Dec 092012
 
Share
Print Friendly

Food bank users say at $650, welfare leaves them hungry every month.

from Raise the Rates

VANCOUVER, Unceded Coast Salish Territory, December 7 About 80 low income people converged on the CBC on its annual food bank day to say that they want governments to end the need for food banks by raising welfare rates.

Organized by Raise the Rates, the group set up its tent on the CBC Plaza and ran ‘Poor People’s Radio’ for an hour, which gave people living in poverty an opportunity to speak out.

In all this fund raising, the experiences and voices of those people forced into poverty by government policies are hardly ever heard. Why are the poor ignored?

Raise the Rates had written to the CBC offering them the opportunity to interview people who live in poverty and depend on Food Banks. Instead the CBC ignored the poor people outside and their security guards tried to harass them, while inside the feel-good programs continued.

This time of year there are many charities collecting food, presents and money to give to ‘those less fortunate’. However in all this fund raising, the experiences and voices of those people forced into poverty by government policies are hardly ever heard. Why are the poor ignored?

The CBC Food Bank day will raise around $500,000 for the year. This is a large sum for people to donate. Yet it is less than $5 a year, or a dime a week, for every child in poverty in BC.

Food Banks were set up in 1982 as a "temporary" measure. Surely, after 30 years, it is time to ask "Why have Food Banks been here so long?" and "Why is there so much need and poverty in BC?". Food Banks temporarily treat hunger, which is a symptom. The cause is poverty and Raise the Rates wants treatment for the causes of poverty.

Raise the Rates

About Raise the Rates


Raise the RatesRaise the Rates is a coalition of community groups and organizations concerned with the level of poverty and homelessness in British Columbia. In 2002, the provincial government cut welfare rates and introduced arbitrary barriers that keep people in need from getting help. Since then, homelessness has at least doubled and BC has more people living below the poverty line than any other province in Canada. The small welfare increases included in the February 2007 Budget have made little difference to people’s lives.

© Copyright 2012 Raise the Rates, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca
Share

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.