may as well be homeless
I am not sure if it is getting to be the same everywhere, but here in Calgary, at the moment, it is seeming like a great depression is on it's way. I find that the more money i make, the more money you need to live "the normal life". Why is it that this part of the world seems to think that only the super rich can live comfortably, and anyone that makes under 40K/year struggles? Unless we start living with 12 other people, we all have a chioce to make. Food, rent, or fun. You can't have it all. Rent goes up, bills go up, the price of food, and gas, and recreational activites go up, yet the minimum wage doesn't. Is the government TRYING to make evryone suffer? I may as well be on the streets. I worried less about money, and it seemed that the only stress i had was where to get a warm place to sleep. Mind you, that IS a pretty shitty thing to have to worry about, but Being a productive member of society seems to have more cons than pros. It's hard to weigh them out. I still go hungary, and I still find myself threatened with lack of shelter, and yet i am looked at as 'doing better'. Canada is going downhill at a rate that is unbelievable. I don't, by any means, look at myself as hard up, as I have been hard up, and this is not it, but there are many people that are out there working 2 full time jobs, and trying to run a household making $7/hr. How do you think rent can be paid with that kind of wage? Welfare these days can not meet the standards now, unless you live in a place with 15 other people on welfare. when the rent goes up $300/month every January, more and more people are finding themselves back at square one, or at 'rock bottom' for those who have yet to have that experience. This really makes me wonder about the future of this nation, and the solutions, if any, that we might come up with.
we need some kind of social revolution
nothing will change until that happens
but i dont see it on the horizon at all
Hi there.
The solution to end poverty and homelessness in Calgary is pretty simple in my eyes, this province is the richest in the country and yet there`s still problems with homelessness and poverty and I agree it doesn`t make any sense.
Calgary is suppose to be one of the richest city if not the richest in Canada and yet there`s a serious lack of housing that people can afford, even those like you who are working their butts off are stock not being able to afford rent.
Our coalition has been pushing for a $10.00 per hours minimum wage which we felt was a reasonable demand but it never happened, the best the Government of Alberta could come up with was $8.00 in 2006 plus indexation according to the cost of living.
By the time the minimum wage gets to ten dollars per hours, 100`s more or perhaps even more of our brothers and sisters will end up on the street in Calgary and everywhere else in Alberta for that matter.
The $10.00 an hour minimum wage idea was brought up for the first time in the early 2000 when I was heading the Alberta Coalition Against Poverty and again in 2003 when I was in charge of the Albertans Against Poverty Organisation and now I am in charge of the new National Coalition Against Poverty which took over A.C.A.P. And A.A.P.O. IN 2005 & 2006.
Now I am in Laval Quebec trying to organize things for our coalition, we need to get someone in Calgary to get things going again in this city, if you are interested to represent our coalition in Calgary let me know and I will send you some info.
Daniel
Hi there
I do agree with what you are saying to a certain point, in order for this to happen though, we need to organize ourselves nation wide and put our differences aside and think as one organization for the people.
This is the whole idea behind NCAP (The National Coalition Against Poverty), as far as I am concerned, having a whole bunch of organizations not working toghether and having their own agenda isn`t workingé
As I said, we need to work toghether or else we will still have this problem in 10 years and probably longer and more people will end up poor and homeless across Canada.
Daniel
I agree that we need a massive movement that starts with thousands of cells consisting of smaller groups of people taking one day of actions in all of our local communities. I know that there is talks and sone writing about a Woodstock Revival planned for the peace arch that runs between our the US and Canada for Labor Day weekend. This a plan to have the largest tent city existing between the two contries to get our governments to pay attention to the homeless.
I think if we pick the next major celbration where alot of money and donations are to be spent then we should just stop buying spending and volunteering for 15 minutes all at the same time. It is a quite but silent way of taking a direction action. This is a great movement for people who are afraid of being seen at a demostration of any kind.
I just got off my blog of today's non events. I have to take off for a bit, get cleaned up and go see a judge. IF I GOT PAID from UPS. Rose I cut and paste your Missing person's Happy Ending to a few friends and to NPR.
There is so much to think about about all of us organizing. more soon I still think (see below's sign off line)
We can't stop homelessness but we can help fight it.
FreddieCrazyThingCalledLove
Someone, somewhere, near Seattle
well, i would love to be a part of that, but since i AM a working stiff, and I work 12 hour days, 6 days a week, i would not have much time to do too much. SO interested in that kind of stuff, but unless i win the lottery sometime so that I can take some time off work and persue this as a passion..... well, you can see where i am coming from. I will do what I can over the computer, for sure. Thanks for showing some concern.