? —WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT CHILDREN FROM SINGLE-MOTHER FAMILIES
Single-Mother Family
|
Two Parent Family
|
Relative Odds1
|
|||
Problem
|
%
|
(n)2
|
%
|
(n)2
|
—
|
Hyperactivity
|
15.6
|
(69,480)
|
9.6
|
(221,573)
|
1.74
|
Conduct disorder
|
17.2
|
(73,659)
|
8.1
|
(180,786)
|
2.36
|
Emotional disorder
|
15.0
|
(67,205)
|
7.5
|
(173,714)
|
2.18
|
One or more behaviour problems
|
31.7
|
(137,460)
|
18.7
|
(418,894)
|
2.02
|
Repeated a grade 3
|
11.2
|
(36,288)
|
4.7
|
(78,026)
|
2.56
|
Current school problems 3
|
5.8
|
(18,862)
|
2.7
|
(46,120)
|
2.22
|
Social impairment
|
6.1
|
(25,105)
|
2.5
|
(51,344)
|
2.53
|
One or more total problems 3
|
40.6
|
(128,895)
|
23.6
|
(381,715)
|
2.21
|
1.
Children from single-mother families are
2.21 times (221%) as likely to have one or more total problems than those from
two-parent families, twice as likely to have an emotional disorder, etc. (The
probability of this being due to chance is smaller than 1 in 1,000)
2.
Weighted projections to reflect national
population of children.
3.
Data for items so annotated apply for 6-
to 11-year-olds only. All other data in the table apply to 4- to 11-year olds.
[Source: GROWING UP IN
CANADA, National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Human Resources
Development Canada, Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 89-550-MPE, no.1, November
1996, p. 91) Available from StatCan. It is only available in hard copy. $25
+GST)
- The study report: [US] Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: at least $112 billion a year (2008, Institute for American Values; Georgia Family Council; Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, and Families Northwest)
- Video on violent women
Back to Divorce Issues: Main Page
Children of Divorce & Separation — Statistics
Consequences of father absence
|
|
|
|
|
|
The following is from the newsletter Common Sense & Domestic Violence,
1997 12 24
|
REVOLUTION- GREEN-
just wish there was a better leader of Greens Canada
Departing Nova
Scotia Green leader imparts deep thoughts on democracy
JOANNE LIGHT
I T would be nice if the politicians would change their buzzword and give us a break from the word ‟change," on whose wings U.S. President Barack Obama (and many before him) soared eight years ago. It's a shell of a word now, having lost any momentum or meaning with unbearable overusage.
The outgoing leader of the Nova Scotia Green Party, John Percy, gave a wonderful speech on the occasion of his retirement this summer. I was lucky enough to witness it.
During his six-year tenure, he truly was an agent of change for the Greens in Nova Scotia. Then Darrell Dexter's NDP government - in an unsocially democratic ‟agent of chains" mood - doubled the fee that political parties had to pony up in order to get into the game, which stopped the Greens in their tracks. But they are regrouping with new, youthful energy and conviction, for the stakes are high. The fate of the world lies in how we consider the ecosystems that sustain us - a truth the Greens embrace.
I'd like to suggest another word instead of change that we might consider: revolution. After 10 years of chains under the Harper government, we need a revolution to revitalize the ‟true north, strong, free" description of this country and break the bonds of deceit, weakness and fear.
It remains to be seen if any of the three big-party candidates are agents of the word with which they have chosen to brand their campaigns. But they'd be wise to up the ante and evoke the stark realities inherent in the brand of ‟democratic reform" that the current government has foisted upon us.
It will require a severe jolt - a thought revolution - to wake us up and to begin to return Canada to its indigenous roots of fairness and to the scientific roots of observation. In the meantime, hear the words of someone who did bring change and for whom it was more than an empty slogan.
Here's are John Percy's wise words, which I'll quote at length from his farewell speech:
CHANGE, they tell us, is inevitable, as inevitable as our resistance to it. But change comes anyway. It's not always immediately welcome, but change settles in and we become comfortable with it eventually, just in time for another change to rock the boat.
A true conversation can only occur when both parties come to the table ready to fight for their convictions, but also willing to question them.
I find I'm much more persuasive if I'm also willing to be persuaded. So don't be trapped by ideology. It is not an exclusive construct of your opponents. When, in the face of evidence to the contrary, you refuse to accept that evidence because it will strike down the heart of your belief system, you have become an ideologue.
Well, you say, that's obvious. But it is the obvious which is so difficult to see most of the time. People say, ‟It's as plain as the nose on your face." But how much of the nose on your face can you see, unless someone holds a mirror up to you?
It's also good to keep in mind that being right too soon is socially unacceptable, and change has to be tempered, with the public good in mind, at all times.
Politics is the art of the possible. Effective politics is understanding what is possible at a given time. Listening is far more important than talking. Here's why: We humans tend to be apprehensive of change, which often leads us to make choices that guarantee that things remain the same, or change as little as possible. Needless to say, this has ramifications in everything from politics to economics. We like to stick to our routines, political parties, and our favourite meals at restaurants. Part of the perniciousness of this bias is the unwarranted assumption that another choice will be inferior or make things worse.
The status-quo bias can be summed with the saying: ‟If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - an adage that fuels our conservative tendencies.
But if we want to reform things, we have to understand power. It is a game that is played by arcane rules set down over 100 years ago and the rules are designed to be exclusive.
If you don't understand power, you get blown away by the guy who does. We are missing people who believe in justice and at the same time understand how tough power and politics are, how to make real choices. And these choices are often quite ugly.
If you want to get power, you have to be able to hold it. And you have to be able to hold it long enough to change the direction. The neo-conservatives understood this. As John Ralston Saul said, they have always been Bolsheviks. They are the Bolsheviks of the right. Their methodology is the methodology of the Bolsheviks. They took over political parties by internal coups d'tat. They worked out, scientifically, what things they needed to do and in what order to change the structures of power. They have done it stage by stage. And we are living the result of that.
The liberals sat around writing incomprehensible laws and boring policy papers. They were unwilling to engage in the real fight that was won by a minute group of extremists, who understood all too well that you can sway a thousand people by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one person by logic and by truth.
Truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful. It is as simple as that. True change will only come about when we are willing to live with the consequences.
We hardly need to be reminded that we are living in an age of confusion - a lot of us have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism or for a heavy package of despair, or even a quivering portion of hysteria. Opinions can be picked up cheap in the marketplace while such commodities as courage and fortitude and faith are in alarmingly short supply.
There is a mental fear, which provokes others of us to see the images of witches in a neighbour's yard and stampedes us to burn down this house. And there is a creeping fear of doubt, doubt of what we have been taught, of the validity of so many things we had long since taken for granted to be durable and unchanging. It has become more difficult than ever to distinguish black from white, good from evil, right from wrong.
Real systemic change will be revolutionary. And it is systemic change that we need, not changing the seating plan in the legislature. It will affect most segments of our society. Societal shifts are not easy, and will require a collective resolve most likely not seen in this country since the Second World War.
Remember that dissent is patriotic. Those with great love of their country and society are compelled to ensure that justice and compassion are meted out in equal measure to the greatest and the weakest among us. Forgetting that is tantamount to dishonouring those who, through sacrifice, allow us the freedom to cry for change and that no one is left behind. So, take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong - but the person who refuses to take sides must always be wrong. And remember the words of Pericles, who said, ‟Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you." But be careful. It is the very nature of power that it attracts the sort of people who should not have it. Politics is a prize that attracts men and women willing to do anything to win that power, and hence are willing to do anything with it once they have it.
So it's best that we practise the pessimism of the mind: see the world as it is, without rose-coloured glasses. But also practise the optimism of the will: do whatever you can, wherever you are, to make this a better world. We have to keep criticizing what's wrong, but we are also obligated to act to change what it is we are criticizing.
I look forward to all of us continuing to engage our collective hearts and minds in the never-ending process of moving humanity forward, asserting the right of universal peaceful co-existence, and the understanding that we can disagree without being disagreeable.
A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill and I take that as a mandate to keep raging against the machine. Start with your left foot and then move to the right foot. Repeat as necessary.
Joanne Light is group leader, Citizens' Climate Lobby, Halifax
If we want to reform things, we have to understand power. It is a game that is played by arcane rules set down over 100 years ago and the rules are designed to be exclusive. If you don't understand power, you get blown away by the guy who does.
John Percy, then leader of the Nova Scotia Green Party, answers
media questions during the party's provincial campaign launch in 2013. He was
accompanied by federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. RYAN TAPLIN Staff
-------------
Environmentalists shift focus to more grassroots, less government
Facing a less friendly government, green groups leave Ottawa in pursuit of public support
They've also been dealing with a major shift in the
political climate that has forced them to change their approach to everything
from carbon emissions to pipeline projects to keep up public support for their
causes.
Many have simply given up on spending a lot of time talking to the federal
government and have turned instead to local and provincial issues — and
knocking on a lot of doors.Graham Saul, executive director of Ecology Ottawa, says it's a whole different game, with more focus on generating support and donations in suburban areas.
"We've knocked on 50,000 doors in the east end of Ottawa in the past year and a half," he said in an interview with CBC News.
"These are the areas where the battle for the soul of Canada is currently being fought, and yet these are also areas where the Canadian environmental community has not made an adequate effort to develop a strong base of support."
The environmental movement has had to transform itself to get to this point, and Saul is good example of the evolution.
As the former head of the Climate Action Network, a lot of his time was spent talking about international climate issues and lobbying the federal government on action to curb emissions.
All that ended when the Harper government was elected in 2006.
'Persona non grata'
"We went almost overnight from a situation where there was an active debate and policy discussion with the federal government, to the point where anyone who cared about climate change was essentially persona non grata," he said.
Bruce Carson, a former aide to Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, says the Conservative government wasn't interested in 'cozy'
conversations with environmentalists when it came to power. (Jake
Wright/Canadian Press)
It wasn't that the Conservatives were anti-environment, it just wasn't on
their political radar when they first took power, according to Bruce Carson, a
senior adviser to Prime Minister Steven Harper from 2006 to 2009.Carson is fighting his own legal battles now and is no longer in government. But back then he was working for the new Tory government as it was, in his words, "scrambling around," trying to get a handle on the groundswell of public interest in the environment.
In contrast to the Liberals, there was little interest among Conservatives in cozy meetings with environmental groups, Carson said.
"You've got a very practical guy as the prime minister and the days of bringing people in to chat and pat them on the head and send them on their way doing nothing, those days were gone," he said in an interview.
By the time the global recession hit in 2008, public interest in the environment had dropped and environmental groups were floundering — and discovering they had no ground game.
"We're very good at what you might call the air campaign, where we're able to participate in the debate about ideas," said Saul. "But when the polls go south, we're less well-equipped to do the hard grassroots organizing.
"We had to … change our tack a little bit."
Out of Ottawa
The same had happened in the U.S. around 2005 when groups were shut out by the Bush administration, according to environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki."The challenge came when two former members of the Sierra Club in the United States published an article in which they said environmentalism is dead," said Suzuki in an interview with CBC News.
"That was the big shot that had a lot of environmental groups really reassessing what we were doing."
Many organizations in North American went back to local organizing. In Canada, several, including the David Suzuki Foundation, scaled back their Ottawa presence.
Suzuki's new cross-Canada Blue Dot Tour is an example of his new approach: appealing to youth and families. He's talking to audiences across Canada about enshrining the right to a healthy environment in the Constitution.
There's not a federal politician in sight.
"I think there is lobbying that still goes on, but we are getting back to the focus of getting grassroots support, which has always been a strength of the environmental movement," he said.
Big business?
But critics say the new green grassroots is more about fundraising that anything else."Environmentalism at the NGO level … has become a big business," said Rick Anderson in an interview with CBC.
Anderson is a political strategist and CEO of i2 Ideas & Issues, an advertising firm whose clients include the energy industry.
Environmentalist and CBC broadcaster David Suzuki in
January launched what he called his last major project, to enshrine clean air
and water in the Charter of Rights. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)
He thinks the tactics are effective, but lead to less thoughtful
environmental conversation, essentially "dumbing it down."To feed the fundraising beast you need to be in news, said Anderson. "The way to get headlines is sometimes to be outrageous, and so you take strong positions that don't necessarily lead to solutions. But they get you stories in the press, and stories in the press lead to a higher profile, and a higher profile usually leads to making more money."
But environmental activists like Tzeporah Berman point to the recent climate rally in New York that attracted more than 300,000 people, as well as growing pipeline protests, as proof these tactics are working.
"The fact you see thousands and thousands of people get out in streets all the time, from northern Quebec to British Columbia, is a direct result of more effective organizing within the environmental movement," she said in an interview from Vancouver.
Pipeline projects feeling the impact
She first got involved in huge Clayoquot Sound protests against clearcut logging in B.C. in 1993. She sees parallels with what's happening today."We've never seen closer relationships with unions and environmental groups, and First Nations and environmental groups, and scientists and environmental groups."
It's leading to growing concern in Conservative circles about effects on the energy industry and the economy.
"There's no question that if effectiveness is stopping major economic projects like the pipelines, they've been effective," said Carson.
"I never would have thought, sitting in the Centre Block in 2006, we would be having this discussion in 2014 about the inability … to move forward on an essential part of the energy economy, the transportation of energy."
Ecology Ottawa's Saul says his group is now focused on the 2015 federal election, hoping to turn local support into national momentum.
"This is a political struggle and we need to proceed in a way that reflects a political movement and a real social movement."
Which means being an environmentalist these days is about
knocking on every door you can find.
---------------
NOVA SCOTIA Kentville’s first multicultural fair receives glowing reviews
KENTVILLE - The organizer of the town’s first annual multicultural fair envisions the event getting bigger and better after a successful debut.
“I think KDCL has the intention to make this an annual event and next year will be bigger than this one, I think,” said Lynn Jin, who planned the event with the support of the Kings Development Corporation Limited (KDCL) and a team of community partners.
The fair included five food vendors, more than 14 performers and several exhibitors. More than 10 countries were represented in the various displays available in the Kentville Fire Hall from noon to 6 p.m. on Aug. 30.
Performances included songs, dancing, zither, karate and more.
Jin’s goal was to host an event that would encourage locals to “meet people from other countries, meet newcomers and make friends.”
Kentville Mayor Dave Corkum commended KDCL for coming up with a new way to bring the community together.
“I’m just blown away with the success of this. Before the end of the day there will be hundreds of people through here,” he said, noting that the talent and food showcased at the event was topnotch.
“It’s a wonderful start to what will be hopefully many more cultural fairs in Kentville to come.”
Kentville, the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, the HUB Annapolis Valley and Ross Graphic and Design offered support for the event.
------------
MAY'S VOICE VALUABLE
A Green watchdog
She has a shoestring budget, flies commercial as her ‟campaign plane" and can't get two of the big party leaders to debate her on TV.
Nevertheless, the marathon federal election campaign has taken a fairly rosy turn for Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who has a good chance of making progress on the party's goal of growing from three to 12 seats.
The latest polls have the NDP, Conservatives and Liberals all bunched up like bananas again - with each just above or below 30 per cent of voter support and no one sprinting from the pack. It looks like a minority government, and, if so, voters may want to give the feisty Green leader a few more colleagues in a Parliament where government actually can be forced to compromise and be held to account.
The Greens have good growth prospects in the seven ridings of Vancouver Island, where they are polling at 32 per cent. And on policy, Tuesday's economic statistics, showing Canada is in a mild but uneven recession, lend credence to Ms. May's green version of a timely stimulus.
As she told our editorial board in an interview, Tuesday, Ms. May believes an immediate program to upgrade the energy efficiency of public buildings and infrastructure at all levels of government would ‟put people to work fast" and curb a major source of carbon emissions. Because it could be done quickly, and deliver long-term benefits, it's a reasonable approach to priming the pump.
Longer term, she says Ottawa should become a partner in developing low-flow Fundy tidal power and possibly offshore wind turbines. Funding, she says, could be part of an initiative to add renewables to the national power grid.
The Green Party's opposition to an Energy East pipeline is a problem for this region, in our view. We think finally connecting Atlantic Canada to Western Canada's oil is an important step in energy security. Ms. May is right in saying a bitumen-only pipeline, driven by export markets, won't help supply in this region unless there is a large local investment to upgrade it to crude oil. But the first step toward that investment is getting the raw material here.
It is encouraging that Ms. May tentatively says her party ‟might" be more open to shipping crude oil east. And she is right to question the loss of refining capacity in Canada (Nova Scotians have seen at the gas pumps this week that supply can be less secure without a local refinery) and an increased focus on shipping bitumen. More state-of-the-art upgrading within Canada, close to the oilsands, probably would be better overall for the environment, employment and national energy security.
But one of the compelling features of Elizabeth May's campaign is that you can disagree with her over details of policies on energy, pipelines, corporate taxes or whatever, but still be impressed by her commitment to ‟contribute to the betterment of Parliament." No whips or heckles in Parliament; no attack ads in the campaign. If that sounds like motherhood, it isn't. Ms. May's aims of getting parliamentarians to collaborate, to recognize each other's good ideas, to stand up to an overly powerful prime minister's office, are of the utmost importance, not only in terms of democracy but in delivering good, practical, responsive government.
Indeed, fighting for the right to be a good MP may be Elizabeth May's best bet for electing more Green ones.
Our Charlene MacInnis knows our hearts and souls
are just like her’s.... the best story ever -
Remember this late 60s and 70s.... .... this
beautiful lion cub WAS IN A CAGE.... at the most expensive and glamorous store
in London- HARROD’S - can u imagine...
Princess Diana’s favourite store- Whitney still magical.... the best story of
human goodness eva- and what pure love can do
----------------
A Little Good News -Anne Murray 1983
QUOTE: The word “poverty” was not uttered once during
the recent federal leaders’ debate.
Canada is one of the
wealthiest countries on earth, yet poverty and inequality are systemic and are
increasing in many areas of life. According to the most recent National
Household survey, about one quarter of Canadians live in housing that is
overcrowded, unaffordable, substandard, or a combination of all three. Forty
per cent of indigenous children in our country live in poverty. Ten per cent of
Canadians cannot afford to fill their medical prescriptions. All this, in a
country that, according to Harper, is the envy of the developed world.
Why won’t politicians address
the poverty problem?
The word “poverty” was not
uttered once during the recent federal leaders’ debate.
By: Desmond Cole Published on Mon Aug 10 2015
In Thursday’s federal election
debate, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair successfully pushed the Conservatives’
Stephen Harper to concede that the Canadian economy has shrunk in each of the
last five months. Mulcair triumphantly followed up, “you’re not denying we’re
in a recession, that’s good.” It was a moment that he, Green party leader
Elizabeth May and Liberal chief Justin Trudeau had all been angling for — an
acknowledgement from Harper, who has led the country for nearly a decade, that
economic times are tough.
While Harper’s contenders
hammered him with the “R” word, they never once uttered the word “poverty,” the
state people find themselves in when jobs are scarce, or when the jobs that
exist don’t pay the bills. Trudeau and Mulcair are especially prone to speaking
as if recession is a temporary problem, rather than a fixed and cyclical
reality in our global economy. Like Harper, they speak as if they expect the
best for our economy, and in their false optimism they are failing to prepare
Canadians for the worst, to speak up for those who are worst off, including the
many whose fates have become disconnected from the ebb and flow of the economy.
Canada is one of the
wealthiest countries on earth, yet poverty and inequality are systemic and are
increasing in many areas of life. According to the most recent National
Household survey, about one quarter of Canadians live in housing that is
overcrowded, unaffordable, substandard, or a combination of all three. Forty
per cent of indigenous children in our country live in poverty. Ten per cent of
Canadians cannot afford to fill their medical prescriptions. All this, in a
country that, according to Harper, is the envy of the developed world.
Opposition parties are eager
to connect these problems to the prime minister, but not to the economy itself.
Trudeau has been preaching for months about “strengthening the middle class and
those hoping to join it.” For the Liberal leader, this second group is a
nameless, aspiring mass of humanity, a group that can achieve stability with a
little help from caring politicians. He suggests he can elevate them from their
current state of poverty, instead of promising to help them manage it.
The NDP’s Mulcair is promising
to implement a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage by the end of his first term of
office. This policy would only apply to a small percentage of those currently
making minimum wage, but its true failing is that it is not indexed to
inflation. A $15 minimum wage will be a lot less to celebrate in four years,
and if it doesn’t increase with the cost of living, it will soon represent a
new standard of poverty.
May goes further than her
counterparts in acknowledging systemic poverty in Canada. “We can’t just sit
back and think that the current stagnant economy is going to fix itself,” May
said in Thursday’s debate. She wants to spend billions of tax dollars to
upgrade energy inefficient homes, repair infrastructure, and build sources of
renewable energy. What’s more the Greens are campaigning on a guaranteed
minimum income, a safety net for all Canadians similar to what we currently
provide seniors.
Yet May didn’t mention a
guaranteed income during the debate, even though the Green party website labels
poverty as “the single largest determinant of ill health” in Canada. She too is
trapped in a conversation that labels the eradication of poverty as
unrealistic. As May fights to be included in debates and election coverage, she
faces pressure to sound more like her opponents, who are allergic to the
language of structural suffering.
No one who has followed Harper’s
career would expect him to flinch at the prospect of a recession. In keeping
with his neo-liberal religion, the prime minister has spent the last 10 years
cutting taxes for individuals and corporations. When those measures have failed
to insulate Canada from a volatile global economy, Harper has insisted the
public should be grateful that things are not even worse. He has never
concerned himself with entrenched poverty, and he likely never will.
But we could hope for more
from his potential successors, especially the two so-called progressive leaders
most likely to replace him on Oct. 19. Mulcair and Trudeau need to present
long-term plans that don’t take an economic resurgence for granted. We are
poised for a second recession in the last seven years — Canadians who continue
to struggle cannot live on the false optimism of our politicians.
Desmond Cole is a
Toronto-based freelance journalist.
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USA-AND FIVE NATIONS BETRAYED WOMEN AND GIRLS/GAYS/UNIONS/HUMAN RIGHTS ALL OVER THE WORLD BY KISSING THE PERSIAN SNAKE'S ARSE..... SHAME ON YA... One Billion Rising- No More Abuses or Excuses-
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BLOGGED:
CANADA'S SOCKEYE SALMON'S courage distinction verging on
extinction-is teaching what us Climate Oldies have been preaching - each and
every Canadian must actually GET INVOLVED IN CANADA'S NATURE- do something
physical- not just dumb protests that cost $$$billions- go out and save our
nature-our salmon teach us who we were and what we are losing...imho/OLD
CANADIANS UNDERSTAND THIS- we grew up in WWII severe poverty and saving and
using everything and always respect the land and sea- please get don't wave a poster-
get actually involved- our nature's dying
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Highway of Heroes...
RWANDA-
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