'Colour of Poverty' project launched

from The Toronto Star

Nicholas Keung
Staff Reporter

While the poverty rate among white Canadians has fallen over the last two decades, the number of racial minorities who live under the poverty line has almost quadrupled.

That's just one set of startling statistics revealed by a coalition representing Toronto's visible minority communities as they gathered this morning in Thorncliffe Park to launch the "Colour of Poverty" project, a grassroots political campaign to organize the poor to fight for equal opportunities in the city.

"Racialized communities are experiencing a disporportionate level of poverty," said Ryerson University professor Grace-Edward Galabuzi, author of Canada's Economic Apartheid.

"In Toronto, they are three times more likely to be poor than others because of the barriers and challenges they face in the job market."

Being poor and visible minorities often lead to higher school dropouts among youth, greater risk for poor health, increased exposure to racial profiling, and inadequate access to justice, housing and food, coalition members said.

These interrelated challenges of poverty are published in fact sheets and posted on the website (www.colourofpoverty.ca) of the campaign led by the African, Chinese, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Spanish-speaking communities.

Starting in the fall, coalition members plan to hold community meetings in different neighbourhoods in Greater Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, London and Windsor to help raise public awareness about poverty among visible minority communities and organize for policy changes.