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anti-poverty

September-October 2016

Canada needs a new strategy to tackle anti-poverty work

How to break the class ceiling

Pat Capponi

For our special 50th anniversary issue, Canada’s brightest, boldest, and most rebellious thinkers, doers, and creators share their best big ideas. Through ideas macro and micro, radical and everyday, we present 50 essays, think pieces, and calls to action. Picture: plans for sustainable food systems, radical legislation, revolutionary health care, a greener planet, Indigenous self-government, […] More »
May-June 2016

Is welfare sexist?

Some provincial governments will cut off social and disability assistance if a woman’s partner makes too much money—a 1950s era policy that curbs independence, reinforces the marry-rich cliché, and can even put women in danger

Amanda Van Slyke

Independence has never come easy for me—but it’s always been vital. I was born premature in 1989 with undiagnosed dyspraxia, a neurological disorder that permanently affects memory, coordination, and processing speed. Because my development was delayed and I was held back in kindergarten, I heavily relied on my classmates throughout school. I nodded my head […] More »

Gender Block: so, the Pan Am games are a mess

Hillary Di Menna

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) led a rally and march last weekend in protest of Toronto’s Pan Am Games. As the event page description reads, “If there is money to spend on circuses, then the resources can be found to end the need for food banks, tackle the mounting problem of homelessness and ensure […] More »
January-February 2015

Beyond Band-Aids

Rebecca Melnyk

Dedicated anti-poverty activist and doctor Ryan Meili tackles the root causes of illness and addiction IN 2010, RYAN MEILI STOOD in the medical clinic where he worked, on the west side of Saskatoon. A girl named Maxine walked in. She was a 20-year-old from the streets who moved as if she were 91. She wanted […] More »
September-October 2011

Why mandatory minimum sentences cost billions—and don’t reduce crime

Graham F. Scott

“We do not use statistics as an excuse not to get tough on criminals.” That was federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson’s astonishing response to Statistics Canada’s finding in July that crime rates in Canada now stand at the same level they did in 1973. Don’t bother us with the facts, was Nicholson’s meaning, our minds […] More »
March-April 2011

This45: Ellen Russell on activist educators the Catalyst Centre

Ellen Russell

The moment I met the Catalyst Centre folks, I was intrigued. They seemed to get that social justice is not just a question of publicizing critical information: Building movements takes something more, and these folks seemed to have a handle on what that “something” is. Catalyst carries on a rich heritage in popular education—one that […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Clive Thompson on zero-growth economist Peter Victor

Clive ThompsonWebsite

Could you live on $14,000 a year? Could everyone in Canada? And could we live on $14,000 a year for the rest of history? That’s the sort of uncomfortable, prickly question Peter Victor likes to ask. And the way you answer might say a lot about the future of the planet. That’s because Victor is […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Graham F. Scott on NDP health critic Megan Leslie

Graham F. ScottWebsite

For this special anniversary issue, we asked 45 alumni of This Magazine to tell us about the individuals and organizations who are doing the most exciting, creative, and important work in politics, activism, art, and more. Many chose young up-and-comers; others chose seasoned vets who never lost their passion for new ideas and approaches. But […] More »
November-December 2010

New Westminster, B.C., leads the way with Canada’s first living wage bylaw

Adam Lemieux

The fight against poverty in Canada recently added a new weapon to its arsenal: the living wage bylaw. While only one Canadian city, New Westminster, B.C., currently implements the practice, the push is on to make it the norm. Living wage bylaws require that workers employed directly or indirectly by a municipal government be paid […] More »