Top Stories
Heat wave baking people with low incomes in Niagara:
http://www.thepacket.ca/News/Local/2016-08-05/article-4607725/Former-plant-workers-have-appeal-heard/1
- Climate change prompts Hamilton to modify its heat bylaw for apartments: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/heat-bylaw-climate-change-1.3713299
- Sweltering Toronto tenants still wait for maximum heat law: http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/08/10/toronto-tenants-still-waiting-for-relief-from-the-heat.html?cq_ck=1470788980288
Poverty has a drastic impact on health, especially in rural Ontario:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/08/08/poverty-has-drastic-impact-on-health-especially-in-rural-ontari.html
August 9 was International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples:
http://www.un.org/en/events/indigenousday/
- Three ways for aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians to work together toward reconciliation: http://www.hilltimes.com/2016/08/08/three-ways-for-aboriginal-and-non-aboriginal-canadians-to-work-together-towards-reconciliation/76270
The OEB must provide more information on the high hydro rate crisis:
http://globalnews.ca/news/2877618/hydro-ontario-energy-board-urged-to-provide-more-data-on-energy-crisis/
- Rising hydro rates could cause serious harm to Ontario’s economy, says BMO: http://globalnews.ca/news/2866214/rising-hydro-rates-could-cause-serious-harm-to-ontarios-economy-bmo-chief-economist-says/
Don’t look now, Canada’s economy is getting ugly:
http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/dont-look-now-canadas-economy-is-getting-ugly/
- Opposition says Liberals not doing enough to boost the economy: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/opposition-says-liberals-not-doing-enough-to-boost-economy/article31297814/
- Why 1000 people showed up for 250 positions at Toronto mall:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/yorkdale-job-fair-why-1-000-young-people-showed-up-for-250-positions-1.3715618
Feds to “ease rules” for temporary foreign workers and “stress importance” of a path to permanency:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-expected-to-introduce-new-rules-for-temporary-foreign-worker-program/article31365448/?cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globe
Father living off $3.32 / hour, as a misclassified employee, launches class action against energy giant:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/08/father-living-off-332-an-hour-launches-class-action-against-energy-giant.html
Cancer survivor says ex-employer’s erratic pay has left her on the brink:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/08/cancer-survivor-says-ex-employers-erratic-pay-has-left-her-on-the-brink.html
Block op-ed: Toronto’s TTC needs more revenue, not massive cuts:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/08/07/ttc-needs-more-revenue-not-massive-cuts.html
- Tory threatens fiscal chaos at TTC, misrepresents Auditor General’s findings: https://stevemunro.ca/2016/08/04/tory-threatens-fiscal-chaos-at-ttc-misrepresents-auditor-generals-findings/
- Star op-ed: It’s time to pay for the city we want: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/08/08/time-to-pay-for-the-city-we-want-editorial.html
People with disabilities in Saskatchewan face loss of provincial benefits:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/sask-govt-cutting-disabled-income-benefits-aug-2016-1.3712884
- Thousands to get reduced benefits: http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/thousands-to-get-reduced-benefits-from-disability-program/ar-BBvp9mK?li=AAggFp5&ocid=mailsignout
- Recipients don’t know how they will cope with the cuts: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-residents-disabilities-social-services-changes-aug10-1.3714586
- “We think that this really is picking on some of the most vulnerable in the province”: http://regina.ctvnews.ca/social-assistance-cuts-worry-people-with-disabilities-poverty-advocates-in-sask-1.3020432
- “My fridge is empty, all the time”: http://globalnews.ca/news/2876496/my-fridge-is-empty-all-the-time-sask-woman-responds-to-government-changes-to-income-benefits/
- Social Services minister defends cuts as “simplifying a confusing system and eliminating duplication”: http://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/social-services-minister-donna-harpauer-defends-assistance-changes
- Working group says clawbacks were never part of the social assistance plan: http://leaderpost.com/news/politics/province-slows-down-process-of-removing-benefits-for-those-on-social-assistance
- org petition against the cuts: https://www.change.org/p/brad-wall-premier-of-saskatchewan-stop-reduced-benefits-sask-assured-income-for-disabilities-program
Employment for people with disabilities is dire:
https://nowtoronto.com/news/employment-for-people-with-disabilities-is-dire/
TD economist: New Canada Child Benefit cheques will boost 2016 job growth:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/new-canada-child-benefit-cheques-will-boost-2016-job-growth-says-td-economist-1.3016928
Angus Reid poll: Canadians support a basic income but think it’s unaffordable:
http://angusreid.org/guaranteed-income/
- Basic Income is a neoliberal plot to make you poorer: http://www.furtherfield.org/features/articles/universal-basic-income-neoliberal-plot-make-you-poorer
- What could be achieved with a basic income guarantee and how could one be put in place? https://politudes.com/2016/06/30/what-could-be-achieved-with-a-basic-income-guarantee-and-how-could-one-be-put-in-place/
Advice from the man on the street – literally:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/08/advice-from-the-man-on-the-street-literally-fiorito.html
Ontario
There will be no separate line for cap-and-trade on natural gas bills:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/natural-gas-bills-cap-and-trade-1.3700504
Ontario launching pilot project for rural health hubs:
https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2016/08/ontario-launching-pilot-project-for-rural-health-hubs.html
Ontario should strive for health equity:
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/tepper-ontario-should-strive-for-health-equity
Reports , Events, Campaigns and Other Good Things
IRPP report: Michael Prince – Inclusive employment for Canadians with disabilities:
http://irpp.org/research-studies/study-no60/?mc_cid=d505d1a935&mc_eid=93c40f0305
Consultations on Labour Market Transfer Agreements – deadline August 19:
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1091779
- Caledon publication: The labour market agreements: What did they really do?: http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/1094ENG.pdf
Make It Fair: OFL survey on your experience with precarious work:
http://www.makeitfair.ca/precarious_work_survey
Homeless Hub: Family interventions for youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness:
http://homelesshub.ca/resource/family-interventions-youth-experiencing-or-risk-homelessness
UNRISD working paper: Migrant nurses and care workers rights in Canada:
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/search/7EEBA6386981AC8FC125800B00295658?OpenDocument
Law Society of Upper Canada resources for Indigenous peoples:
http://www.lsuc.on.ca/indigenous-initiatives/
Reasonable doubt: Get to know your community legal clinic:
https://nowtoronto.com/news/reasonable-doubt-get-to-know-your-community-legal-clinic/
Prosper Canada survey for “individuals and organizations working with Canadians living on low incomes to improve their financial wellbeing” on take up of benefits through income tax filing:
http://fluidsurveys.com/s/benefits-and-tax-filing-survey/
StatsCan: New housing price index, June 2016:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/160811/dq160811b-eng.htm
StatsCan: Job vacancy and wage survey, first quarter 2016:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/160811/dq160811a-eng.htm
A guide to statistics on historical trends in US income inequality:
http://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality
Around the Province
Some local unemployment numbers from around the province, as Canada sheds jobs in July:
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/most-local-unemployment-rates-fall-as-canada-sheds-jobs-in-july-1.3016300
Sarnia social justice advocate spends a week at Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwig First Nation:
http://www.theobserver.ca/2016/08/10/sarnia-social-justice-advocate-spent-a-week-in-remote-first-nations-community
Province cool to picking up the tab for low-income transit pass in Ottawa:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/province-cool-to-picking-up-tab-for-a-low-income-transit-pass
Funding announced for Poverty to Prosperity group in Huron:
http://blackburnnews.com/midwestern-ontario/2016/08/09/funding-announced-poverty-prosperity-group-huron/
Pilot project in Thunder Bay to help people on Ontario Works into post-secondary education:
https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/pilot-project-guiding-people-back-to-work-354079
Thunder Bay visit by finance minister highlights importance of Canada Child Benefit:
http://www.tbnewswatch.com/News/392292/Finance_Minister_lauds_child_benefit_as_middle_class_building_block
Migrant farm workers lose everything in Brampton fire:
http://jamaica-star.com/article/news/20160805/farm-workers-lose-everything-canada-fire
- Gofundme fundraiser needs $10,000 to support them: https://www.gofundme.com/farmworkers
Sudbury visit by finance minister addresses CPP changes:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/finance-minister-visits-sudbury-1.3714745
ODEN gives Champion’s League Award for breaking down barriers to employment for people with disabilities:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/cnw/release.html?rkey=20160603C8878&filter=5611
New rules for landlords sound good to tenant, but Toronto might be backing away:
http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/08/07/new-rules-for-landlords-sound-good-to-tenants.html
How riding the TTC has affected my mental health:
http://torontoist.com/2016/06/how-riding-the-ttc-has-affected-my-mental-health/
Group-A Strep outbreak at Toronto shelter not stopped by first efforts:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/07/first-effort-failed-to-stop-outbreak-at-toronto-shelter.html
Toronto’s Now Magazine in a position for work stoppage, threat to close publication:
http://business.financialpost.com/news/union-says-now-magazine-in-position-for-work-stoppage-management-threatened-to-close-publication
Across the Country
Late re-supply barges send food prices soaring in northern NWT communities:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/late-ntcl-barges-send-food-prices-soaring-nwt-1.3716118
Living Wage calculation for Whitehorse – $19.12 / hour:
http://yapc.ca/news/entry/159
Employees with defunct High Liner facility in Burin, NFLD battling EI Commission:
http://www.thepacket.ca/News/Local/2016-08-05/article-4607725/Former-plant-workers-have-appeal-heard/1
More PEI youth to gain work experience thanks to federal funding increase:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-skills-link-underemployed-youth-funding-1.3711441
Low income tenants in Edmonton hit with $300 increase:
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/tenants-near-rogers-place-scrambling-after-being-hit-with-300-rent-increase
Alberta’s unemployment rate highest in over 20 years:
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/alberta-s-unemployment-rate-highest-in-over-20-years-1.3016352
Shut down of Victoria, BC’s tent city puts poverty into the spotlight:
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/08/07/shut-down-of-victorias-tent-city-pulls-poverty-into-spotlight-activist-says.html
Vancouver researcher says access to food is a human right:
http://m.metronews.ca/#/article/news/vancouver/2016/08/09/sfu-researcher-says-access-to-food-is-human-right.html
Swanson: Vancouver’s focus on home ownership neglects the plight of people who are homeless:
http://rabble.ca/news/2016/08/jean-swanson-vancouvers-focus-on-home-ownership-neglects-plight-homeless
Tours of the Downtown Eastside: Poverty pimping or compassion building?:
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/tours-of-the-downtown-eastside-poverty-pimping-or-compassion-building-1.3025595
A homeless man in Victoria is being released post-surgery with nowhere to go, nowhere to heal:
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/from-the-hospital-to-the-streets-how-are-you-supposed-to-heal-1.2317719
Families in Surrey, BC scrambling to find homes after abrupt eviction:
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/families-scrambling-to-find-homes-after-abrupt-eviction-in-surrey-1.3017616
BC’s minimum wage for liquor servers reinforces sexism:
http://vancouversun.com/opinion/opinion-liquor-server-minimum-wage-reinforces-sexism
BC payday loan company ordered to pay back $40,000 in fees:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/payday-loan-cashco-1.3716103
National
One problem with Canada’s economy: Frankenstocks, not real companies:
http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/public-companies-in-canada-are-going-the-way-of-the-dodo/
The risks – for employees and employers – that come with the move to defined contribution pension plans:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/retirement/retire-planning/employees-working-longer-after-shift-to-defined-contribution-pension-plans/article31303897/
International
The critical link between poverty and health:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/05/the-critical-link-between-poverty-and-health/
- Social determinants matter most to a person’s health: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2016/08/social-determinants-matter-persons-health-heres-one-story.html
Australia says drop in sexual assaults and gambling means welfare card is “working”:
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/ceduna-welfare-card-trial-sees-drop-in-sex-assaults-pokie-usage-but-state-goverment-queries-figures/news-story/b11d81ae8415903a41118e0c7d60a2d2
Author lives in trailer park and rooming house for a year “as a witness to poverty”:
http://triblive.com/aande/books/10869226-74/desmond-poverty-evicted
The millions of Americans Trump and Clinton barely mention: The poor:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/us/politics/trump-clinton-poverty.html?_r=0
Inequality is a choice: Rewriting the rules of the American economy:
https://fordfoundcontent.azurewebsites.net/ideas/equals-change-blog/posts/inequality-is-a-choice-rewriting-the-rules-of-the-american-economy/#disqus_thread
How US residents’ diets change after a neighbourhood supermarket opens:
http://journalistsresource.org/home/food-desert-diet-obesity-supermarket-research
Redlining in America: What’s happened since?:
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/6/11852640/cartoon-poor-neighborhoods
There’s a hunger problem in every county in America, and it’s solvable:
https://talkpoverty.org/2016/08/03/hunger-problem-every-county-america-solvable/
The racial wealth divide: It would take 228 years for black families in the US to amass the wealth of white families:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/08/09/it-would-take-228-years-for-black-families-to-amass-wealth-of-white-families-analysis-says/?mod=e2fb
Jesse Jackson: Poverty and desperation in Chicago:
http://chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/jesse-jackson-poverty-desperation-in-world-class-city/
Disabled people living in deprived areas more likely to lose benefits under UK’s assessment system:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/09/biased-fit-for-work-tests-poorer-disabled-people
Explaining my life to the stranger who will decide if I’m “disabled enough”:
http://themighty.com/2016/08/how-i-explain-my-illness-to-decide-if-ill-get-disability-benefits/
Half of people in poverty in the UK are disabled or live in a household with a disabled person:
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/national/article/Half-of-people-living-in-poverty-in-UK-affected-by-disability-d890aa5f-2730-478d-90cf-669987e8c3f8-ds
Tories quietly shelve Supervised Jobsearch Scheme as it cost more money than it saved:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tories-quietly-scrap-one-iain-8595497
Government’s £1.3 billion fight against crime and poverty had “no discernible impact”:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-poverty-crime-report-newsnight-government-failure-ministers-tried-to-bury-2011-riots-a7180796.html
Brexit may hamper the fight against child poverty:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-37049442
Scottish government reveals targets to reduce child poverty and deprivation by 2030:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-37010527
Rotterdam school to teach business skills to welfare recipients:
http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/08/11/rotterdam-school-teach-welfare-recipients-business-skills/