issue 25/ vol 45 TogetherBC: Tackling poverty >» BC introduces poverty reduction strategy Roshni Riar Staff Writer A part of Budget 2019, the government of BC has introduced TogetherBC— the official provincial poverty reduction strategy. By 2024, the TogetherBC strategy looks to bring down overall poverty across BC by 25 percent. The goal for child poverty reduction is 50 percent. It aims to lift 140,000 people out of poverty over the next frve years—that would relieve a fifth of the 557,000 BC residents living in poverty as of 2016. The 43-page report titled TogetherBC: British Columbia's Poverty Reduction Strategy outlines 12 key priorities that will be put into focus. The key priorities are tackling housing and homelessness ; supporting childcare and families; increased accessibility to education and training; increasing food security; access to healthcare; providing mental health and addictions services; improving financial security and income supports; providing safe and affordable transportation; increasing incomes through employment and job quality; opening up access to public services; facilitating greater access to justice; and combatting the discrimination that surrounds the reality of poverty. The four major principles driving the key priorities are increased affordability, opportunity, Indigenous reconciliation, and social inclusion. In order to start working towards their poverty reduction goals, the government has introduced five foundational elements that will be rolled out over the next five Resiliency and capacity building years. The revised BC Child Opportunity Benefit will provide a maximum credit of $1,600 ayear for a family with one child, up to $2,600 for two children, and $3,400 for three children. Instead of capping at age six, this credit will be available to families from birth until the child turns 18. Minimum wage will be increased to $15.20 by 2021, up from the current $12.65, and minimum wage rates will be harmonized for those working in service industries. The Fair Wages Commission is currently reviewing the disparity between living and minimum wages. The previously unveiled ChildCareBC plan will help bring down childcare costs for families across BC. Families with an income of $45,000 or less are eligible to receive the Affordable Child Care Benefit which could potentially negate a majority of their childcare fees. Establishing more licensed childcare centres and reducing costs will also help to make childcare more affordable over the next five years. Income and disability assistance rates will see increases. Reducing the five- week work search period for qualifying for income assistance to three weeks, improving access to transportation, and eliminating the two-year independence tule to provide struggling youth with supports are some of the changes being made to improve income and disability assistance rates. In addition to these provincial actions, federal supports such as the Canada Workers Benefit (CWB)—replacing the Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB)— Canada Child Benefit, and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) Top Up are all Le iJ a ea = * 7 = 7 Fre i a Nei ae 2 el ee being increased and revised. Jeevan Kullar, a second-year Environmental Science student, shared their thoughts on the poverty reduction strategy. “The news of this strategy is [probably] welcome to a lot of students who struggle with poverty themselves for climate change era » Students and faculty come together to discuss an uncertain future Tania Arora Staff Reporter n March 22 the Douglas College New Westminster campus played host to the annual Climate Change: Building Capacity and Resilience dialogue. Douglas College faculty members Siobhan Ashe, professor of Sociology and Anthropology, and Geography instructor Sarah Paynter, along with their respective classes and other Douglas students and community members, came together to discuss solutions for common problems in this era where the climate is changing drastically. The dialogue was presented by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The conversations were guided by several principles, one of which was to “be guided by a spirit of curiosity.” The students were divided into groups and asked to discuss climate change in relation to different themes such as no-car cities, community leadership, local food, fast fashion, environmental justice, food waste, the role of agriculture in climate change, and more. The groups designed their own posters to summarize the problem, their research questions, findings, synopses, effects, and conclusions. The discussions featured three rounds of dialogue during which students came up with answers to the given questions. “This year we are looking at knowledge-sharing, envisioning possibilities for the future, and moving into actual action. These common issues are what people need to be aware of,” said Ashe. One of the posters focusing on local food stated, “We conclude that local food on campus is beneficial for sustainability and resilience for the environment. A local program would be valuable at Douglas College” The Toronto Food Policy Council reported that Canadians waste on average $31 billion worth of food products each year. The report stated, “The accumulative cost of associated wastes (i.e. energy, water, land, labour, capital investment, infrastructure, machinery, transport) has been estimated by the United Nations’ news // no. 5 while attending school. I hope its implementation is successful.” On the 12 key priorities, Kullar said, “I think that these priorities would benefit everyone. Not just those who currently live in poverty, but those close to it. It could [help a lot] of people who might be straddling that line.” Food and Agricultural Organization at 2.5 times greater than the ‘face value’ of wasted food, making the overall cost of food waste in Canada exceed 100 billion” Issues of “fast fashion” and clothing waste were also discussed as part of the dialogues. In 2017, Greenpeace International reported that H&M has been burning their unsold clothing each year. H&M isn’t the only brand destroying its own product. Vox reported that in 2018, Burberry destroyed $36.8 million worth of its goods—in a year where the British luxury giant drew in revenue of $3.6 billion. “We should be buying quality clothes, fewer clothes and clothes that would last for years and years,” said Ashe during the dialogues. “Young people have it in them, ‘we have to shop, and we have to stop shopping and throwing them into garbage.” At the end of the discussion, the students and faculty members wrote postcards to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be sent to his office pertaining to the problem of climate change and requesting action.