Close Encounters of the Thirties Kind, by social policy expert John Stapleton, is a blow-by-blow account of the similarities between Ontario circa 1930s and today.

“Life was definitely harder back in the Great Depression but the similarities between the types of struggles then and now are eerily familiar,” says Stapleton. “Instead of learning from history, our governments are making many of the same mistakes.”

The report finds 11 similarities between the Great Depression and the Crash of 2008:

1. Both downturns were caused by unplanned economic crashes;
2. Hugh stock market upticks followed both crashes, fuelling debate about the length and shape of the downturn;
3. One year after the crash, governments suffered from ‘optimism bias’;
4. The welfare to wage ratio was, and is, at historic lows;
5. Prior to each crash, the Ontario government ordered a study of social needs – the 1930s reports helped shape future social service programs;
6. Both Ontario governments championed the value of community mobilization;
7. The impulse to blame the victims of recession was equally strong;
8. Immediately following the crash, the federal King government was as silent on the need for help then and as the federal Harper government is now;
9. Workfare existed then and now, but rarely at any other time in Ontario history;
10. The provinces were scared, running deficits and struggling to pay the bills;
11. Then, as now, cash-strapped municipalities bore the brunt of demand from desperate citizens without adequate help from senior governments.

The report, available here in PDF format, calls on senior governments to take the lessons of the 1930s and act swiftly to minimize Ontario’s current recession.

The current social assistance system in Ontario “stomps people into the ground,” says Premier McGuinty.

The question is: What is going to be done about it?

In December 2008, the Ontario government committed to review the province’s social assistance system. This commitment was part of Ontario’s new Poverty Reduction Strategy and was restated in the 2009 budget.

765,000 people rely on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program. And thousands of newly unemployed Ontarians will soon be forced to turn to these programs. We are all entitled to a system that gives real assistance when we need it. Social assistance must provide adequate income and meaningful supports to ensure recipients can live lives marked by dignity, decency and opportunity.

Our four insightful and powerful panellists will discuss why we need a bold Social Assistance Review, and how this kind of significant change can take place.

Crystal Chin is currently a recipient of ODSP and an active advocate on the Barrier Free Council at Ann Johnston Health Station. Crystal has recently become involved with the ODSP Action Coalition and is a long-time volunteer at Bloorview Kids Rehab.

Marion Overholt is Staff Lawyer at Legal Assistance of Windsor and a long time poverty law activist and social justice advocate. She is the Social Justice Representative on the Windsor and District Labour Council and chairs the Ford/CAW Local 200 Workplace Adjustment Committee.

Angela Robertson is the Executive Director of Sistering — A Woman’s Place, and a dedicated community advocate with a commitment to anti-racism, feminism, community-based research, and social justice. Angela is the 2009 YWCA award recipient for social change.

Judy Rebick is a well-known social justice activist, educator, writer and speaker, and holds the Sam Gindin chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University. She is also the founder of rabble.ca, Canada’s most popular independent online news and discussion site.

Join us to make a clear and compelling call for a bold and broad Social Assistance Review — one that leads to economic security for all Ontarians.

Date: June 23, 2009
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Location:
Multi-Faith Centre Auditorium, Koffler Institute Building
University of Toronto, 569 Spadina Avenue

For more information about this event email isac@lao.on.ca or call 416-597-5820

TORONTO-On Monday evening, more than 100 people participated in a town hall meeting held to get input from community members who will not be given an opportunity to address Parliamentary hearings about the federal role in poverty reduction.

Read “A Poverty Reduction Plan for Canada” – notes from the meeting (PDF)

The meeting was organised by Campaign 2000, the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction, and the Good Jobs for All Coalition. It took place the same day as the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills Development, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) held its only hearing in Ontario about the federal government’s responsibility to reduce poverty.

Participants in the town hall meeting made recommendations to a panel of community experts who work with low-income, working poor, unemployed and homeless Canadians:

• The Rt. Rev. Colin Johnson, Diocesan Bishop, Anglican Diocese of Toronto and Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC) representative
• Tam Goossen, Co-chair, Good Jobs for All Coalition;
• Mike Creek, Director, Voices from the Street;
• Janet Davis, Councillor (Ward 31 Beaches-East York), City of Toronto;
• Grace-Edward Galabuzi, Colour of Poverty Campaign representative;
• Peggy Nash, Assistant to the President, Canadian Auto Workers union;
• Paulette Senior, CEO, YWCA Canada.

QUOTES:

“Strong economic growth and unprecedented prosperity for some people did not lift many children and families out of poverty,” said Laurel Rothman, National Coordinator for Campaign 2000. “History shows us that a recession will only deepen the hardship if there isn’t leadership for an aggressive federal intervention to support vital community services. MPs must make it clear that Canada can’t afford to waste another day without fixing EI, starting national child care program, investing in affordable housing and creating good, green jobs.”

“Stephen Harper’s so-called ‘economic action plan’ includes no plans to help me and my 2,400 former co-workers who are running out of Employment Insurance because our company closed down at the beginning of this recession,” said Fa Lim, a former employee of Progressive Moulded Products (PMP) and a representative of the Good Jobs For All Coalition. “It’s time for a Poverty Reduction Plan. Like in past recessions when 80% of the unemployed got the unemployment insurance they paid for, more accessible EI would help hundreds of thousands of families keep their children out of poverty. We didn’t cause this financial crisis, we didn’t get to choose when we lost our jobs, but we should be able to access our $57 billion EI surplus immediately.”

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s continuing refusal to support a national housing strategy shows a lack of leadership that is un-Canadian,” Baquie Ghazi, a member of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and a current resident of social housing. “Mr. Harper’s stimulus package gives a tax break for cottage owners to build decks and landlords to pave driveways, but not one dollar for those of us who can’t afford to own property and need new affordable housing now. The Harper government must increase the availability and accessibility of money in the Building Canada Fund for the repair of existing social housing and construction of new affordable housing.”

“On behalf of our delegation of poor, immigrant women, I am here to call the Parliament to account for the lack of progress on childcare – a matter of fundamental rights.  Our community of Teesdale/Crescent Town in West Scarborough/East York is one of the poorest in the City.  The lack of childcare is the key cause of this poverty.  Women have the right to participate fully in society – in education, in workplaces, in social and political life.  Without affordable, accessible and culturally sensitive childcare, the rights of mothers of young children are denied.  This is unacceptable,” said Sultana Jahangir, South Asian Women’s Rights Organization.

“A weak employment insurance system, unenforced severance provisions and the fragility of our pension plans create real hardship for those directly affected,said Peggy Nash, Assistant to the President, Canadian Auto Workers union. “However all working people and seniors feel greater insecurity. To help get our economy back on track, people need to know they can count on financial support from the federal government when they need it.”

BACKGROUNDER:

• In 1989, the House of Commons unanimously resolved to “… seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000.”
• In 2006 (the latest data available), nearly two decades later, 760,000 children – nearly one in every nine – still lived in poverty when measured after income taxes. This figure does not include the shameful situation of First Nations’ communities where one in every four children is growing up in poverty.
• The rate of child and family poverty in Canada was essentially the same in 2006 as it was in 1989 despite an unprecedented period of strong economic growth since 1996.
• Ethno-racial minority group members (people of colour) make up over 13% of Canada’s population; by the year 2017, this number will rise to 20%.
• Nearly one in five immigrants experiences a state of chronic low income, which is more than twice the rate for Canadian-born individuals.
• Thirty-four per cent of children in racialized families, and 49% of children in recent immigrant families in Canada live in poverty.
• The EI fund surplus held by the Government of Canada was $57 billion ($56,952,606,000) as at March 31, 2008, the most recent figure available.
  Public Accounts of Canada for 2007-2008, Vol. I(page 4.16)

  http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/pdf/49-eng.pdf

• The accumulated EI surplus under the Conservative government has increased $6.2 billion. It was $50.8 billion as at March 31, 2006.
• At the end of March, a public opinion pollconducted by Harris-Decima found that the majority of Canadians – throughout all regions of the country and across income brackets – believe that the scope of employment insurance should be expanded.
• The latest EI coverage data for March 2009 that was released by Statistics Canada in May, confirm that only 46.78% of unemployed people throughout Canada and 35.65% of unemployed Ontarians are receiving EI benefits. The coverage rate in Ontario has increased just 2.59% from December 2008, an increase of only 28,030 successful EI claims in the province despite the fact that 107,000 full-time jobs have been lost during the same period in Ontario alone.
• Canada is the only major industrial nation still without a national affordable housing strategy.
• Miloon Kothari, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, who toured Canada from October 9 to 22, 2007, found a “national housing crisis.”
• Mr. Kothari recommended that the federal government needs: to commit stable and long-term funding and programmes to realise a comprehensive national housing strategy; and a comprehensive and properly-funded poverty reduction strategy based on its human rights obligation. He called for special attention and funding to help people women, youth, seniors and Aboriginal peoples.
• The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimated that as many as 1.5 million Canadians are currently experiencing core housing need, meaning that they are under-housed or face an unsustainable financial burden to maintain their current housing situation.

For more information, please contact:

Jacquie Maund, 416-595-9230 ext.241; or
Laurel Rothman, 416-595-9230 ext.228, 416-575-9230 (cell); or
Ken Marciniec, communications@goodjobscoalition.ca.

Campaign 2000 is a non-partisan, cross-Canada network of 120 organizations committed to ending child & family poverty in Canada. www.campaign2000.ca

The 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction consists of over 450 organizations across Ontario representing thousands of individuals working to eliminate poverty in the province. www.25in5.ca

Good Jobs for All Coalition  is an alliance of more than 35 community, environmentalist, labour and student groups representing people throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

For more details and photos visit http://www.familyservicetoronto.org/whatsnew/townhallmeeting.html

Today’s budget took crucial steps to bring Ontario closer to the goal of reducing poverty by 25% by 2013. But the budget needed to go further to help low-income individuals and families get by in current tough economic times, said the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction.

“This budget has moved the bar forward on housing, tax credits, and child benefits in ways that will make a tangible difference in the lives of many Ontarians. But there are still significant gaps that must continue to be addressed in the year ahead,” said Pat Capponi, Facilitator of Voices From the Street.

The 25 in 5 Network identified five critical areas for government action, released in its Blueprint for Economic Stimulus and Poverty Reduction in February. The budget delivered on the Ontario Child Benefit, made significant progress on affordable housing, fell short on social assistance, missed the mark entirely on early learning and child care, and went halfway on labour standards.

“Increasing the Ontario Child Benefit to $92 a month as of this July will help protect low income families during an economic downturn and is crucial to the goal of reducing child and family poverty by 25% by 2013,” said Sarah Blackstock, of the Income Security Advocacy Centre. “We are eager, however, to ensure government meets its commitment that each child on social assistance will be better off by at least $50 a month at full OCB implementation.”

“Matching federal infrastructure dollars to build more affordable housing and repair existing social housing units is smart economic stimulus and an investment to keep tens of thousands of Ontarians out of the cold in this recession and beyond,” said Michael Shapcott of the Wellesley Institute.

“A two percent social assistance hike falls far short of what’s needed. Communities across Ontario will continue to call for a Healthy Food Supplement of $100 a month to help adults on welfare who are struggling,” said Peter Clutterbuck, of the Social Planning Network of Ontario. “We can expect more Ontarians to experience hardship and food bank lines and homelessness to grow.”

“With no new funding for early learning and child care in this Budget, thousands of families could have their subsidies cut starting in September. Many parents who rely on child care to stay employed, get retrained and keep their head above water could face an economic crisis. The situation is urgent and we cannot afford to wait for action,” said Jacquie Maund, Ontario Coordinator of Campaign 2000.

The 25 in 5 Network was also looking for the Budget to kickstart the development of a new Ontario Housing Benefit, but no details were forthcoming. Ontario only went halfway on its commitment to hiring new employment standards officers to ensure more workers will have their wages and basic rights protected through this downturn, and 25 in 5 called for immediate action on the other half. In addition, 25 in 5 continues to call for the establishment of a provincial Equity and Anti-Racism Directorate.

The 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction is a multi-sectoral coalition of more than 350 provincial and Toronto-based organizations and thousands of individuals working to eliminate poverty in Ontario.

Read the 25 in 5 Budget Backgrounder in Word format

Government Release: Ontario Budget Creates Jobs for Families Today and Builds Economy for Tomorrow