Marvyn Novick, cofounder of CAMPAIGN 2000 and contributor to the SPNO, and Peter Clutterbuck, SPNO Community Planning Consultant, have been on the road since March with a presentation to initiate community discussion on creating a poverty free Ontario..

Called “Human Dignity for All: Working for a Poverty Free Ontario”, the presentation makes the case for moving from poverty reduction to poverty eradication strategies in Ontario. PFO presentation (PDF) (Updated July 4, 2011)

Community Presentations and Discussions

Since March presentations and community discussions have been held in:

• Oakville (Community Development Halton and Poverty Free Halton)
• Cambridge (Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries and Poverty Free Waterloo Region)
• Sudbury (Social Planning Council of Sudbury)
• North Bay (North Bay and Area Social Planning Council)
• Peterborough (Peterborough Social Planning Council)
• Toronto (Scarborough and old City of York – Social Planning Toronto)
• Durham (Community Development Council of Durham)
• Kitchener (Social Planning Council of Kitchener-Waterloo)
• Sault Ste. Marie (Social Development Council and United Way of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma)
• Hamilton (25 in 5 Hamilton Network for Poverty Reduction)
• Cornwall (Cornwall and Area Social Development Council)
• Kingston (Social Planning Council of Kingston and Area)
• Belleville (Community Development Council of Quinte)
• Thunder Bay (Lakehead Social Planning Council and Poverty Free Thunder Bay)
• Guelph-Wellington (Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination)
• Parry Sound, June 1 (District of Parry Sound Poverty Reduction Network)
• Rockwood, June 6 (United Church Women Presbytery, Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph)
• Aurora, June 7 (Do the Math Working Group of York Region)
• Sudbury, June 14-15 (Social Planning Council of Sudbury AGM and Poverty Free Ontario Workshop)
• Mississauga, June 17 (Peel Poverty Reduction Group)
• Niagara, June 22 (Social Assistance Reform Niagara)

Cross-Community Leadership PFO Event

On Thursday, May 5, at the Orchard View Public Library in Toronto more than 85 participants from 17 communities and several sectors (faith, health, disability, food security, community legal advocacy) came together for a presentation and discussion of SPNO’s Poverty free Ontario initiative.

Sponsored by the SPNO, the event was launched by John Palmer, a poet from Sudbury, who has has described the life of poverty compellingly in verse

Deirdre Pike of the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton and the 25 in 5 Hamilton Network for Poverty Reduction followed John Palmer with some inspirational words on moving from poverty reduction to poverty eradication strategies in Ontario.

Marvyn Novick presented Human Dignity for All: Working for a Poverty Free Ontario making the case for three key priority areas of action to eradicate poverty in Ontario within this decade:

1. End deep poverty by upgrading social assistance
2. End working poverty by assuring basic minimum wages
3. Protect food money by phasing in a full housing benefit

In discussion, participants generated ideas for local action to make poverty eradication part of the debate during the provincial election campaign in 2011 and shared election activity that might be undertaken across communities to the same end.