Category Archives: Issues

Federal, Issues, Media, Municipal, Provincial

Action speaks louder than words

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For years I have watched as businesses, organizations and other assemblages in Abbotsford, some of which one would have expected more character or compassionate behaviour from, have erected fences and gates on doorways, stairways, walkways, overhangs or other locations were the homeless had sought shelter from the relentless rain of our rainforest/rain-coast weather.

I have listened as governments, politicians, businessmen, unions, churches and people have all spoken about the need to do something about homelessness and poverty – or more accurately the need for SOMEONE ELSE to do something; pointing fingers and declaring it was not their responsibility.

Listened as people and assemblages evoked ‘undeserving’ and other such rationalizations as excuses for turning away from the need for action; ignoring the truth that action or inaction is not about the people in need but about us – our character, the essences of our souls/spirituality, the very nature of the society we have chosen to build.

Watched Abbotsford politicians scramble to say the right words, utter the proper catch phrases and language, while failing to provide leadership on housing – all the while managing NOT to have any affordable rental housing built or even break ground while the communities around Abbotsford have been building affordable rental housing.

Heard ad nauseum from Abbotsford’s politicians that they have no money to invest in housing that poor and homeless citizens can afford to rent; yet these same politicians have $millions$ to spend to buy a professional hockey team for a local hotelier and other wealthy (and housed) citizens.

Watched the gnashing and gnarring of teeth as people, politicians et al wring their hands and denounce society as defective, deficient. As thought the ills of society have no connection to or do not result from the choices made, actions taken (and untaken) of people. Our society did not, does not, spring from a void or the choices and actions of some mysterious group of ‘others’.

Society is the consequence of the additive effect of the choices and actions we all make and or take. Leaving one pondering whether people will ever understand that our society will not improve until we as individuals begin to ‘Let it begin with me’.

Pondering whether poverty and homelessness and other social ills will continue to grow and worsen as people, politicians, businesses, organizations, other assemblages seek to blame others and avoid taking personal responsibility for their choices and actions and the consequences of those and actions – and inactions.

Still, today …

B is one of the homeless living on the streets of Abbotsford. He had been taking shelter under the overhang at a warehouse that had remained empty since it was completed, but which had recently been leased.

As part of managing the move into this new location P had become aware that B was living sheltered by the building and had spoken with B about his situation, the realities of B’s life.

There were no demands that B leave the shelter provided him by the building; no fences or gates to deny B access to the shelter provided by the building; no calls to city hall demanding the city, the police, remove B.

Instead P provided a home for B. Looking at it most people would see a garden shed; unless they looked through B’s eyes or the eyes of those who are or have been homeless. There is drainage, a solid floor, a roof and walls proof against wind, rain and snow that will keep bedding, clothing, other belongings as well as a body dry.

There was no declaration that it was not his responsibility; no screaming about the need for SOMEONE ELSE to do something; no pointing of fingers to assign blame; no wringing of hands about the need for a ‘solution’. P simply took action and provided shelter for B.

Homelessness, addiction, mental illness are people problems and as such they are complex and troublesome issues without fast, easy solutions; looking for a miracle, arguing about who is responsible – someone else – and waiting for someone else to do something allow these problems to grow.

There are numerous best practices that we know work to address various aspects of these social issues; we know that we can, over time, reduce the numbers of homeless, addicts and mentally ill on our streets.

If we commit to addressing these issues, commit to doing what it takes for however long it takes, we can deal with these issues.

The key is, as P did, not to dither but to act.

Federal, Issues

Stephen Harper’s Billion Dollar Photo-op

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Surely there were far less costly ways for Mr. Harper and the Conservatives to offer definitive proof of the Conservative Party’s fiscal irresponsibility than the G8/G20 billion buck boondoggle?

Well, more accurately Billion plus boondoggle – $933 million (security bill) + $160 million (hospitality, infrastructure, food safety and extra staffing) + $?.?? (federal documents show further outlays are likely).

I suppose that Canadians should just consider themselves fortunate that Mr. Harper could not find a more expensive location to hold the meetings than in downtown Toronto or even more taxpayer dollars would be being squandered.

Yet no doubt, come the next election, Mr. Harper and his Conservatives will be claiming to behave in a fiscally responsible manner, despite having added this exclamation point to Harper’s profligate spending on everything except Canadians in need.

When the Liberal leader Mr.Ignatieff suggested “The numbers are off the scales” a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Ignatieff’s comments indicate no understanding of the reality of providing security to world leaders.

Given that security cost only $18 million at the G20 summit last September in Pittsburgh and $30 million at the G20 meeting last April in London, might I suggest that the fact the Canadian government is spending $900 million over the highest of the two costs confirms that if anyone has “no understanding of the reality of providing security to world leaders” it is Mr. Harper and his Conservatives?

Oh well, that makes it OK then.

I’s so glad that the government isn’t wasting $2 million on a fake lake.

No, for $2 million you also get fake cityscapes; fake dock with canoes, trees and deck chairs to go with the fake lake; and of course fake images and backgrounds for the media to use to file their stories.

All of which, according to Mr. Harper, makes dissipating taxpayer dollars in this manner OK.

Simply because Mr. Harper and the Conservatives have been claiming that one of the benefits of these meeting would be a boost to tourism, one certainly wouldn’t want the foreign press to be encouraged to visit real cityscapes, to travel the few blocks to a real lake – Lake Ontario or to use real backgrounds in filing their reports.

Probably just as well, since holding the G20 meeting in downtown Toronto has resulted in turning the downtown into a ghost town with the closing of most, if not all, tourist attractions and businesses in downtown Toronto.

Besides, if the media was away from the media centre they might miss covering one of Mr. Harper’s photo-ops. And when you are wasting, I mean spending, $1.1 billion you want to make sure no photo opportunity is missed.

Should holding the G20 meeting in downtown Toronto cause any difficulty for businesses or inconvenience for thousands of workers or anyone seeking to do business downtown, it is a small price to pay to maximize Mr. Harper’s photo opportunities.

At least in Harper/Conservative think.

Harper/Conservative think where there is no money (or need) for a nation housing strategy merely because Canada is the only G8 nation without such a strategy or because there is a affordable housing crisis in Canada or that homelessness is increasing or that poverty is increasing or that children’s poverty and hunger continuing to increase.

Harper/Conservative think – the mindset where there is $2 million to build fake cityscapes, docks, lakes and backgrounds for the foreign press but no $$$ to build real housing for Canadians

Harper/Conservative think – the mindset where the poor and the homeless are just Canadians, Canadians who probably don’t even vote having no fixed address, while the foreign press will allow Mr. Harper to assume his proper place on the world stage.

Harper/Conservative think – the mindset were leadership is about recognition and photo-ops; the mindset that cannot comprehend that with the state of the world’s economy, the need for austerity in Greece and other countries, the need to reign in runaway federal deficit spending and the numerous other economic challenges facing Canada and the world – real leadership would have been to hold a scaled back entourageless meeting on a military base to maximize security and minimize cost – without worrying that this would not maximize press coverage and photo-ops.

Harper/Conservative think – the mindset that has no appreciation of the value of a dollar or understanding of the financial/economic realities that the majority of Canadians live with day to day; thus unable to see anything wrong with a spending increase of 3100% on security or with spending $2 million on fake cityscapes, fake lake and dock and fake backgrounds for media reports.

Self-esteem is as important to our well-being as legs are to a table.

The most worrying statements are the repeated references to having Canada “take its rightful place”. As in “this is what it costs ($1 billion +) for Canada to take its rightful place”.

If it was ever necessary that Canada “take its rightful place” I would say that it was done on the battlefields of WWI.

Psychologists will tell you that bullying is rooted in lack of self esteem; that in a lack of self esteem lays approval seeking behaviour, seeking to “take ones rightful place’.

We need to set up a Stephen Harper Self Esteem Fund to raise money to ensure Stephen Harper can get the professional help he needs to build his self esteem to the point he no longer feels the need to engage in attention seeking behaviours in order to “take his proper place”.

A Fund so as to ensure Mr. Harper’s treatment is not interrupted and ensure that he can learn that respect is something one earns, not something one buys. Because Canadian taxpayers and the Canadian Armed Forces cannot afford the cost of Harper’s attempts to buy respect and his “rightful place”.

Perhaps once Mr. Harper moves into recovery vis-à-vis his self esteem issues, he will gain an understanding of what it means to be Canadian, rather than a wannabe American, coming to understand that childhood poverty, liveable wages, affordable housing and a health care system to rival the best among the industrialized nations, as opposed to being at the bottom of health for the industrialized nations barely ahead of the USA, are important – not billion dollar photos shoots.

With self esteem would, hopefully, come an understanding of what Kim Campbell meant when she said “Our first Prime Minister saw a country that would be known for its generosity of spirit. And so it is.”

Or was until Mr. Harper became Prime Minister.

Issues, Poverty

Just when did I board the SS Minnow?

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My life is starting to feel as if I am sailing aboard the SS Minnow where, no matter how creatively I patch the holes, the water keeps finding new ways of leaking in, threatening to drag me down into homelessness once more.

The difference in the number of pay periods (26/2 = 13) versus disability cheque issues (12 X 2 = 24) resulted in an extra paycheque being included in a cheque period (3 cheques instead of the usual 2). The result was that $280 was clawed back off the disability cheque leaving me short $250 to pay June’s rent.

‘Delaying payment’ of the monthly bills provided $100 towards June’s rent. Of course the price of using the $100 to pay June’s rent is the need to struggle for at least the next three months to squeeze $100 out of my budget to bring the accounts of the monthly bills back to current from delinquent. On a budget were even a 2kg jar of peanut butter is a major expenditure finding the $100 feels more like one is paying in blood or having it carved out of one’s hide.

With no discretionary spending in the budget each ‘savings’ is a decision made at the expense of something else.

If Fate or The Universe had not intervened to return a damage deposit, three years late and in the precise month (May 2010) it was needed, the car I am writing this sitting in would have been providing me shelter during my return to homelessness.

I am sitting in the car writing this waiting for a free supper to be served because I cannot afford the gas to drive home and then return for supper. I am a member of a Fraser Mental Health committee that exists to advise Fraser Mental Health, from the point of view of someone using the services provided by Fraser Mental Health, about its the services and delivery methods it uses. I was forced to miss June’s meeting because there was no money to pay for gas to drive to and from Surrey.

My car provides the only form of transportation that allows me to get to the places I need to be at the times I need to be there. Being unable to get to work and get home from work at 1:30 in the morning would mean I could not afford my current lodgings, could not afford the rent on any safe and healthy housing. Volunteer activities, Fraser Mental Health committees (Surrey, Coquitlam), Housing and Homeless working groups, mental health groups to facilitate (Abbotsford, Mission and Chilliwack) are among the commitments only a car allows me to keep. A car is not a convenience but a necessity.

I am so tapped out that the other day when I found a British made ink pen with four different nibs and ink cartridges in a Thrift Store for the bargain price of $0.65, a pen I needed to replace one that had ceased to write, I had to borrow $0.30 to have enough to pay for it. Repaying the $0.30 was accomplished through cashing 6 pop cans in at the bottle depot.

So of course, when your life begins to feel more and more like you are a passenger on the SS Minnow or are transferring to the Titanic, when one is financially past the point of being tapped out and the car you need and depend on needs to be aircared … that is when said automobile starts running rough and spewing out fumes that have people in the vicinity of the exhaust pipe choking and gasping for fresh air.

With my current financial situation, pretty much penniless, the need for a tune-up (or whatever the Cavalier requires to pass Aircare) requires the benefaction of a mechanic and parts required at a cost of … zero, zip, nada, $0.00 OR the philanthropy of a vehicle with a price at the same level of zero, zip, nada, $0.00.

Finding the future, Housed or Homeless, once again out of my hands and consigned to Fate …

… well, not only is life feeling as if I am a passenger on the SS Minnow but this latest twist has me feeling as if I have been tossed an anchor instead of a life jacket.

Continue reading Just when did I board the SS Minnow? →

Consider, Federal, Issues

Harper’s latest Senate appointment.

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The Conservative Party’s Canada – where, if you are a businessman who can afford to own two Canadian Football League teams and to make large contributions to the Conservative Party, you can procure a seat in the Canadian Senate.

Not really surprising in light of the Conservative Party’s oft demonstrated policy of  increasing the Wealth of wealthy Canadians via policies that transfer resources not to Canadians and Canadian children in poverty, homelessness or need but to those Canadians in Greed. Whether it is by regressive tax policies, being ‘unable to afford’ housing or anti-poverty programs while being able to afford bailouts, subsidies, exceptions, grants or Senate appointments for businesses and the wealthy

Before we leave the subject of the Conservatives lack of ethics and the Senate, it is surprising Mr. Harper did not suffer severe whiplash from his abrupt change vis-à-vis the Canadian Senate.

Mr. Harper called for abolishment, for an elected Senate and condemned the Liberal government’s appointment and use of the Senate when Conservatives were not in power and the Senate was not of any use or advantage to the Conservatives.

But as soon as it was to the advantage of Mr. Harper and his Conservatives we were treated to the spectacle of Mr. Harper, who came to office stating he would never appoint senators, appointing 33 senators – to date

True Mr. Harper made several excuses for his massive about face on this matter; just as he did when, after having attacked the Liberal government on MP pensions when in opposition, Mr. Harper and his Conservatives bellied up to the trough to pig out on the same taxpayer funded golden pensions for MPS.

Interesting lack of an ethical center.

These are the same Harper Conservatives who recently tried to engineer a quick vote on Bill C-304, a private member’s bill calling for “secure, adequate and affordable housing for Canadians.”, in order to scuttle the bill.

The disappointing behaviour here is that of the three other parties in parliament in not getting behind and supporting this bill and a gravely need national housing strategy.

After all this is a Conservative government that, while it claims it has ‘no money’ for a national housing plan (or addressing child poverty), has unlimited millions (hundreds of millions?), for an advertising campaign promoting the Conservative party and paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

There is nothing wrong with political parties blowing their own horns – that’s part of the political process. But the cost of a party blowing its own horn is a cost that should, no must, be paid for out of the coffers of the party, not out of the coffers of the federal government and thus the pockets of Canadian taxpayers.

Sticking a label such as “Canada’s Economic Action Plan” on the spending  does not change the fundamental nature of what the advertising campaign is about – promoting the image and fortunes of the federal Conservative party.

No money for housing or child poverty but the Conservatives can find seemingly unlimited taxpayer $$$$ to pay for advertising to promote the Conservative government.

Interesting set of priorities and rather malleable ethics – ethics that shift to accommodate the circumstances the Conservative government finds to its advantage.

Given that that the Conservative Party likes to hold itself up as the judge and defender of moral behaviour and morality in Canada one has to wonder just what kind of definitions they are using for ‘moral’ and  ‘morality’. Clearly whatever the definitions the Conservatives are using do not include pesky concepts such as ethics, honour, character or the distinction between right and wrong.

While this type of unprincipled behaviour is behaviour as usual for Mr. Harper and his Conservative Party, I was somewhat surprised, based on what I knew of Mr. David Braley from his ownership of the BC Lions, that he allowed himself to be appointed. Although I suppose, upon taking time to consider his $$$$ support of the Conservatives and their behaviours and policies, it really is no surprise.

True ethics are not something that change when convenient. Indeed, true ethics often are inconvenient because they get in the way of what would be a convenient action or behaviour.

Ethics that change when convenient are many things – but they are not ethics.

Lack of ethics is a behaviour that results from seeking to govern simply to push an ideology or to be the party in power. Because in either case,  the operating principles and behaviours of the parties involved are about winning power and holding power. Ethical or honourable behaviours are tossed overboard in favour of whatever it takes to win. Actually any behaviour, such as MPs listening to the constituents they represent instead of mindlessly obeying the Prime Minister, that interferes with winning are rejected.

Yet the moment one becomes unwilling to lose on a matter of principle or ethics, that ones ethics become malleable or that one justifies doing whatever is necessary to obtain or retain power by claiming it is ‘for the good of the country’ one’s actions have ceased to be about delivering leadership and effective governance and one becomes part of the problem.

The current focus of governments and politicians at all levels in Canada is about advancing an ideology, being in power and  winning at any cost, about divide and conquer, pitting differing interest groups against each other; it is not about good government, building a strong Canada or a fair, balanced, understanding  and cosmopolitan society.

None of our current politicians and political parties have promulgated an ethos of what it is to be Canadian or articulated a vision for Canada and Canadian society.

It is time for a discussion of what it is to be Canadian, the type of society we want to have and how we as Canadians will achieve that vision.

It is pass time to stop allowing politicians to tell us why we cannot bring about the Canada we want and to support leadership that is about bringing the Canada we want into being.

Or most Canadians will find themselves entitled only to the rights and freedoms they can afford to buy.

Addiction, Issues, Mental Health

Recovery/Escape from homelessness is a tricky path.

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I was at a housing meeting where the speaker asked people to take out their keys and look at their house key; to take a moment to think about what the key meant or represented to them.

I don’t know what the others around the table thought or saw in their key. I don’t know what the speaker sees when he looks at his own key.

I suspect it was not what I saw in looking at my door key – a burden.

Like rain on a mountain, poverty slowly wears away at you.

The stress of scrambling and pinching pennies until they scream, month after month after month, in order to pay the rent and cover the monthly bills wears away at one’s spirit and mental health.

The stress wears away at one’s ability to manage/deal with anxiety disorders and as anxiety creeps back into your life, over time the levels of anxiety increase becoming harder and harder to deal with.

As anxiety works its way back into one’s life it brings with it feelings of panic, then panic attacks. Increasing anxiety and panic open the door for depression, obsessive-compulsive behaviours and negative thinking.

The grinding of the spirit and mind by the constant threat of homelessness drags at you, seemingly seeking to drag you into a downward mental spiral and back into a head space where your mental illness more and more impairs your ability to function.

Your house key, your home, becomes an albatross around your neck dragging you back into mental illness. You look at the key and you see a burden that portends a return to the darkness of mental illness and inevitably once again to homelessness.

As the strain on your mental health increases so does the temptation to seek relief or to take the edge off through self medication.

The roots of addiction are buried in the soil of seeking relief or alleviation from one’s own mind and the darkness or pain or both that reside there.

The need to find a doctor to fill out the medical report to renew one’s status as ‘persons with persistent multiple barriers’ or have your monthly income halved and face dealing with the fallout that would result from having one’s income abruptly reduced by 50% = stress+++.

A voice mail message conveys the need to phone the Ministry about an issue with the stub. Of course when you phone the line is always busy, forcing you to go down to the Ministry office.

As a result of past dealings with the Ministry, even when mentally well, dealing with the Ministry is at best a challenge. When one’s mental health is under pressure dealing with the Ministry employees means struggling to hold anxiety and panic at bay.

Facing a need to chill out in order to be able to enter the Ministry’s den and deal with the Ministry without succumbing to either (or both) an anxiety or panic attack … well a toke or two or three of marijuana to take the edge off and mellow you out becomes somewhat of a seriously temptation.

And yes, there are some prescription medications that take the edge off but they also stuff one’s head with cotton to the point of nonfunctioning. Remember you need to have a doctor prescribe any medication and since one of the current obstacles is the need to find a doctor …

Understanding just how tempting and easy it is to end up using whatever substances you can find that offer a way to deal with, alleviate and/or escape from one’s own mind and pain has a profound effect on how you view addiction and addicts.

Good thing – I made it into the Ministry. Bad thing – I made it into the Ministry. Part time work contributes to my income but getting paid every two weeks means every six months three pay periods are claimed as income for the month, resulting in exceeding the income permitted. This will result in a reduction of the next Ministry cheque by $280.

Although I have been able to scrimp and scramble and survive this reduction in the past, my finances have been exhausted to the point that no amount of scrambling will enable me to be able to pay June’s rent with this reduction.

Standing in the Ministry office Monday afternoon amending the stub to include the extra pay period did not cause feelings of anxiety or panic. The feeling evoked was much closer to relief.

Yes I now need to find someplace to store belongings, reduce my belongings to fit into that storage space, get those belongings stored and dispose of the rest of my belongings. But facing the constant risk of homelessness I have been forced for months to think about what to keep and what to let go of.

Rather than living in fear and anxiety of the sword falling, now that it has (or will shortly) fall it is a matter of dealing with what needs to be done to transition to homelessness. Having been homeless and lived in my car before homelessness does not hold fear or high anxiety.

Indeed although I will lose the $375 rent portion from the Ministry I will be over $200 ahead as I no longer have to pay the difference between the $375 and my actual rent. Additional savings will be realized as expenses related to having housing cease.

There is regret for the need to step back from volunteering and other community involvements in order to be able to focus on the day to day needs to survive while homeless.

Still, this simplifying of life will hopefully permit and/or contribute to the pursuit of a return to mental wellness.

Recovery from homelessness is more difficult and complex than it appears.

The current Mental Health, Housing and Social Development systems/programs hinder more than help, If you are not fortunate enough to escape the system before your luck runs out …

Such are the Realities of Life.