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.

OCAP Rally – April 1st, 2011

Today there was a rally.  It was like most of the rallies.  We had food, banners and a drummer, high spirits and unknown destinations, as usual. lol  There were a lot of the usual faces, but some new – seemed to me that there were more elderly folks there this time.  There was a lot of press and police, horses included.  It wasn’t the biggest rally I’ve been to, but it had something the other rallies didn’t have.

It had children!  City View Alternative school brought students.  They are doing research and a project on where the money goes.  The rich versus the poor.  They made a banner that read Hey McGuinty, we get it, why can’t you?  From the mouths of babes.   They did a small skit using chairs.  Each chair represented 10% of the money, and they had one child in each.  They made one fellow a king and through cuts and such – they slowly moved the rest of the children all down to one end chair, sitting one on top of the other.  This was to show that all those children represented all the people who have 10% of the money in society, and the King had the remaining parts.   I think that’s what they did.  It was hard to tell with streetcars passing us and being on the opposite side of the road.  Each time a streetcar passed and blocked our view, the crowd got upset.  We were all watching the children.  How can they, the government, ignore that?

The real difference was the children in this rally.  People were watching them, cheering them.  Moods were lifted to see them.  It sent a strong message.  These are your future voters, they are the ones learning about what you are doing.  They will run this country.  They were there to be heard.  They understand that the math does not add up, why can’t the government?  It’s common sense – and the kids, they get it.

We started at Nathan Phillip’s Square and crossed the street to chant and protest as we were told Dwight Duncan was in that building.   We then marched up University and over to Wellesley and Bay.

Poverty Groups Want Province to Raise Food Supplement

By ANTONELLA ARTUSO,

Queen’s Park Bureau Chief

Ontario anti-poverty activists are pushing the provincial government to invest in a $100-a-month healthy food supplement for social assistance recipients.

At a “Put Food in the Budget” rally Thursday in front of the Queen’s Park building that houses the finance ministry, dozens of activists called for the measure to be included in the upcoming spring budget.

Anglican Bishop Linda Nicholls, speaking on behalf of 80 parishes representing over 30,000 Anglicans, said the deficit-plagued government doesn’t have to necessarily spend more but rather should adjust its priorities to ensure the poor have enough to eat.

An estimated 400,000 Ontarians rely on food banks, both those who are on social assistance and the working poor.

Nicholls said she was one of many prominent Ontarians who attempted to live on the “poverty diet” provided by food banks.

“I was shocked at how quickly within a day or two you began to feel not well. No fresh fruit. No fresh vegetables,” Nicholls said.

Tracy Mead, a social assistance recipient and member of the South Riverdale Health and Strength Action Group in Toronto, said the support payments don’t go far enough to buy fresh food.

To read more, CLICK HERE!

Liberals Urged to ‘Put Food in the Budget’

Laurie Monsebraaten Social Justice Reporter

Back in 1995, the opposition Liberals scorned the Mike Harris government’s so-called “welfare diet,” which purported to show that a single person on social assistance could eat for $90 a month.

Today that meagre Tory shopping list — which included pasta but no sauce and bread but no butter — costs $48 more. And yet since the Liberals took office in 2003, a single able-bodied person on welfare gets just $29 more in their monthly cheque for food.

“It’s no wonder food bank use in Ontario is soaring,” said social policy expert John Stapleton, who used the 1995 shopping list to buy the welfare diet at a Scarborough discount grocery store in January.

It is one more reason anti-poverty activists across the province are calling on Finance Minister Dwight Duncan to put a $100 monthly food supplement for welfare recipients in this spring’s provincial budget.

On Thursday, the Toronto Anglican Diocese is highlighting the need at a Queen’s Park rally. About 80 area parishes, representing more than 30,000 Anglicans, are backing the call for the Liberals to “put food in the budget.” They will be joined by food activists from other faiths and representatives from 30 other Ontario communities who are also concerned about rising hunger across the province.

To read more, CLICK HERE!

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

Click here for an outline of upcoming events!

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!

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