Fresh ideas to fight poverty

The Chronicle Herald

New approach needed to combat problem, conference delegates say

By MATT REEDER

Penny Kitchen treasures her independence.

However, that independence comes at a price.

The 44-year-old has cerebral palsy and although she functions comfortably with the help of an assistant paid for with disability funding, she would lose such support if she ever got a job.

Although her daughter would love to put her accounting degree to work, Ms. Kitchen said she doesn’t want to risk the independence that comes from living at home. She added that many individuals like her daughter have to move into special-care facilities because they simply can’t afford home care.

"If Penny lost that (her independence), she’d be devastated," said her mother, Dorothy Kitchen, of the Disability Rights Coalition, who accompanied her daughter at an anti-poverty conference Thursday at the Holiday Inn on Robie Street.

Like Ms. Kitchen and her daughter, many who attended Thursday’s portion of the two-day event came with their own unique perspectives on how to build a strategy to fight poverty.

The day’s panels were made up of representatives from a variety of anti-poverty advocacy organizations, including those focused on child care, aboriginal communities and affordable energy issues.

Rene Ross, one of the event’s organizers, said the Nova Scotia government has neglected the issue of poverty for too long and that a new approach is needed.

"What is really missing when people discuss poverty in Nova Scotia is a sense of urgency," said Ms. Ross. "Many people in Nova Scotia feel like they are one paycheque away from economic crisis."

She added that the conference was organized with the aim of coming up with suggestions for the provincial government.

"We wanted to come together to offer concrete solutions, and in order to do that, you need to have an action plan in hand," said Ms. Ross, who works for Stepping Stone, a local organization that supports economically vulnerable sex trade workers.

As of 2004, more than 131,000 individuals in the province were living below the poverty line, according to a published report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The report also noted that the child poverty rate in the province was sitting at 18.1 per cent.

Megan Leslie, a Dalhousie Legal Aid worker and an anti-poverty activist with the Affordable Energy Coalition, said that an often overlooked cause of poverty is high energy costs.

"Just because a bill is paid doesn’t mean it’s affordable," Ms. Leslie said after her panel presentation to a crowd of about 40. "We see high energy bills resulting in homelessness and resulting in poor health because people are choosing between heat and eat."

Panellist Paul O’Hara, a counsellor at North End Community Health Centre, said combating such issues requires a fresh approach.

"We really need to strongly shift our focus away from trying to lobby the bureaucracies and politicians and move more towards a public awareness campaign so that Nova Scotians have a clear perception of who it is that is living in poverty in our province and what their reality is," said Mr. O’Hara. "There is a presumption that what the government doesn’t do, charities pick up on."

He added that people who consistently rely on food banks and shelters often suffer from poor health and bad quality of life.

Ida Vincent, an urban aboriginal housing advocate for Tawaak Housing Association, said the most important thing to be gained from the conference is a sense of unity in framing a strategy for poverty reduction in Nova Scotia.

"We all have our own individual mandate, whether you’re aboriginal or whether you’re coming from a group with disabilities, but in reality, we’re all dealing with the same issues."