Persistent Poverty: Voices From the Margins

by Brice Balmer, Mira Dineen, Jamie Swift

Overview

It’s a very short trip from the limousine seat to the curb.” Jim Mann never missed a payroll for the dozen men who worked for his flourishing landscaping business he built from the ground up. Now he lives hand-to-mouth. His pockets are empty long before his next social assistance cheque arrives.

In early 2010 over two hundred civic and faith leaders fanned out into thirty Ontario communities. Their goal? To explore how the least fortunate people in one of the world’s richest places are faring.

The Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition’s latest social audit exposed a tattered social assistance system run by volunteers desperately struggling to fill the gaps. There can be no papering over the savage inequalities and suffering exposed in this compelling look at life from the margins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781926662275
Publisher:	Between the Lines
Publication date:	12/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	184
File size:	585 KB

About the Author

Kingston writer Jamie Swift is the author of numerous books. He works on social justice issues for the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul. Brice Balmer is an adjunct professor in the Graduate Theological Studies program of Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo. He works in a variety of ecumenical and multi-faith organizations, and his research interests include spirituality, addiction, social justice and poverty. Mira Dineen has an Honours B.A. in Global Development Studies from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Brice Balmer is an adjunct professor in the Graduate Theological Studies program of Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo. He works in a variety of ecumenical and multi-faith organizations, and his research interests include spirituality, addiction, social justice and poverty.

Mira Dineen is entering her final year of study at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where she is completing her Honours B.A. in Global Development Studies.

Kingston writer Jamie Swift is the author of numerous books. He works on social justice issues for the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Work of Hundreds of People

1 “As Sharp As You Could Cut Them”

2 Back to the Future? The Choice Is Ours
Armine Yalnizyan, with Jamie Swift

3 Working Harder is Hardly Working

4 Precarious Work: How Lax Employment Standards Perpetuate Poverty
Mary Gellatly

5 Ontario Works: How Did This Happen to Me?

6 The Disorienting Disability Support Maze

7 The Affordable Housing Deficit: Out of the Cold

8 Housing Strategy on the Brink: The Time Has Come
Michael Shapcott

9 The Cost of Hunger: Food Security and Health Issues

10 Food Insecurity: A Source of Suffering and Ill Health
Elaine Power

11 Poverty and Health: “I’m One Stumble from the Street”

12 Poverty Makes Us Sick
Dennis Raphael

13 Families Matter: The Catch-22 of Poverty

14 Ontario’s Push to Early Childhood Education and Care for All
Laurel Rothman

15 “It’s Not My Country Yet …”

16 Rural Poverty: Hidden in the Country?

17 Theological Reflections on Poverty
Bhante Saranapala, Sister Doryne Kirby, Rabbi Larry Englander, and Imam Shafiq Hudda

18 A Pebble in the Shoe

**Acknowledgements

Notes

Contributors**

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR PERSISTENT POVERTY

"Persistent Poverty is peppered with the stories of real people facing economic hardship and the humiliation, shame and stigma that come with being at the have-not end of the table in an affluent province.... As a former businessman, now on social assistance in Kingston, said wryly, "It's a short trip from the limousine seat to the curb." "
-The Kingston Whig Standard

'How long, O Lord? How long before our politicians listen? Four poverty audits have taken place since 1986. But we still desperately lack affordable housing. More families still use food banks. Sole-support mothers still must plead for relief from mandatory school fees. People with mental illness still wander our streets. This is scandalous in a rich place like Ontario. I encourage people to read Persistent Poverty and take action. Show that we still care for one another.'
-Terence Finlay, retired Anglican Archbishop of Toronto

'Persistent Poverty will leave you demanding dignity for those left behind by our inadequate social policies. Elected politicians should be forced to read a chapter each night before bed.'
-Margaret Little, Political Studies, Queen's University

'ISARC's faith community is in solidarity with people one stumble from the street. The voices know the scene. The authors have done their homework. This is a must read in classrooms and in public conversations, but most importantly for those in government.'
-Father Paul Hansen C.Ss.R, Director, Redemptorist Biblical Justice Consultancy

'According to Jewish liturgy we are all capable of rising above our petty self interest and acting in a truly humane way by taking concrete steps to end the suffering of the poor and the trauma of the oppressed.... This book identifies injustices and provides direction for the policy change we so urgently need.'
-Rabbi Shalom Schachter, Beth Israel Synagogue, Peterborough, and National Representative, CUPE

From the Publisher