Queer and Trans Poverty Study
A major gap in research on queer and trans poverty in BC currently exists; because of this these communities are being excluded from initiatives trying to address poverty. So the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition is now launching a queer and trans poverty research study. The goal of the research project is to bring attention to [...]
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And then there were two
And then there were two: Alberta voters promised a provincial poverty reduction plan, leaving only BC and Saskatchewan without one now. Two weeks before Alberta’s provincial election, Progressive Conservative Leader Alison Redford announced a Plan for Poverty Reduction. Surprising many, Alberta has re-elected the PC party, and consequently, Alberta will now see a plan in [...]
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Latest e-newsletter: Get Involved!
In this newsletter, find out how to get involved and help spread the message about the need for a poverty reduction plan for BC. We also have updates from some of our members. If you’re between ages 12 and 18 and you have a job, then First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition want [...]
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Housing and food still out of reach for too many in BC
Op-ed by Organizer Trish Garner published in The Province today. “Two significant reports were released this week that shine a light on the crisis of poverty we face as a province. Cost of Eating in B.C. 2011 found that healthy food is unaffordable for the poorest people in B.C. And the final Metro Vancouver Homeless [...]
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Latest E-Newsletter
Budget 2012: There were no poverty reduction measures in the recent budget announcement last Tuesday and it was hard to see anything that put “families first” as Christy Clark has pledged to do. In particular, there was no increase in welfare rates, which have been frozen since 2007 and have been significantly eroded by inflation [...]
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Send a Valentine’s Day card to your MLA
Last Fall, MLA Shane Simpson introduced a private member’s Bill proposing a BC Poverty Reduction Act. If adopted, it would see the government develop a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy within one year, including legislated targets and timelines to reduce the breadth and depth of poverty in our province. Today, MLAs are returning to the Legislature [...]
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Community Event: End Child Poverty Now!
British Columbia has had the worst child poverty rate in Canada for eight consecutive years and yet does not have a poverty reduction plan. To learn more about this issue, please attend this upcoming forum on January 25 at Langara College featuring speakers from two of our very own member organizations, Seth Klein of the [...]
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Surrey MLA starts month on welfare
When Raise the Rates challenged any BC MLA to live on welfare for one month, only one MLA took up the call. Surrey NDP MLA Jagrup Brar started his one month on welfare on January 1st with a backpack and two quarters. He has to find a place to live and survive on $610 a [...]
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If the BC government were a basketball player…
Check out this excellent one-minute video and please and pass it on via email, Facebook, Twitter or your favourite sharing tool. It’ll make you laugh, but there’s a serious message here for anyone who cares about poverty in BC. Video by Sean Devlin. Feb. 2011.
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Aboriginal leaders call for legislated plan
B.C.’s top aboriginal leaders are backing calls for a legislated plan to end child poverty in an open letter to Premier Gordon Campbell. The plan should include legislation aimed at ending child poverty and set measurable targets, leaders of the First Nations Summit, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the B.C. Assembly of First Nations [...]