Successes!
We have been very busy! Click on links below to see videos and news on our latest actions!
On March 10th, 2011 we held a rally with the Anglican Church and Put Food in the Budget.
On February 14th, 2011 we hand delivered Valentines cards to Dwight Duncan at his office!
On January 28th, 2011 we were part of a provincial Put Food in the Budget strategy meeting!
On November 15th, we were part of the Do the Math Challenge report back at the Barns!
Our goals are Progress and Power.
We want to make progress with our campaigns to get a reduced TTC pass, eventually free transit, get the extra $100 Healthy Food Supplement and eventually a better social assistance system. And we want to build the power of and in the community. Here is our story to date:
1. September 22, 2009: Poverty is Making Us Sick forum at South Riverdale Community Health Centre (SRCHC) – community event. Everyone who came, Did the Math and saw that welfare rates are MUCH lower than what is needed. Understood that this is because of how the Government sets welfare rates – there is no rational process. And 1995 – Mike Harris cut welfare by %22 and froze the rates.
2. Message from the forum was that hunger / poverty is created and we can do something about it. A group of people living and working in the neighborhood, most of them having to live on OW or ODSP themselves, came together because we want to do something about this situation. Formed Health and Strength Action Group (HSAG). Decided that we wanted to focus on two issues – social assistance rates and public transportation.
3. In December 2009, when we found out the TTC was going to get even more expensive we quickly put together a petition, got a board member from SRCHC to do a deputation to the city against the hikes. We got over 100 signatures on the petition by taking it out on the street. There is now a coalition (TTC Fair Fare) forming in the city to work on the issue of making sure public transit is seen as a critical service and is affordable for people.
4. We became the local South Riverdale part of the Put Food in the Budget campaign. We have tried to educate people in the community about the impact of social assistance rates that do not allow people to eat healthy food and to get people to take action to pressure the government for changes to the rates and how they are set.
Outreach: Have been leafleting with our own postcards, talking to groups and trying to get people to Do The Math. We want 6,000 people to do it before the next provincial budget in March, 2010. To date there are over 9000 cards filled out!
5. We have met with the MPP’s (Michael Prue and Peter Tabuns) in this area to get them to do the budget and to tell us if they think the rates are too low. Their responses have been used in the Put Food In the Budget report in April 2009 that shows that most MPP’s agree that the rates are too low. We also met with Michael Prue in April 2010 to strategize about how to move the issue of social assistance rates forward in the government.
6. We helped to fill a bus with people to go to Hamilton on December 4th, 2009. There people from Toronto met with other people from all across Ontario who are working on the Put Food in the Budget campaign. We celebrated the hard work of the campaign (all the MPP meetings, 6,000 people who Did the math and signed postcards to McGuinty) and to strategize what we wanted to do next. Got lots of ideas and inspiration from the progress other groups like ours are making in other places across the province.
7. In January and February, 2010 we collected people’s opinions about what a difference $100 would make. Put it in a report and submitted it to the Standing Committee on Finance. This committee ‘consulted’ with Ontarians about what should be in the budget and makes recommendations to the Finance Minister. We know they did not recommend the $100 this time but we’re going to keep hitting them with the message. Some of our group went to a community gathering at City Hall to watch and comment on the provincial budget when it was released. We gathered people’s reactions to the budget and wrote an article.
8. March 4th, 2010 HSAG was part of the Community Action and Info Fair at the health centre. A community event to let people know about the community campaigns, initiatives and groups in the area. We debuted our version of “If I Had a Hundred Dollars” and got the room to sing along – distributed DTM cards on all the chairs.
9. We represented our group at the Put Food in the Budget Strategy day on April 14th, 2010. 75 people from across Ontario were there. We talked about the progress we have made (meetings with MPP’s, etc.), went to workshops on different organizing tactics.
10. We participated in The Stop Community Food Program event on April 13th, 2010. People who tried to live on a food bank hamper for 7 days reported what that was like. There were over 300 people there. People talked in small groups about how to fight the special diet cut and to tackle social assistance rates.
11. We have beautiful and powerful banner painted on a tablecloth. It hung in the hall during the April 14th PFIB strategy day and we took it to the Raise the Rates rally and march on April 15th. We also have a lively and interesting Bulletin Board at the health centre and did a great display of food on a budget from social assistance and the nutritious food basket. We have buttons, and magnets which members and supporters can use to start up conversations about social assistance rates.
12. We brought the Fair Fare TTC ticket box to Earth Day to gather comments from community members about what expensive TTC fares means for them. These comments join the comments of people from across the city and will be used in a display.
13. On June 1st, 2010, World Hunger Day, we took music, snacks, DTM postcards, sign up sheets and HSAG flyers and magnets to Gerrard Square! 101 signed postcards; 200 flyers given away.
14. We spread the word about the issue at Withrow Farmers Market on June 12 and Aug 7th , 2010. That work got us an invite to Jack Layton’s BBQ in the community and another chance to spread the word and get support for the PFIB demands.
15. We have developed our own workshop to help people understand how far below what you need to live a healthy and dignified life social assistance rates are and how people can help change that. We have given the workshop at St. John’s the Compassionate to volunteers there on Feb 4, 2010, with a resident’s group in Scarborough called Resident’s Rising on May 26, 2010 and with TCHC tenant reps on Oct 14, 2010.
16. Over the spring and summer of 2010, members of HSAG attached HSAG fliers to lunch bags at Woodgreen community lunches and got people to sign DTM postcards.
17. September 22, 2010 we co-hosted with the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNaO) a viewing of the movie Poor No More and discussion about the role of government in combating poverty. Over 70 people participated.
18. We sit on the provincial steering committee for the Put Food in the Budget Campaign. This group coordinates actions with groups like ours across Ontario. Our members have been very important to revitalizing the website and blogs, participating in events at Queen’s Park in October. Michael Prue asked questions during question period about the Premier doing the challenge of living on a diet that people can afford with social assistance.
19. We co-hosted a Harvest Community Meal at the health centre on Oct 8th, during the delicious meal speakers talked about the importance of good food to mental health and how we can make a difference.
20. On November 15th, we attended the Put Food in the Budget rally where people reported back about living on the welfare diet and taking the Math Challenge. We had a speaker from HSAG and we had everyone sing If I Had a Hundred Dollars.
21. On January 28th, we were part of the Put Food in the Budget strategy day. Updates from surrounding communities and new tactics discussed.
22. For Valentine’s Day this year we hand delivered over 300 Valentines cards to Dwight Duncan. He later blogged that he received over 1100 Valentines cards on that day alone. We developed this strategy and grew it! It went viral!
23. March 10 we were back at Dwight Duncan’s office with the Anglican Church. Over 100 people came and tons of media! We were covered in three news papers and two radio stations. Dwight Duncan met with two people and agreed to a future meeting!!
All our work has contributed to many media articles about how inadequate social assistance rates are; a growing number of people involved in the campaign and high profile allies and supporters; growing and active support from MPP’s, including members of the government and mounting pressure on the provincial government to do something about the special diet needs of people on social assistance and the need to raise rates.
