SOUNDBITES
e-Bulletin

June 8, 2011

1) Social Planning Toronto and the Toronto Working Group on Poverty Present: Thinking Locally, Acting Provincially

We are now less than four months away from the October 6 Provincial election.  Here in Toronto, what can we do to make sure that reducing and eliminating poverty is on the campaign agenda?  How do we make sure our local candidates hear – and act – on our message that further action on poverty is important in their own backyard?

On Monday, June 20, Social Planning Toronto and the Toronto Working Group on Poverty are bringing together individuals and organizations who want the Province to take strong action on poverty, and who want to make it a key election issue in every riding in the City.  Join us at City Hall (Committee Room 2) from 1:30 – 4:30 PM.  Many of the organizations and networks who have been working to reduce and eliminate poverty in Ontario will be present to talk about their strategies for the Provincial campaign, and we will explore how we can leverage those initiatives into effective action at the riding level.

For more information on this event, or on the TWGP, please contact Taneacha at 416 351-0095 x 255.  You can register online at http://c2clocal.eventbrite.com/

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3) Registration is Now Open for Social Planning Toronto’s June Research & Policy Forum

Justice & Equity on the Job: Challenging wage theft and employment barriers for racialized workers

• Sheila Block, The Wellesley Institute, Canada’s Colour Coded Labour Market: The Gap for Racialized Workers
• Deena Ladd, The Workers’ Action Centre, Unpaid Wages, Unprotected Workers: A Survey of Employment Standards Violations

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4) Roma Students in the TDSB: Challenges and Opportunities

About 700 newcomer Roma students have entered TDSB schools in the past few years, and they face unique challenges that hinder their academic success and personal well-being. These students have often faced persecution, violence, and a disturbing lack of opportunities in their home countries, and now face additional stresses as their families seek refugee status. They are scared, they are struggling, and above all, they are misunderstood.

The TDSB has worked hard to ensure that these students can succeed in school. At the regular TDSB meeting on April 13, 2011, the Toronto District School Board resolved that the board would “advocate vigorously on behalf of Roma students and their families in TDSB schools” and communicate with the federal government encouraging them to re-examine the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s decisions on the status of Roma refugee claimants in Canada.

The TDSB’s resolution to advocate for Roma students is an important step in ensuring that more people learn about the issues these students are facing and the plight of the Roma in Europe. However, the TDSB lacks the funding, space, and staff it needs to support these students. Many students would benefit from increased opportunities to practice their English language skills throughout the day, but the TDSB lacks sufficient funding for ESL classes and interpreters. TDSB staff cannot take on the emotional and physical trauma these students and their families have faced on their own, and schools need additional resources to be able to direct students to appropriate counselling and support services. There is also a desperate need for more Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) and Settlement and Education Partnerships in Toronto (SEPT) workers who understand the issues these students are facing both as Roma people and as refugees. The TDSB is underfunded by the province, facing millions of dollars in shortfalls for operating expenses, and has to use grants for services like ESL classes to fund other major operating expenses.

Without increases in targeted funding from the Ministry of Education to benefit newcomer students like the Roma, it is likely that such students will continue to struggle to succeed in school. More funding is needed to ensure that efficient, effective processes are in place to assist and advocate for newcomer students and their families within the TDSB. With the provincial election coming up in October, it is time to ask our politicians what they intend to do about the chronic underfunding of schools and school programs serving Toronto’s vulnerable newcomer populations.

For more information about the Roma, please see Social Planning Toronto’s factsheet on issues facing Roma families in Canada and in Europe.

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6) Tracing Root Causes of Poverty

Poverty is far more than the sum of personal misfortunes or decisions gone wrong. Crucial factors embedded in the economic and social systems that shape our everyday lives, contribute greatly to poverty and account for its alarming growth in Toronto over the past two decades. The following are some of the most important elements contributing to poverty in the city and across Ontario.

Lack of Employment - Quality and Quantity
The restructuring of the economy begun in the 1980s has resulted in more people dependent on underpaying and precarious work.  Currently a third of all Ontario jobs are temporary, contract, part time or self employment. Inability to access a stable job paying a living wage is a major factor leading to poverty. Currently one in three children living in poverty has parents who work full-time year round.  Quantity is also an issue as 45% of the unemployed (in October 2010) had post-secondary degrees or diplomas.  Increased polarization in the job market sees a few earning higher wages but the majority facing a situation where their ability to cover expenses is decreasing.  This means that although a few jobs see rising wages, minimum wage workers have 20% less spending power than they did thirty years ago.

Weak Social Safety Net
For those who cannot do or get paid work, cutbacks in social assistance mean that many are forced to rely on charity simply to survive from month to month.  With current social assistance payment levels, those who cannot work for extended periods will certainly experience poverty.  The current payment scheme for Ontario Works (welfare) provides income which leaves the single recipient at only 40% of the low-income measure considered necessary to meet basic living standards. A lone parent with one child fares only slightly better, getting 64% of the money needed to just reach the poverty line. Current levels of unemployment within our society mean that many are in effect excluded from the workforce and, without other alternatives, must turn to social assistance to stay alive.  With social assistance they are still living well below the poverty line.

Housing Shortage
Housing is shelter and therefore a necessity.  The effects of inadequate housing compound to produce mental and physical health impacts which affect people for years.  What housing is available provides a conundrum where people must choose between housing which they cannot afford, and sub-standard quality housing which triggers and compounds health issues. Lack of decent housing makes people less likely to be employable and less able to be good employees if their home life is stressful and unhealthy. Affordable housing is provided by TCHC in Toronto but the waiting list for a unit is already over 70,000.

Overstressed Community Supports
The ability to survive and possibly get out of poverty is often dependent on access to community supports. For example, childcare at affordable rates is essential to enable parents to earn enough income to support their families.  Yet 2,700 of the 24,000 subsidized spaces in Toronto are scheduled to end this year, despite the 17,000 already on the waiting list for a subsidized space.  Mental health and addiction services are also important and are net economic savers.  For example, it costs $177,390 per year to keep a person in a psychiatric hospital, compared to $26,280 per year to house a person in the community with supports.   But available funding to provide these community-based supports falls far short of what’s needed.

A Social Structure which Normalizes Poverty
The socio-economic structure of our society tends to marginalize some groups and expose them more to poverty.  Often social and economic patterns of exclusion reinforce one another.  For example, a history of prolonged unemployment can create a stigma and that stigma makes finding employment even more difficult. Assumptions about a person’s role in society which develop from these dysfunctional structures tend to hold back broad public response to poverty as a major issue, by placing those in poverty outside of the mainstream’s consideration.

The results of discriminatory patterns arising out racism, sexism and class distinctions are important in defining who experiences poverty.  This is seen in the fact that, for example, racialized women earn only 53 cents for every dollar white men earn.  From 2000 to 2005 incomes of racialized Canadians actually declined, despite an economy that grew by 13.1%. These patterns have developed within the context of  a largely unquestioning acceptance of poverty as a normal feature of our society – so much so that we seem no longer disturbed to see extremes of poverty situated right next to displays of wealth.
 
Prepared by: Leif Maitland, Social Planning Toronto, June, 2011

Worth Repeating:

Torontoist, June 2011
 

Since long before he was elected mayor, Rob Ford has championed the idea that Toronto was spending its way towards fiscal disaster. Believe that or not (and many don't), Ford swept into office on a wave of anti-gravy promises, so it's no surprise that he's launched a massive review of City-run services—via a series of roundtable discussions and an extensive online survey—with the aim of determining which are Torontonians' greatest priorities, and which might be suitable for spending cuts. That is, after all, what people voted for.

However, despite a lot of noise about broad public consultation, the review is not likely to generate much meaningful public input. For one thing, the roundtables have been crammed into a whirlwind two-week schedule, with only limited participation available due to registration limits (there is one remaining session, taking place tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Scarborough Civic Centre). Moreover, the company hired to gather public input via the online survey has produced a huge set of questions that will yield almost no usable information.

The massive survey asks people to weigh in on which services Toronto should drop or contract out to close a $774-million budget gap. City Hall could have handed this critical part of the review to any of Toronto's numerous research firms with strong track records in public affairs—a shortlist would include Ipsos Reid, Harris/Decima, Polaris, Environics, and Vision Critical. Instead, the contract went to a relatively unknown outfit called Qualtrics.

The document they produced, according to Glenys A. Babcock, a former VP at Ipsos Reid who now works as a consultant, is poorly designed and suffers from inherent political biases.
 

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Get Involved in Social Planning Toronto

Your membership and support enables us to be a more effective resource and voice for the non-profit community sector in Toronto.

2011 is an important year for the community sector in Toronto. Your organizational or individual membership in Social Planning Toronto strengthens our voice.

As a member you are entitled to:

• Voting privileges at the SPT Annual General Meeting.
• Agency listing and linking on SPT's website.
• Participation in SPT Member Forums.

Your support helps us to:

• Strengthen the voice of local communities across the city.
• Increase our capacity to engage in social policy research, analysis and advocacy for communities and the organizations that serve them.
• Maintain our role as an independent voice for positive change in Toronto.

For more information on membership, please visit www.socialplanningtoronto.org/get-involved/
To enquire about membership, please call Mary at (416) 351-0095 ex 251 or email mmicallef@socialplanningtoronto.org

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About Social Planning Toronto

For more than fifty years, SPT and its predecessor organizations have served as a vital voice for the non-profit community sector in Toronto – conducting research and supporting community mobilization that has made a real difference for our organizations, our communities, and the most vulnerable residents in our city.

OUR MISSION

Social Planning Toronto is committed to building a civic society: one in which diversity, equity, social and economic justice, interdependence and active civic participation are central to all aspects of our lives - in our families, neighbourhoods, voluntary and recreational activities, at work and in politics.

OUR ROLE

• Convenor of social research, often in collaboration with other non-profit organizations and academic institutions.
• Mobilizer of community resources to improve equity, inclusivity, and the quality of life in the City of Toronto.
• Advocate with policy makers for improved social and economic conditions.
• Resource for action-oriented research, policy analysis, and community planning, in support of community priorities.

Social Planning Toronto funders include:

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