Sudbury Social Justice News - February 3, 2013

EVENTS & MEETINGS:

1) Tuesday, February 5: Free Meal and Follow-up Meeting on the Struggle to Save the Community Start-up Benefit
2) Thursday, February 7: Dr. Gabor Mate: "Living Well in a Toxic World"
3) Saturday, February 9: Direct Action Support Work Training Workshop
4) Tuesday, February 12: Meeting of Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty
5) Thursday, February 14: Meeting of Grassroots: Sudbury's Media Collective
6) Tuesday, February 19: Meeting of Justice and Freedom for John Moore

NEWS, ANALYSIS, & CALLS TO ACTION:

1) "Background on the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit and the
New Situation" by Clarissa Lassaline

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Tuesday, February 5: Free Meal and Follow-up Meeting on the Struggle to Save the Community Start-up Benefit

Time: free meal at 6pm, report-back meeting at 7pm
Location: 2nd floor gym, St. Andrew's Place, 111 Larch Street

Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty is hosting a community meal and report-back meeting on the struggle against the cut to the Community Start Up. Come and discuss how we are going to continue to make sure that people's start up and maintenance needs get met.

Speakers at the meeting on Feb. 5th include: Steven Miller, Chief of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation speaking for Mamaweswen, the North Shore Tribal Council; Clarissa Lassaline and Gary Kinsman for the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP), Brendan Lehman for the S-CAP 11, Carol Kauppi for the Poverty, Homelessness, Migration research project at Laurentian University; Monique Beaudoin, Coordonnatrice en promotion de la santé, Centre de santé communautaire du Grand Sudbury; Lianne Bergeron of the Corner Clinic and a representative of the Sudbury Social Planning Council to speak about their emergency fund.There will also be a discussion period for people to raise questions and get clarification about the new ways to get start up and maintenance needs met.  

Wheelchair accessible. Childcare & transportation subsidization available on request.

For more information, including childcare and travel subsidization contact:
249-878-7227
sudburyCAP@gmail.com
www.sudburyCAP.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/257339454351403/

Organized by the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty (S-CAP)

Sponsored by:
• The Poverty, Homelessness and Migration Research Project at Laurentian University
• The Sudbury and District Labour Council (SDLC)
• Sudbury CUPE Council
• Centre de santé communautaire du Grand Sudbury

This event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/544665845552741/

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Thursday, February 7: Dr. Gabor Mate: "Living Well in a Toxic World"

Time: 7pm to 9pm
Location: Fraser Auditorium, Laurentian University, Sudbury
Please note that this event is free but a ticket is required -- see below for details.

Dr. Dan Andreae Distinguished Presidential Lecture Series on Living in Healthy Communities presents:

DR. GABOR MATÉ
Noted Physician & Bestselling Author

Dr. Gabor Maté is a Canadian physician, public speaker and bestselling author whose works have been published internationally in twenty languages. His most recent book is the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction.

For twelve years Dr. Maté worked in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside with patients challenged by hard-core drug addiction, mental illness and HIV, including at Vancouver's Supervised Injection Site. With over 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience and extensive knowledge of the latest findings of leading-edge research, Dr. Mate is a sought-after expert on mind/body health, parenting, childhood development, illness, and the treatment of addictions.

A renowned thinker and speaker, Dr. Maté regularly addresses health professionals, educators, and lay audiences throughout North America. At the core of his work is an understanding of the broader context in which human disease and disorders arise, and the intricate mind/body unity that is at the root of illness, and of health.

How does mental stress affect the physical being?

Is our materialistic society making us sick?

What can we do to nurture emotional and spiritual well-being, and can we change our culture to reduce the incidence of chronic illness, auto-immune conditions and cancer?

Dr. Gabor Maté is a Canadian physician, public speaker and bestselling author whose works have been published internationally in twenty languages.

At the core of his work is an understanding of the broader context in which human disease and disorders arise, and the intricate mind/body unity that is at the root of illness, and of health.

Thursday, Feb. 7th 7 p.m. Fraser Auditorium Laurentian University

Tickets are required for entry. Free tickets to this lecture are available, on a first-come, first-serve basis at the following locations: Laurentian University Bookstore and J.N. Desmarais Library; Cambrian College Registrar’s Office; Collège Boréal Registrar’s Office; Old Rock Roastery and the following branches of the Sudbury Public Library: 74 Mackenzie Street, 1346 Lasalle Boulevard, 2120 Regent Street South.

Tickets can also be obtained online at: laurentian.ca/lecture

Lecture is in English. Seating is limited. Free parking in lot #1.

Dr. Maté will be available for book signing following the lecture. Books will be available for purchase.

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La Série du recteur de conférences distinguées Dan Andreae pour vivre dans des collectivités en bonne santé présente :

Dr Gabor Maté

De quelle façon le stress mental affecte-t-il le bien-être physique?

Est-ce que notre société matérialiste nous rend malades?

Que pouvons-nous faire pour mieux nous occuper de notre bien-être émotif et spirituel, et pouvons-nous modifier notre culture pour réduire la fréquence des maladies chroniques, des troubles auto-immuns et des cancers?

Le Dr Gabor Maté est médecin, conférencier et auteur à succès au Canada et a publié ses oeuvres dans 20 langues.

Le point central de son oeuvre est une compréhension de la santé, du contexte élargi dans lequel sont issus les maladies et les troubles humains et de la relation complexe corps-esprit qui est à l’origine des maladies. Veuillez vous joindre à lui le 7 février alors qu’il discutera des manières de bien vivre dans un monde toxique.

Jeudi 7 février, à 19 h Auditorium Fraser Université Laurentienne

Conférence prononcée en anglais. Le nombre de places est limité. Stationnement gratuit dans le parc no 1.

À la suite de la conférence, le Dr Maté participera à une séance de dédicace.

On fera également la vente de livres.

Les billets pour l’entrée sont gratuits et distribués selon le principe du premier arrivé premier servi aux endroits suivants : Librairie et Bibliothèque J.N.-Desmarais à l’Université Laurentienne, Bureaux du secrétaire général des collèges Cambrian et Boréal, Old Rock Roastery et les succursales de la Bibliothèque publique de Sudbury situées au 74, rue Mackenzie, au 1346, boulevard Lasalle et au 2120, rue Regent Sud. On peut aussi se procurer des billets en ligne à : laurentienne.ca/lecture

This event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/569017253126468/

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Saturday, February 9: Direct Action Support Work Training Workshop

Time: 11am to 3:45pm
Location: meeting room, Sudbury Public Library, 74 Mackenzie Street

The date for Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty's Direct Action Support Work Training Workshop has been set! Topics to be covered include:

    1. What is Direct Action Support?
    2. Past and Current Cases
    3. Role Play scenarios

This event online:
http://sudburycap.com/events/event/direct-action-support-free-training-w...

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Tuesday, February 12: Meeting of Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Offices of the Sudbury and District Labour Council (Suite 209, upstairs in 109 Elm Street, which is across the street from the Native Friendship Centre )

Matters to be discussed include planning actions against the cuts to the community start-up fund and our ongoing direct action support work. Everyone welcome. The venue is wheelchair accessible. Children are welcome to attend, or childcare support is available upon request at sudburycap@gmail.com.

S-CAP is a direct-action anti-poverty organization based in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. We provide direct-action support work assisting individuals in their struggles with welfare and ODSP, housing, employers, and others who deny people what they are entitled to in order to meet their needs. In addition, we mount campaigns against and support educational work about regressive government policies as they affect working people and people living in poverty. We believe in the power of people to organize themselves.

S-CAP on FaceBook:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/257339454351403/

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Thursday, February 14: Meeting of Grassroots: Sudbury's Media Collective

Time: 10am to 11am
Location: Environmental Resource Centre (176 Larch Street, back entrance)

Everyone is welcome to join us for our next meeting, on Thursday, February 14,  10 - 11am in the ERC (176 Larch, back entrance). We'll be discussing our community roundtable-slash-membership campaign launch event as well as other aspects of our new membership campaign and of course, brainstorming story ideas.

Also, mark future meetings on your calendar, 10-11 am on the 2nd Thursday of each month: March 14, Apr. 11, May 9, June 13 in the ERC.

Grassroots Sudbury Media is a working group of the The Media Co-op. We are creating independent media in the North, to speak to our issues and outlooks on our communities as well as the world around us. Independent media provides an avenue for people who are wishing to gain critical perspective on the issues that matter most to us, and to give a voice to those people and stories that you won't find in the mainstream media.

Find our site at:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/group/sudbury

Contact the Sudbury Working Group to learn more about writing for us or to let us know about community issues and events at:
grassrootssudburymedia@gmail.com

Find us on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/GrassrootsMediaCollective

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Tuesday, February 19: Meeting of Justice and Freedom for John Moore

Time: 6:30pm
Location: Fromagerie Elgin, 5 Cedar Street (entry from Elgin), Sudbury

We will be discussing the ongoing work to cultivate opportunities for John to speak about his case outside of Sudbury, debriefing the "APTN Investigates" coverage of John's case, and working on the fundraising event proposed at the last meeting.

NEWS, ANALYSIS, & CALLS TO ACTION:

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Background on the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit and the New Situation
by Clarissa Lassaline of the Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty

The CSUMB

The liberal governments 2012 Spring Budget contained the largest reductions in benefits to people on social assistance since the Harris era.  One of their cuts against poor and working people targeted what was known as community start-up or the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit, the CSUMB.  This was a mandated benefit that every eligible person on OW or ODSP had access to once in a 24 month period. It assisted in setting up a new home, or to prevent eviction or to prevent a person from getting their utilities or heating cut off in their current dwelling.  CSUMB could also be used in special circumstances when there were conditions threatening the health or welfare of a person – bedbugs for example.  This benefit allowed many women and children living in an abusive situation to get out and start-up in a new place.

The Cut

All that has changed since January 1st.  That community start-up no longer exists.  What the government did is completely eliminate it. Then it took exactly half of the funding that used to go towards community start-up and put it into a new homelessness prevention programme called CHPI.   Several things have happened here:  inside CHPI the new start-up-like benefits are now available for a much larger population of people living in poverty, not only recipients of OW and ODSP.  At the same time, there is about $60 million less available for this.  The benefit is no longer mandatory nor needs-based since funding is now capped.  Moreover, municipalities have a year from this January to put their plans for CHPI together, a year in which they must deal with a loss of millions of dollars that have been cut from the programme.

The Fightback

All last Fall determined and creative anti-poverty groups across the province along with union allies, front-line workers and indigenous groups like the North Shore Tribal Council fought against the cuts to the CSUMB.  SCAP participated in this stuggle and 11 of our members are facing trespassing charges because Rick Bartolucci had us arrested for protesting in his office.  It became clear that municipalities were not at all prepared for the impact of these cuts. Because of the inadequacy of the basic needs and shelter allowances for OW and ODSP, the CSUMB had become a core benefit for supporting people on social assistance. Cutting it hurts people when they are at a most vulnerable point in their lives, and will increase homelessness and hardship.  Communities pushed their City Councils to demand that the government stop the cuts. Some did.  Here in Sudbury SCAP was successful in pressuring our Council to pass a motion asking the province to fully reinstate the CSUMB.

The Liberal Government’s response

In the last days of December, as a direct result of the anti-poverty fightback the Liberals announced they would reinject $42 million dollars back into this new homelessness prevention program CHIPI for the year 2013.  This injection of funds is a hard-won victory but it is a limited one.  It is a one-time deal only to help municipalities transition into CHPI.  The full $60 million cut to the CSUMB is still destined to come into effect next year.

The new situation

Even now with the shortfall, people on social assistance are struggling to meet their basic housing and maintenance needs.  There are no longer province-wide criteria in place to determine eligibility and so each municipality is setting up its own rules.  There may no longer be the possibility of appealing decisions and eligibility is being defined more and more narrowly.  In Toronto for example, only people who have been in an institution for more than 6 months will be allowed to access this funding.

So this means that whether or not people receiving OW or ODSP will have access to money for the kinds of expenses that CSUMB used to cover will depend on where in Ontario they live. Some municipalities are currently creating local programs that will replace CSUMB.  Some municipalities are not. And some replacement programs are temporary measures, put in place until they figure out their longer-term local housing and homelessness plans. Toronto and Hamilton city councils for example have committed to maintaining the previous level of funding.  Hamilton is covering all CSUMB benefits for 6 months, Toronto longer. Sudbury has made no such committment.

In Sudbury

Luisa Vale, who is the Director of Social Services for the City of Sudbury assured SCAP by e-mail that the new municipal ‘application process is the same and the amounts are consistent’ with the previous CSUMB procedures. This however is far from the whole story. As we have found with our recent direct action support work, the criteria for accessing money to  start-up kinds of expenses is becoming quite a bit more restrictive.  Although SCAP was recently successful in helping a person to get the full amount available for a fridge and stove, we also learned that it is precisely these kinds of expenses that are being considered only on a discretionary basis from now on.  Another person who requested funding for travel expenses to establish a new dwelling was refused funding for that expense. He was however able to get the funds by changing his application to an expense for last month’s rent. We are already seeing that the new programme is not meeting the housing and maintenance needs of people on OW and ODSP.  And this SCAP will continue to fight.

Another change has occurred concerning people receiving ODSP, which is a provincially-administered programme.  Since CHPI has been downloaded to municipalities, it is being administered through OW.  A person on disability still makes their request for start-up type funds to their own ODSP worker, but their application is then forwarded to OW for a decision. This imposes an extra distance between the person on ODSP and the decision-maker.

The struggle continues

SCAP is continuing to seek more clarification around what is happening with CHPI in Sudbury both during this period of transition and for the long term.  We will continue to fight for the reinstatement of the CSUMB or the creation of a permanent CSUMB-like program including all funds as a mandatory program available to all people on OW and ODSP.  And we will continue to fight for people’s access to community start-up and other benefits that they are being denied.