Poverty is Not Colour Blind

The Colour of Povery Campaign has issued a media release in reponse to the government of Ontario's povery reduction strategy:

Poverty is Not Colour Blind: Colour of Povery Campaign warns Ontario Government ahead of release of poverty-reduction strategy

TORONTO, December 3, 2008—Members of the Colour of Poverty Campaign today warned the Ontario Government that its pending poverty-reduction strategy – with its narrow focus on child poverty – risks failure by ignoring the root causes of poverty, especially the needs of Ontario’s racialized communities.

“Racism creates poverty, it’s as simple as that,” says Debbie Douglas, Executive Director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI).

“Systemic racism is an extreme and insidious form of discrimination that persists in Ontario at all levels of society and denies its victims opportunities to participate fully in society. It is no wonder racialized people are disproportionately vulnerable to poverty in Ontario.”

Member groups of the Colour of Poverty Campaign, which previously met with Minister of Children and Youth Services Deborah Matthews to discuss the province’s comprehensive poverty-reduction strategy, are concerned that the Government’s announcement tomorrow excludes critical policy considerations for visible minorities.



“Premier Dalton McGuinty has scaled back commitments by his government to build a comprehensive poverty-reduction strategy for Ontario by focusing only on children,” says Avvy Go, Clinic Director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and South-east Asian Legal Clinic. “While noble in intent, it would appear his government is willing to settle for band-aid solutions, instead of addressing the root causes of poverty.”

“A plan that focuses solely on child poverty cannot be effective without clearly addressing the particular needs of children from the diverse ethno-racial minority communities in Ontario,” Go added.

Indeed, a report released yesterday by the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto states: “Poverty is racialized, that is, disproportionate to people of colour who are Canadian-born and newcomers.”

The CAS report, Greater Trouble in Greater Toronto: Child Poverty in the GTA (pg. 12), found among racialized groups in the Toronto CMA (based on 2000 LICO Before-Tax rates) that one child in ten among global European groups lived in poverty; one child in five of East Asian heritage grew up poor; one child in four for Aboriginal, South Asian, Caribbean, South and Central American groups was also living in poverty. Poverty also struck one child in three for children of Arab and West Asian groups and • one child in two for children of African groups.

As a further example, the United Way of Greater Toronto’s “Poverty by Postal Code” analysis showed that poverty among “visible minority” or racialized groups in Toronto rose by 361% between 1980 and 2000, while it actually fell by 28% among the rest of the population.

“Poverty affects different groups of Canadians differently, whether they are immigrants or Canadian born,” says Grace-Edward Galabuzi, Professor of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University in Toronto. “Poverty also shows up in inequitable learning outcomes, unequal access to health care and unequal access to the labour market. An effective anti-poverty strategy must recognize poverty’s differential impacts on women, racialized people, Aboriginal people and people with disabilities.”

“Good public policy on poverty reduction should target a framework that recognizes not only children and families, but also individuals and communities that are exposed to poverty due to their race and other factors,” says Atulya Sharman, Community Legal Worker at the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario.

“It should address the various forms of structural and institutional inequality that prevail across the broadest range of economic, cultural, community and social services and supports – most especially those that impact differentially and clearly disproportionately on the basis of ethno-racial identity, Aboriginal status, disability, citizenship or immigrant status, family status, sexual orientation and age.”

The Colour of Poverty Campaign has formulated a list of priority measures that Government should implement to address the growing reality of racialized poverty in Ontario, including:

1. Employment Equity to ensure equal access to opportunity and promotion for Ontario’s visible minorities, and other historically disadvantaged groups;
2. Establishing an Anti-racism Directorate within Government, ideally with links to the Premier’s Office and with a clear and strong cross-Ministerial mandate. In further support of efforts to counter racialized poverty, Government appointments as well as public service hiring should reflect Ontario's cultural diversity (racialized communities), although it is not acceptable to engage in tokenism to gain support for poor policy making;
3. Improved employment standards to eliminate precarious and exploitative workplace practices and related disadvantageous forms of employment;
4. Development and effective implementation of an equitable and inclusive education curriculum, particularly in elementary and secondary school grade levels;
5. Develop a clear and effective equity framework for delivery, monitoring and measurement of public policy and program outcomes across all of government with the goal of eliminating institutional, structural and systemic bias and disadvantage, especially as it affects visible minorities (racialized groups) and other historically marginalized communities.
6. Build a comprehensive housing strategy including targeted social housing allocations, inclusive zoning provisions and home ownership supports for racialized communities.
7. Ensure equitable access to affordable, good-quality child care for all families
   Members of the Colour of Poverty Campaign from around the province also support key related poverty reduction initiatives, including: removing the 3-month waiting period for OHIP eligibility, providing for equitably accessible and effective legal services and litigation supports, and the opening up of the municipal franchise to all residents of any given municipality.

“Ontario’s forthcoming poverty reduction strategy must clearly tackle the causes and consequences of racialized poverty in all areas of government policy and programming, so that all Ontarians will have an equal chance at escaping poverty,” Go said.

For further information about the Colour of Poverty Campaign, please contact:
Amy Casipullai, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), at 416-322-4950 ( Mobile – 416-524-4950 )

Atulya Sharman, South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO), at 416-487-6371 ( Mobile – 416-837-0888 )

Avvy Go, Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, at 416-971-9674 ( Mobile – 647-271-9357 )

For related research and background information, please visit: http://www.colourofpoverty.ca/