By
Kendall Worth!
This will be my last and final
BLOG post of 2022. So I wish you, my readers, a Happy New Year!
People living in poverty are saying – 2023 is a year where we need
to see serious change in more than a couple of ways.
This photo illustrates the
dreams many living in poverty want to achieve in 2023.
I hope that over the holiday
season, any of you who were fortunate enough to be able to spend
time during Christmas with family and good friends, took time to
think about those who spent their holidays feeling, and being, less
fortunate. The thoughts of financially better off people, about
about those living in poverty is appreciated by the Community of
people living in poverty - this year more than ever before. I say
this because this year, by the holidays 2022, the following factors
came into play:
Inflation
has continued
to rise,
and
was
out
of control in
2022.
The
homeless
population has
massively
increased,
and
evidence
of this increase, of
un-housed people has become more visible to the public.
The
current Tim
Houston,
PC
Government is expressing no interest in increasing
Income Assistance
rates.
(even though
Income
Assistance
recipients did see that one time $250.00 payment in December)
Federal
government of Trudeau began their winter break before Christmas
without
passing
Bill
C22 and
without making any decision on who will qualify for the Canada
Disability Benefit or
how much recipients can expect
to receive.
Oh
and lets not forget what is happening in the health care system. We
all know it is a crisis. Many
Nova Scotians are still without a family Doctor and people are
waiting longer then ever to get seen in Emergency
rooms.
Some,
living in poverty these days, are complaining they are also
finding
it more difficult then ever to access the mental health system.
Also
in some cases welfare
recipients either
could not, or chose
not to, spend
time with family at Christmas again this year, due to their family
members still being freaked out over COVID. This happened in some
cases due to people living in poverty having lack of resources to
find out that Public Health Measures have lifted, in other cases
because of family members having Immune
system or other compromised
health
systems or conditions.
And the following
tweet shows the only meal for those struggling
financially, that even came close to a Christmas meal, this
holiday season. The following tweet
is from Ontario but Nova Scotian’s, living in poverty, can
certainly relate!
So,
looking
forward,
in 2023 there
is lots to think about and lots of work to be done. As I strongly
touched on, in
this Post,
things like increasing the Income Assistance Rates and the passing
of Bill C22 is all about quality
of life improvement. People living in poverty, just
as at the beginning
of
any New Year, want to see their Quality of life improve in 2023. As
pointed out in some conversations
I have recently
had with people, organizations
and groups lately - the
possible
creation
of a
Union
of People Living in poverty as
this
post points out, or, although
it is no longer in existence the work of the
Benefits
Reform Action Group,
are important. These groups are important because the longer the
Government holds off from doing what they need to do to end poverty,
puts
more pressure on the community
to
help.
Whether
thinking about the federal or provincial or municipal governments,
they all have more resources to than community members do to solve
poverty.
A question to be brought up is “What
can community Members do in their own Community to resolve Poverty?”
Well
one answer that comes to mind is “If
a community
had a Millionaire
or Billionaire
member,
they could use their personal funds to make sure that the homeless
were
housed and got properly
fed”.
However, it is only very few communities
in the whole world, that are lucky enough to have a Community member
who is enormously wealthy.
Even if the Community where people living in poverty (like
here in Halifax) had millionaires and billionaires
it is
unlikely
that they would want to help, anyway.
In
this previous post, I pointed out how our Provincial Government
did nothing when they had a perfect chance to do something.
Right now is 5 months from when that “rare Summer sitting”,
which I addressed then, took place. The Nova Scotia Government made
Nova Scotians on Income Assistance, many with disabilities, live
through those 5 months of inflation, before announcing the one time
help ($250)just before Christmas.
Oh and this
post points out that even the Liberal government of Stephen
McNeil, and the short time of Ian Rankin being in office, before
Premier Tim Houston took over Government , that no progress was made.
It is also because of the slow progress of the ESIA Transformation
and the failure of the department, to complete that Transformation.
The result is that Income Assistance recipients in addition to not
having enough money to live on, also continue to experience
bureaucratic nonsense, and difficulties qualifying for available
allowances through Community Services ESIA program.
Federally we see Parliament
taking a winter break before passing C-22 – another example of no
thought to the poor.
It is the government taking
actions like these that puts pressure on the Community. So people
living in poverty are saying:
In 2023, let’s
stop putting pressure on the community, and ask
Government to get things done.
That is the message for 2023!
Turn the pressure on the Government
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