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By Carol Martin
SooToday.com
Saturday, February 21, 2009
People who need programs and services for the poor don't know about them or how to access them, says Alison Allen.Allen is a married mom living on social assistance in local social housing.
She says life is a constant struggle.
"When you go to your worker and ask what's out there for your kids, it's like pulling teeth to get anything out of them," Allen told participants in a forum on poverty this week at St. Andrew's United Church.
Staff from Canada Without Poverty (formally NAPO, the National Anti-Poverty Organization) and Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) were at St. Andrew's United Church for the forum organized by Reverend Phil Miller and Sault MP Tony Martin.
Chandra Pasma, the CPJ's public justice policy analyst, facilitated the forum.
It focussed on the role of religion and spirituality in the fight against poverty.
It included a series of questions for participants to answer, either individually or after small group work.
Allen (shown) responded to a question about what the community can do to fight poverty, by suggesting public awareness needs to be better targeted.
"I found out about this [forum] today," she said. "You could have put a pamphlet or something in the envelope with the cheques from Ontario Works. You would have had a lot more people out here."
Allen said the government keeps saying it's fighting child poverty, but programs and services are very hard to find or to even figure out how to access, if you can somehow manage to find out about them.
"It would be good if there was someone you could ask about them," she said. "Someone to help you fill out the forms and applications. To help you figure out what you need to get them."
Forum participants also discussed the role of faith-based groups to fight poverty.
"Why is the love of neighbour central to so many religions?" asked Pasma from Citizens for Public Justice "What would our society look like if we practised love of neighbour and what would it mean for how we interact with the poor?"
It was generally agreed that most religions and forms of spirituality include some concept of social conscience and an inherent obligation to help people in need for the sake of all community members.
Pasma also talked about a human-centred philosophy she said could be called the economics of enough, asking how people could implement it in their own daily lives and in their churches.
"The biggest problem is, because of the life expectancy of governments, it's almost impossible to put together a program with sustainable funding," said Larry Knapp, another participant in the forum.
Knapp said a long-term plan with clear directives and goals is needed along with a plan to respond effectively to emergencies.
"Poverty is an affront to God," said Pasma. "We are blessed to become a blessing to others and we must continue this work."
Martin said he believed the forum was a success with many good ideas coming out of it.
"The fact that we got such a good turnout to reflect on this issue of poverty and that this community has some real concern about the situation that people find themselves in is encouraging," Martin said after the forum. "I believe that faith communities have a moral obligation to engage themselves in the discussion of and the work toward the eradication of poverty."
The MP said he believes it can be done, but only if politicians feel they have the support of their community to do what's necessary.
"I feel like I've always been supported on these issues, that's one reason I keep getting elected," Martin said. "We keep working at it and, in some small way, we make progress."
A number of interested people who participated in the forum signed up to continue to meet regularly with the intent to end poverty in the Sault.
They agreed it's important to keep each other informed about what they are doing and what needs to be done and to make a commitment to work together toward the same goal.
