Matthew Reszitnyk knows what living with poverty is like.
He wants to help combat the problem. On Tuesday he took the first step, filling out suggestions at a city-sponsored anti-poverty forum, designed to collect information which will be presented next fall to city council.
“When you’re in the struggle of poverty, trying to make ends meet and trying to pay your bills on time, it’s really difficult if you don’t have a steady job, if you don’t have a steady income. Coming out of school, post-secondary education, you incur a lot of debt, especially with OSAP, something a lot people in their 20s like me are struggling to pay down,” Reszitnyk said.
With the cost of living going up, higher food prices and costlier rents are making even tougher for society’s least affluent to get by.
And it’s not for lack of trying, Reszitnyk said.
“It’s hard to find decent work that’ll help you get out of debt, manage that and still put food on the table,” he said.
Using his own life as a blueprint, he said he was trying to make suggestions that might resonate with others.
Not everyone is the same, Reszitnyk said.
“Maybe they’re dealing with mental health issues. When you’re at the poverty line, it’s hard to even get up and look for a job, keep moving and keep pushing forward,” he said.
The solutions being offered up at Tuesday’s open forum were varied. Asked if there are challenges meeting basic needs, the responses ran the gamut.
One asked for more social services income to cover food costs; another asked for a breakfast program to be made available at all schools.
One respondent said they’re not facing challenges now, but “I fear for my future.”
Asked if they felt they had a voice, the answer came through loud and clear: “No, government doesn’t care.”
What can be done to help people on a fixed or low income?
“Raise the minimum wage to a living wage,” one participant wrote on an index card, the method organizers used to collect the data.
“Increase Canada Pension Plan contributions so more retirees can live above the poverty line.”
McKellar Coun. Paul Pugh helped oversee the community drop-in at Victoriaville Mall, whose roots were planted by Poverty Free Thunder Bay, the Lakehead Social Planning Council, the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board and the city itself.
The goal is a long-term plan for poverty reduction in Thunder Bay.
The report will look at information compiled by Statistics Canada and data compiled by local groups already working with the city’s poor, along with reports written in other cities.
“We’ll produce a report by people in Thunder Bay, concerning the situation in Thunder Bay, but learning from what’s being done in other cities, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. But at the same time it has to be specific to Thunder Bay.”
Poverty is a major issue citywide, Pugh said. And it affects not only the people who live in poverty, but the entire population.
“It’s not enough until we’ve eliminated poverty,” he said. “Between that sort of utopian goal and what we’re living with, there’s a huge gap. We believe there’s a lot more that can be done and the reason for the report is to have a strategy, sort of like our transit strategy or our housing strategy or our strategy on mining, so that we have some long-term perspective on doing things issue by issue.”
Reducing poverty could have an interesting side-effect said Mayor Keith Hobbs.
“I think if we can address this poverty issue, it can go a long way to maybe alleviating some of the (crime) statistics that are negative,” the mayor said.
It’s long overdue, he added.
“It’s new ground for us, and the same as tackling the drug and alcohol issues, I don’t think we’ve done enough and I’m really glad this city council is taking it on.”
A second, invitation-only public consultation is being held Wednesday at the Lakehead Labour Centre.
