Local, provincial, and federal politicians in Hastings and Prince Edward counties should expect a a fuller mailbox than usual in the near future.
Around 50 people, most members of the Hastings Prince Edward Poverty Roundtable, held a meeting today (Wednesday) and ended the session with a letter campaign aimed at politicians, the policy makers.
And those at the meeting were encouraged to get others involved in the campaign as well.
The campaign’s goal is to again remind community leaders just how hard, some would say impossible, it is to lead a decent life on either Ontario Works or Ontario Disability benefits.
A single recipient on Ontario Works, which is locally administered, gets just $733 a month while a person on disability receives a bit over $1,100 a month.
Those amounts won’t even cover rent costs in most cases.
Reverend Ed Bentley, a member of the Poverty Roundtable’s steering committee said “it’s high time we pushed hard and created a lot fewer “I didn’t know that” people out there. I didn’t know how little people on welfare actually received. I didn’t know there’s a chance that many people now receiving disability benefits won’t be getting them under new provincial government rules. I didn’t know it was that hard to live on social assistance. I didn’t know there were so many poor amongst us!”
“Once people know the reality faced by the poor, most of the time through no fault of their own, we might actually get some action and treat people with dignity in our community and province!”
Reverend(ret) Ed Bentley. (Photo: John Spitters/Quinte News)
Ruth Ingersoll of the Community Development Council of Quinte discussed food insecurity issues in the area. About 10% of people in Hastings and Prince Edward counties often find themselves without food, or not eating healthy food often enough. “At the end of the day many people are forced to choose between paying rent or food. This has got to stop.”
Deirdre McDade of the Community Advocacy and Legal Centre worried about the new provincial government’s changes or planned changes to social assistance programs.
“They have gone ahead and cut a planned 3% increase to benefits planned under the previous Liberal government down to 1.5%. And they haven’t mentioned anything about future rate increases at all. And if the PC government goes ahead with changes to the Ontario Disability benefits, many of those now receiving income support may no longer be eligible. How will they support themselves then? This will be a serious problem.”
One woman who is on disability benefits choked back tears as she described how hard it was to make ends meet at current social assistance levels. “Why does it feel like being disabled is like a crime? There’s this terrible stigma and meanwhile, those that run things are talking cutbacks. It’s not our fault we have problems. We can’t make ends meet. Some of us are lucky to eat once a day! We need to to make positive change, not negative!”
Local politicians Belleville councillor Chris Malette along with the mayor of Quinte West and councillor Terry Cassidy attended the meeting.
The Poverty Roundtable Hastings Prince Edward currently has around 500 members and are welcoming more. Also, financial assistance is always appreciated so it can go about its work advocating for the poor in the area.
