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It seems that the issue of
child poverty has a great impact on many of the youth
today since the conferences of 1998 through 2000 were
focused on this issue. Poverty affects so many people and
so the youth gathered and took action against poverty.
The following are various information that were discussed
at these conference.
Sharing
Resources 2000
[top]
As Canada enters the new
millennium, a growing percentage of our population will
be under the age of 30. Perhaps the biggest barrier to
the meaningful engagement of youth in our society,
current and future, is child poverty and the inequality
of access to caring support, information, skills and
technologies necessary for their productive contribution
to a healthy Canada. Through the support of the private
sector and all levels of government, our three-year
program that allowed youth to mobilize their communities
in order to eradicate these barriers. The process of The
Students Commission/TG Magazine has proven highly
successful in providing youth with the tools, motivation
and support to begin action for systemic change. Sharing
Resources main goal was for the youth to reach 2000
projects before the year 2000 ended. Projects included
from writing a postcard to the government about their
concerns on child poverty, making a video at the
conference, presenting a workshop in their schools and
even starting tutoring programs. The youth brought the
knowledge and skills they learned from the conference and
used it to benefit their community.
Child
Poverty
[top]
Our definition of "child
poverty" is a broad one, not just restricted to
economics. We define poverty
as the unfair and
unequal
access to the resources that
allow young people a fair chance of succeeding in life.
Equal access to resources is our goal: the right of all
young Canadians to experience success, positive
reinforcement and self-esteem. We have engaged 2000 young
people in skill building workshops to create 2000
projects addressing the issue.
Sharing Resources 2000 created a
cross Canada youth program that implemented community
action for systemic change, sustaining communication
through a network supported by multimedia, Internet and
personal exchanges. The theme "Sharing Resources" will
encourage young people to discover the values and skills
they have to give, and will focus on young people
creating equal opportunity for all young Canadians in the
new millennium. Projects by youth will seek to enable
young people to break cycles of child poverty, will
enable access to technology and promote youth engagement
in society in Canada, and around the world.
In many cases, through increased
awareness generated by Sharing Resources 2000, young
people will be encouraged to take their project ideas and
volunteer with existing organizations and groups
experienced and active in this social issue.
Check out Child Poverty
Statistics:
Click here
Check out news article about
child poverty: Click
here
Personal
Stories
[top]
(real stories
from real youth, writers
are kept anonymous)
1. In my life I have been sheltered
from everything that life could possibly have to give me.
Growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere was
good for me and my family. Until one day, I just couldn't
relate to anyone around me. I had been exposed to
something that I just couldn't come to terms with, I put
up walls on every side of me. I talked to no one, I said
nothing, and no one seemed to mind about any of it. I was
upset and depressed and had no one that could make
anything better for me. Eventually I went for
professional help and got a little better. Even though
what happened can't be reversed, I still feel that I am
missing something that others have as an advantage over
me. I think this is my only experience with poverty.
Poverty has many faces.
2. The definition of poverty has a
different meaning for my family and I. Since grade two my
parents have been divorced. My father was very abusive
towards my mother, both physically and emotionally.
Luckily enough, my father never moved onto my brothers
and sister or myself. He had a lot of anger issues that
he has been working on since the divorce.
3. My mom was an " at home mom "
through her whole marriage, but now she is forced to get
a job. She worked very hard at what she had become (a
teacher's assistant) and to bring her paycheck home. But
unfortunately that wasn't enough for my mom to take care
of herself and her 6 young children. She had to ask my
grandparents for money, which I know was one of the
hardest things for her to do. My grandparents were very
willing to help her, but when my mom had to go pick up
her money there was sadness in her eyes.
From The Toronto Star
Article (November 1998)
Emma ,18, knows what it is
like to scrape by on little money. For about 18 months
she has been on of the "squeegee kids" who wash car
windows while motorists are stopped under the Gardiner
Expressway overpass in downtown Toronto. Emma quit school
after Grade 10 and lived in a squat at an abandoned
building and stayed at friends' houses. She also has a
part time job at a grocery store.
Here's what she says about the
squeegee job:
" If I didn't have to do it, I
wouldn't do it. The government has responsibility and
society has responsibility to take care of its people;
but, in a way, I don't know what they'd do. They can't
just give us money or pull jobs out of thin air. I have
to do this, because I don't have the qualifications. I'd
like to go back to school, but right now I don't have the
money to go back. I need money for food, I need money to
support myself and minimum wage just doesn't cut it with
a part-time job. I make about $40 a day, but when
(newspapers) do a story on us, business goes bad. After
(Toronto mayor) Mel Lastman made that big thing about
cleaning up squeegee kids off the street, it was
terrible. For about two months, I only made about
$20."
National Child Day: An Occasion to
focus on poverty featured by The Toronto Star
and The Gazette in Montreal
November 20 is National Child
Day in Canada. Denise Campbell, the 23-year-old
spokesperson for the non-profit organization The Students
Commission, figures the occasion offers people a good
opportunity to think about child poverty.
"It's a really great time to focus
attention on the issue."
The federal government created
National Child Day in 1993, commemorating the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The
convention, adopted by the UN in 1989, says children have
the right to live well, which means having their basic
needs looked after food, shelter, standard of living and
health.
A key goal of Canada's National
Child Day is to increase awareness of factors that
contribute to healthy child development, especially in
the early years of life.
High school students could
undertake a variety of projects related to this issue,
Health Canada suggests. For example, they could make a
list of improvements they would like to see for young
people living in their community: Begin by identifying
factors that could improve the health and well-being of
children and youth. Discuss ways that institutions,
organizations and youth themselves can address these
factors.
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