In today's Canadian society we still have serious poverty issues, and the government doesn't seem to have much concern about the issues at hand. As I look through online news websites, it is clear that our poverty issue is just as serious as other countries that are considered underdeveloped. The living conditions may be of higher quality, having indoor plumbing and health care, but we still have homeless people, and people without food and clean water. These issues are not being taken as seriously as they should be by the government that is supposed to be providing the basic necessities, looking at this from a social democratic position. In fact, our government has made it public knowledge that they are cutting funding for many of our public sectors , including education and social services. The National Post news report on this years federal budget was alarming to say the least, as they are taking money out of the most important sections like Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Health, as well as Food and Agriculture, with further predictions that they will continue to reduce the funding for these programs ( Postmedia News, 2012) . This has serious consequences for those already living in less than optimal conditions, as they will have even larger challenges to face without the support they need.
The people suffering currently are of many races, they have many different cultural backgrounds, and they all share the same country. Many people are of the First Nations, living on government reserves and have very little income. These reserves are small, underdeveloped communities, with very small, unfinished houses and often several people living together for shelter (Arsenault, 2012). Many of them do not have access to clean water or affordable groceries, and due to large extractions of natural resources, much of their hunting and fishing traditions have been destroyed. Many First Nations living on reservations close to these extraction projects are becoming deathly ill with cancers and fatal diseases from toxic waste, with their fish poisoned, and their natural hunting habitats destroyed (To the Last Drop).
There are so many factors as to what is affecting our population's poverty issues, that the complete ignorance of our country's policy-makers are responsible for the challenges faced currently, especially when they are cutting back on the basic needs of the first people that lived on these lands. There are many people standing up and speaking out for those who are suffering in these terrible conditions, and yet they are given very little amounts of money from the government to try to compensate for the destruction of their well-being. I personally think that was the beginning of the issue, as people cannot eat money, and the food available is generally tainted in some form and is also expensive, those who live on fly-in reservations pay triple the price of the food that is supplied across the country, this is shown on the Food Bank Canada hungercount report for 2012. I feel the government should be looking further into adequate housing and alternative gardening, like greenhouses for year round food supply, as these are the basis of sustainable living. People need to be healthy before they can be productive, and for a society with a lack of basic needs, those should be the highest priorities for any government that is responsible for the greater good of the people. Our future generations are the ones suffering, over 30% of those in poverty are children (Ferguson, 2012). There are enough people in the world to grow more then enough food for them selves, and there is enough technology to ensure optimal temperatures for growing food, so why is our government cutting funding for these issues? It seems they are only looking at the profit margin of globalization, and deciding that money is far more important then the lives of thousands of Canadians. I feel we should be re-evaluating those with political power that make these decisions, as we are failing to uphold the basic human rights people have in this country.
Elizabeth
Research:Arsenault, C. (2012, February 11). Canada's mining boom leaves nation in the cold. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/02/201221017545565952.html
Witness, , dir. To the Last Drop. Dir. Radford Thompson. 2012. Film. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2011/06/20116227153978324.html.
Ferguson, . (2012, November 1) "Rich-poor gap widening." St. Catharines Standard [Welland]Retrieved from http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2012/11/01/rich-poor-gap widening.
Postmedia News. (2012, March 29). Canada's federal budget 2012 : Planned cuts by
department. National Post. Retrieved from http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/29/budget-2012-planned-cuts-by-department/
I completely agree with your blog post. I do not understand why there are still people living in Canada on the streets without the basic necessities we need in life when our government is here to provide the basic necessities to Canadian citizens. At the same time that these people are not being provided with the basic necessities, the government is pulling funding that would help to support these people. By pulling this funding they will also create a bigger mess because the people previously receiving funding will be without it. This will cause more people on the streets without the basic necessities that every person needs to properly survive.
ReplyDelete-Kahli (Physical Disabilities Group)
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ReplyDeleteDear Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI like how you spoke your mind with no fear and with total courage. I also like how you have mentioned many suggestions that are very doable. I believe that you have connected to the issue very well and your topic is linked to poverty so much as well.
"People need to be healthy before they can be productive". I totally agree with you! That's why I think that it is the responsibility of the government to provide its people with their needs in order to allow their creativity and productiveness to prosper.
I think you have done a great job! Thank you for choosing that very interesting topic.
-Farah
Beth, The goverment will continue to reduce the funding for all of these programs if it means they will make profit somewhere else. I agree they should not cut and put more money into the important things like the life of canadians.I realy like this great job Beth
ReplyDeleteJen.M
I absolutely agree with what you are saying. I don't understand why Canada continues to have so many of their citizens living in poverty. I feel that they set up the "welfare system" so that people can have their basic necessities to live, although I don't feel that those are even being met half the time. I feel that they should be putting more money into getting Canadians out of poverty and helping them get jobs and more education instead of cutting funding and setting them back."People need to be healthy before they can be productive" is something that stuck out to me while reading your blog. If people are struggling to feed themselves and their family's and are unable to keep them as healthy as they can be, those living in poverty will not accomplish what they are capable of. They should be focusing on the greater good of all Canadian citizens, not just those in the middle and upper class. If they did focus on those on those in poverty and struggling, they could focus on helping people get off the streets, get their lives back on track and establish healthy and positive day to day routines.
ReplyDeleteAlysha (LGBT)
I like this post, because many people, including myself, had no idea what reserves were like. Up until now I thought the Indian peoples just got free handouts, taxes taken off, free education, the whole bit. But when you look at the living conditions of the reserves where they reside, it's atrocious. The houses are basically falling apart, the roads are terrible, and it's generally poor living conditions for anyone. People also don't understand that they don't own their houses, the government does. It's surprising that this isn't more of an issue that's brought up in the media, because the Canadian government often refuses to honour certain treaty agreements. Some reserves don't even have access to basic necessities such as clean water or food, and some have even declared states of emergency because of how horrible the conditions are. Thank you for bringing up this topic!
ReplyDelete-Spencer (poverty group)