Health and Strength Action Group

We are a community based group that volunteers out of the South Riverdale Community Health Centre.

For anyone who would like to get involved and join us – here is the information you would need!!

We need people with all sorts of skills.  Taking minutes, leafleting, canvasing for petitions… making banners, decorating bulletin boards, any creative idea you can come up with to raise awareness!!!

The meetings are open – anyone can come along and join in.  You don’t need to call ahead.  If you are interested in receiving information, or meeting minutes, upcoming events, please leave me a message and we can get in touch.

955 Queen Street East

Toronto, ON M4M 1K7
(416) 461-1925 X 353

Our next meeting is on Feb 29th, at 1:00 – 3:00 – South Riverdale Community Health Centre!!!

Also – for more information on what we’re involved in right now, you can check the next two links.  One is the website for Put Food in the Budget, and the next is the blog that goes with it… we’re on a Provincial campaign – trying to raise rates for every person on social assistance and make the process of deciding what money people get more transparent and in line with the ACTUAL cost of living!  We are also involved in trying to lower TTC costs so that transportation is accessible to everyone!

Follow us on Facebook!

Put Food in the Budget Meeting

greetings

everyone is welcome to join this meeting. Lunch by the Stop kicks us off for what is always an energetic and passionate discussion with fellow advocates from across the city. the best way to get there is to take the subway to dundas west station and then a very short bus ride on the 168 symington bus to the stop. the bust stop is right in front of the building.

 

Click Link for the Map!!

One Paycheck Away

Please vote!!! Tom Pearson, who works with us and PFIB… made a video. Please choose the video from the bottom of the page…*One Paycheck Away*… then click vote beside the video!!! Thank you!
CLICK HERE!!!

DIGNITY

Want to give the Gift of Dignity this Holiday Season??
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/put-food-in-the-budget.html

Sign our petition to Put Food in the Budget of our neighbours on social
assistance. An immediate increase of $100/month to enable people to purchase
healthy food is a gift that:

- combats hunger and injustice
- reduces reliance on our already over-burdened food banks and volunteers
- is a start at eliminating some of the wasted time and energy that goes
into maintining our systemic, second rate food system for the poor.
- is a first step towards raising rates to adequate levels that reflect the
real cost of living in Ontario.
- restores the right of individuals to purchase their own healthy food
- is simply the right thing to do.

Thanks to all of you who sign this petition and help to restore some balance
in a world where Charity cannot redress poverty and inequity.

Poverty is BAD for your Health!

 

To Download your own copy:  Click here! 

TTC Rally with Fair Fare Coalition!

Yesterday we gathered with Fair Fare Coalition and had a rally and march.

Our asks are:

Free transportation on smog alert days and hot / cold weather alert days.

Lowered metropass rates.

Lowered rates for places like South Riverdale Community Health Centre that buy tokens in bulk

so that people can access important services in the city.

Eventually – free transportation for all!  No fare is fare!

We met at Dundas Square and had drummers to march with.

Five of us dressed up as a streetcar…

It was a huge success!

We then boarded three streetcars and refused to pay… we got people to read our postcards and sign them!

All in all over 250 cards were signed today!

After this we all marched to City Hall, with drummers and chants… and five of us dressed as a streetcar.

Everyone felt that it was a terrific day and we look forward to our next action!

Here’s hoping you can join us, and terrific job to those of us that were there!

A cure for the common hospital meal

JESSICA LEEDER — GLOBAL FOOD REPORTER

From Saturday’s Globe and Mail

In the bowels of an east Toronto hospital lined with aquamarine tile and vintage Garland ovens, a star chef has begun a year-long experiment to revolutionize the most mocked and inedible of institutional foods.

Joshna Maharaj built her reputation whipping up healthy feasts at disparate venues, from a food bank to a high-end cooking school. The challenge of restoring palatability to in-patient food is her most daunting yet – and whether she succeeds is likely to influence the future of hospital food across the country.

Click here to read more!

Fair Fare Coalition

Free Transit!

The Fair Fare Coalition

The Fair Fare Coalition , the Greater Toronto Worker’s Assembly Free and Accessible Transit and DAMN 2025 call on our City to take a Lead in creating a

Public Transit System that is Accessible for Everyone – Lets Start with Free Travel on Heat and Smog Alert Days

We are concerned about the impact that the high cost of riding the TTC has on the physical health and economic, mental and emotional well-being of people trying to get to medical appointments, job interviews, school or training programs, family or community events, food banks, etc.

 

Toronto claims to be a world class city and yet it is one of the few major Canadian cities that does not offer a low cost travel solution for our most low income residents.  We are asking for a subsidized transit pass for all low income residents of Toronto.

 

In addition, as an immediate measure we recommend free travel in the City on smog and heat alert days. This will actually save lives! This summer will be marked by dangerously hot, humid, polluted days. During Extreme Heat Alerts, the City of Toronto counsels people to seek shelter and opens cooling centres across the City. People who are living on a low or fixed income are particularly at risk of ill health and even death during these alerts – especially senior citizens, people living with chronic illnesses and disabilities, people living in substandard housing and those people who are homeless, because they are more exposed to the heat and have fewer options for escaping it. Public transit makes it possible to travel to cooling centres or other places where temperature is regulated and stay safe during alert days.But without the financial means to travel, many people will have no way to escape the heat and smog.

 

In North America, heat kills more people than all other weather-related calamities (i.e. lightening, earthquakes, tsunamis, extreme cold, hurricanes etc) combined. In Toronto alone, extreme heat is responsible for 120 deaths annually, compared to 105 from extreme cold.  Yet, the majority of heat-related deaths and illness are preventable.

 

The reality of growing urbanization, a changing climate and an increasingly elderly population mean that Toronto faces high heat-related risk trends.(From Heat Registry Manual – funded by City of Toronto, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration and Public Health Dept.)

 

We call on City of Toronto Public Health, City Council and the Toronto Transit Commission to make public transit free on heat and smog alert days. People can ride for free on New Year’s eve and morning. Lives can also be saved during these extreme weather alerts.

 

We believe that the City of Toronto can lead the way to accessible transit. We are one of the only large cities in the country that does not have a subsidized travel pass, nor do we make meaningful accommodations to ensure everyone can travel.

Examples of other jurisdictions who have implemented a subsidized pass:

Hamilton – Affordable Transit Pass Program is to help City of Hamilton residents who are living on a low income purchase an adult month bus pass for half the price

Calgary  -Low Income Transit Pass Program offers a monthly pass to people living on a low income at a fixed rate of $40.00 (less than half the regular price of $90)

Ottawa–Reduced Transit Pass for people on fixed income (Ontario Disability Support Program or ODSP) – less than half the cost of a regular priced pass (reg. $84.00, reduced to $30.40)

Oshawa/Duram– Reduced Transit Pass for people on fixed income (ODSP) – less than half the cost of a regular priced pass (reg. $97.00, reduced to $39)

Vancouver - Reduced Transit Pass for people on fixed income (Disability Allowance) – less than half of a regular priced pass (reg. $99, reduced to $45)

Kingston –Affordable transit pass for everyone living on a low income – Discount established using the Low Income Cut-Off by Statistics Canada (reg. $65, reduced to $44)

North Bay – Reduced transit pass for Senior Citizens and people on ODSP. Also free travel for CNIB service recipients (reg. $80, reduced to $55)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food Banks Hide the Reality of Hunger in Canada

Food Banks Hide the Reality of Hunger in Canada

Food banks have become a serious obstacle in the fight against poverty in Canada. By promising to “end hunger” by feeding hungry Canadians, food banks provide a comforting illusion that no one in Canada is hungry—or if they are, it is their own fault. They shelter us from the harsh reality that millions of Canadians lack the basic necessities of life.  

It’s time to close food banks in Canada.

I’ve reached this conclusion after 18 years of researching food, hunger and poverty; volunteering at food banks; serving on a food bank board; and eating a typical food bank hamper for three days.

The first problem is that food banks can never end hunger.

The overwhelming majority of people who could officially be classified as “hungry” simply don’t use them. In the only national survey that bothered to ask, only one in four hungry Canadians used food banks. Many would rather go hungry than accept charity. Or they choose to leave the food for those who, they tell themselves,  “really” need it.

Research shows that even those who use food banks are hungry, despite their food bank hamper. That’s because food banks can only supply what is donated to them. Given the overwhelming demand for their services and their limited supply of food, food banks must ration how much they provide to clients. Most restrict households to a once-a-month hamper.

No one wants to see other Canadians go hungry. This sympathetic reaction led to the creation of food banks in the first place. That was back in the early 1980s, when a deep recession pushed unemployment rates up. The good-hearted people who started them thought that food banks would be a short-term response that would end once the economy rebounded.

That was a generation ago. Now food banks are institutionalized, a normal feature of our landscape.

I’m not trying to blame food banks or criticize their staff or the thousands of volunteers who keep them running. Overwhelmingly, the staff and volunteers who fed almost 900,000 Canadians last year are caring and dedicated. Many work hard to reduce the indignities of charity for those who receive it and improve the quality of the food provided by food banks.

However, food banks are unable to do what they promise. They allow some people to experience less hunger. But the problem is too big to expect community-based charities to solve it. Food banks have had 25 years to “end hunger.” Instead demand continues to grow. It is time to stop applying a “solution” that isn’t working.

Food banks also serve many unintended functions.

To start, those of us who donate, volunteer, and participate in food drives “feel good” about our powerful experiences of making a difference in the lives of others.

However, we need to look beyond the “feel good” aspect of our volunteer experiences.

Food banks let governments off the hook from their obligation to ensure income security for all Canadians. They undermine social solidarity and social cohesion by dividing us into “us” (those who give) and “them” (those who receive).

Food banks are good for corporations, especially food corporations. They can use food banks to offload edible food that they cannot sell for various reasons, like a slight change in the flavour. These food corporations then do not have to pay to dispose of their unsaleable products. Companies that support food banks advertise themselves as caring, responsible businesses. And holding corporate-wide food drives builds company morale. None of these corporate benefits are problematic in themselves. But they mean that corporations have a vested interest in the status quo.

Fundamentally, food banks can never solve the problem of poverty that causes hunger in the first place.

It is time to hold our governments accountable to their obligation to ensure that all Canadians have a standard of living adequate for health and well-being.

Giving food to those who are hungry is a simple response that everyone supports. Tackling poverty means wrestling with diverse ideas about causes and real solutions. It is time to begin that political conversation. But first we have to remove the obstacle that food banks have become.

Elaine Power is associate professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies, Queen’s University.