A Story of the Working Poor

Shhhh! This is a dirty secret that nobody likes talking about. Well, it's not really a secret, because there is information about the issue everywhere. More accurately, we are - as we should be - embarrassed by the glaring fact that, in our great nation of Canada, 1 in 10 people (nearly 3.5 million of us) live in poverty.These findings come from a report recently released by the Salvation Army, and the document also outlined the unfortunate statistic that 35% of homeless men in British Columbia are employed. Infuriated by such a grim forecast for our Olympic Nation? Not sold on the data? Well, you can email the Salvation Army's Territorial Public Relations Director, Andrew Burditt, at andrew_burditt(at)can.salvationarmy.org if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Moving on...

Wow. 3.5 million. People. Canada. Employed homeless people? No wonder people from the developing world are so staggeringly disappointed by our Canadian communities when they visit. According to the Human Development Index, Canada is tied for fourth (with Luxembourg and Sweden - take that, Switzerland!) as the overall most desirable country in which to live. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the United Nations think we're doing a pretty good job of, well, being a society. Here's a pretty key problem with our society, though: according to a 2007 Statistics Canada report, "the income gap between rich and poor has widened over the past ten years and income inequality is greater in Canada than it is in most other developed countries." No kidding. When a quarter of Canada's homeless receive income from paid employment and an astounding 57% receive income from other sources like welfare (37%), disability (16%) or a pension (4%), I wonder how bad things have gotten in places around the world, such as Switzerland, the UK and the United States, where the income gap is even worse. What will it take for us to create a just and inclusive society - in Vancouver, Canada and beyond? Or do we even really want one?

Here's a breakdown of how some resident experts think things are going:

The Big, Fat, Stinkin', Global Picture: I dunno, Bill Maher doesn't usually steer me wrong, and he has some pretty important things to say about our global, American-influenced addiction to greed.

It turns out greed is not good. Too many people in Britain today are "professional, single and poor." In fact, a recent story by the up-and-coming news agency BBC suggested that the number of people living in poverty - the working poor - has increased by 300,000 since 1996. Someone who retires in Britain today is more likely than their parents to live out their days in poverty. With stats like these, should we really be "internationally developing" and offering advice to the developing world?

The Canadian Picture: Look, Canada. Recent findings show that 89% of wealthy Canadians do not want hungry peasant mobs with pitchforks overwhelming their gated communities (the other 11% love a good fight, apparently). Chuckle if you like, but also be mindful of history. In my third year at Bishop's University, I wrote a paper called Whoa Buddy, where you goin' with that pitchfork? (Peasant Rebellions in Seventeenth Century France), and, while we're not quite at a pitchfork stage yet, some of the data and stories from my paper are unfortunately similar to some of the situations today - 42% of homeless men in the prairies are employed; many of them have pitchforks, I reckon. And if you think that putting an idea of poverty into context using seventeenth-century examples is ridiculous, well, I have some Somali pirates that I'd love to introduce you to...

"The homeless population is disturbingly large and even more disturbing growing in size, in scope and in its connection to mental illness," said The Honourable Michael Kirby, Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. "Recent research shows 1 in 7 users of emergency shelters across Canada are children and almost a third of Canada's homeless are youths aged 16-24. Street counts of homeless people indicate their numbers have increased at an alarming rate." And keep in mind, statistics show that nearly a quarter of these people have jobs.

The BC Picture: A recent study by Simon Fraser University's Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMA) estimated that in British Columbia, the current financial cost to taxpayers for services to homeless people with severe addictions and/or mental illness is $55,000 a year per person. In contrast, providing these people with adequate housing and supports costs $37,000 a year per person. This saves taxpayers $211 million dollars a year in direct costs. A British Columbia shelter user put it in personal perspective: "In my case, I get enough money each month to live. I get over twelve hundred dollars a month - Old Age Pension, Canada Pension and supplement, so that should be enough for me to live on, but I'm having a terrible time trying to find affordable housing." Whether it's the Salvation Army report or a statement from the Ministry of Community or the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction, the consensus opinion on how to tackle homelessness is with affordable housing.

The Vancouver Pre-Olympic Showcase Picture: Recent findings show that homelessness in Vancouver has grown by about 250% since 1994. According to a 2008 "homeless count" by an SFU-led group of students, faculty and volunteers, there are nearly 15,500 homeless people in the Lower Mainland. If I were a businessperson in Vancouver, I'd demand affordable housing - and lots of it. Here's why: I strongly doubt that my employees who might pay between $650-$1,100 per month in rent are going to work for $8 an hour. I also don't think that employees who live in shelters or on the street are going to be incredibly motivated or engaged in my business. After all, it's in our business community's best interest to have affordable housing.

The 2010 Olympics are going to be the greatest advertisement for the city of Vancouver in the history of, well, the city of Vancouver. We even have a sexy, charming and downright nice Mayor! First, I hope this month-long ad is not a Harper-style attack ad. Second, when the world sees how beautiful it is here, I hope we have a strong enough commitment to social justice and not sell our city to the highest bidders from around the world who arrive, take-in the Olympics, drink the water, and commit to staying here no matter what the price. Vancity, we're less than a year away from a watershed moment - a tipping point - in our community's history. Let's not screw it up by being greedy...

So what are the next steps? Well, I'm no expert like the high-paid staff at The Tyee, but it might be a good idea to explore some of the following five ideas:

1. Get students and young people involved through SERVICE LEARNING initiatives early and often. By linking academic learning outcomes to personal and professional development within the context of community service, well, our young people will grow of leaders with a more comprehensive understanding of the social problems that, clearly, continue to cripple our supposedly sparkling communities.
2. Talk about the problem.We need CITIZEN JOURNALISTS who have no loyalty to corporate sponsors to hit the streets with pens, paper, cameras, and good intentions (not to mention a sprinkle of idealism) to tell the stories of Canada's homeless in a way that will engage our entire community and motivate us to collaborate on all levels and solve the problem together. Or be vocal in a different way and wear a white Make Poverty History bracelet, just like in the picture!
   
3. Put hippies, land developers and oil barons at the same table. Like I said, we need to solve the problem TOGETHER. Growing up in Merville, British Columbia has given me a soft spot for hippies, mostly because I've got some in me. But I kinda sorta don't really like them most of the time (editor's note: mostly, they are frustrating, as the staff at The Weekly Gumboot makes it a point to be positive and see the good in all people, places and things; even cannibals in Winnipeg watching American Idol). Ironically, hippies rarely compromise - with each other or with those they deem worthy of "enemy" status. They also aren't very well organized. Oil barons are very well organized. For the most part, so are developers. We all have a common interest for prosperity and the betterment of our community. They're just subjective perceptions of a different sort. Working against each other in silos isn't going to solve anything, though. We need ideas from everywhere to build community. Now pass the bong, man...
   
4. VOLUNTEER. Barack Obama recently passed the Serve America Act. Rwanda has compulsory community service one Saturday per month. A recent pole in 24 Hours found that 65% of Lower Mainlanders do not want to volunteer. People. We can do better. And, as it turns out, we kinda have to if we want to be a global role model.
   
5. Make SOUND CONSUMER CHOICES. From global to local, purchasing products that are made by people who make a decent, livable wage is still the greatest way for us to make a collective and powerful impact on how things are done in our local, regional, national, and global communities. Have you seen how amazing the architecture, food and service at the Convention Centre? It reveals our potential...
   

A final thought. The Human Development Index has three symbols that put a ranked country's position in context: a green, upward triangle means it improved from the previous survey, a blue line means it stayed the same, and a red, downward triangle means it got worse. In the rankings, there are a lot of green triangles, indicating that, on the whole, things on are planet are getting better. No matter what the panic mongering media tells us.

Things are getting better, sure. And yet we still have 3.5 million people living in poverty in, according to the Human Development Index, one of the best country's on the planet. Things could be a lot better a lot faster if we all get a little more involved. So there it is. The next move is yours, community...

- JCH

The Engaging Workplace

Believe it or not, people, most Canadians spends more time at (or on the way to/from) work than at home with family. It's not just the actual 35 or 37.5 or 40 or 70 hours at work with colleagues to think about, either. There's also the commuting (some of you out there spend three hours a day in your car or sleepily standing during a bus/skytrain combo-trip). You also might grocery shop or play a sport or volunteer somewhere outside the home, away from your family, significant other or cat/dog/iguana. I remember when I told a colleague of mine this statistic a few years ago. She wasn't happy. And she became a little depressed.

So, what's the point of depressing you? Well, when it comes to "career development" and "community building" at work, I'm a bit of an expert. I'll preface the pending "expertise" by acknowledging my ongoing adventures in lifelong learning as well as my adherence to the old adage: "the first thing you need to know about being smart is that you're stupid." I won't pretend to know everything and history shows that I'm pretty stupid, but, as The Gumboot professes, our team has some good ideas...from everywhere.

As a Career Educator at the University of British Columbia, my work involves, well, preparing students for work. I also work on a team with 20 fantastic colleagues. So, given the above concept (we spend more time per week at work than anywhere else) it is important to consider how we can employ this professional and social space as a vehicle for positively impacting the community...and ourselves!

First, there are a lot of dysfunctional workplaces out there. Trust me, I've seen storylines from The Office reproduced in real time in real life. I know a guy who knows a guy who began his career in a place where, for his first four months on the job, every staff meeting ended with someone crying. It was like The Office, except instead of humour there was only twice as much awkwardness...

But I digress...

My point is that one of the ways that the aforementioned semi-dysfunctional team came together was when the boss organized a volunteer opportunity with the good folks at Habitat for Humanity. As the story goes, the job was to build a fence at one of the project houses in the city. And build they did! Whether it was a "good" or "straight" or "well built" fence is irrelevant, but it certainly brought their little workplace community together in a positive way. And it could've gone just the opposite way, as hammers, nails and a bevy of sharp power tools were all at arms-reach.

Second, let's move from a team-based-project bringing the workplace together and take it to the next level. Recently, I was asked by my boss to spearhead a Christmas Community Engagement project for our office. We chose to head to the Salvation Army's Belkin House (talk to Eva, the Volunteer Coordinator if you want to help out) and made dinner and wrapped presents. This was a different kind of community-building. Our team is solid and amazing, hardly dysfunctional. We were given an opportunity to engage our surrounding community and make an impact as a group. There were three main outcomes:

Outcometh the first: it's like when people try to "make a difference" in Africa - we went in trying to help people less fortunate than us, and ended up getting more out of the experience than we ever gave. Helping out makes you feel great as individuals and as a team.
Outcometh the second: we made people smile. So many community-outreach programs succeed and fail on the backs and in the good hearts of volunteers. This was one of the successes, and we genuinely made a difference - albeit little and tiny in the grand scheme of things - in our community.
Outcometh the third: ripple effects. Since taking part in this project on December 8, 2008, many of us have gone back to volunteer again. All of us are on the volunteer call list. And we are currently in the process of building and sustaining an ongoing partnership with Belkin House. Not only that, we have become leaders, as other groups at UBC have approached us asking to join our effort. Because when you help people out, man, it's contageous.

From a career education perspective, being the office "philanthropist" or "helper" puts you in an excellent position. Helping others - positively engaging your community - is hard to say no to.* Done well and chalked full of smiles and thank-yous, these kinds of projects are the sort of thing that a new employee can take on to showcase their leadership and organizational skills as well as their unpretentious commitment to social justice. Inspiring others to be the change they want to see in the world is, after all, a pretty cool feeling.

To summarize, think about getting your office together to positively engage your community. Whether it's serving a meal, organizing a food/toy-drive event, providing free-expertise to those who need it, or "building" a fence, the impact you make will bring your team closer together while making a whole buncha people smile. Getting involved is easy (Vancouver's not even close to being a city of equal opportunity) - just check out www.volunteervancouver.ca for more information.

Now is a great time to help out. The holiday season inspires a lot of people to volunteer in soup kitchens, community centres, not-for-profits, shelters, and the food bank. The problem is that people are poor all year long, not just at Christmas. And the economic downturn is hurting the downtrodden more than anyone else. Especially in Vancouver. Community-engagement needs to be sustained all year long. So think about how you - and your team at the office - can make the most of your time together change the world today. You might even change yourselves and change your team-dynamic while you're at it. And it's a good feeling!

Thanks. And as you get your colleagues together on a volunteer project, remember: have fun with it!

- JCH

*John's Humour-in-the-Workplace Tip: if you want to be helpful and controversial, take a Colbert or Swiftian tact and challenge disinterest and/or cynicism with comments like, "well, I kinda think you should help out, [insert colleague's name here]. Can I ask you a question? Why exactly do you hate poor people?" I can't stress enough how important it is to have a good relationship with your colleague/target as well as fantastic communication/backpeddling skills if you're going to try this out. Make sure they have a sense of humour, get irony and, most importantly, make sure you have a sense of humour, too!