Four Directions Walk to End Poverty… make sure you watch the videos
There is a lot of important information here put together by the folks in Winnipeg, Manitoba struggling against poverty. Lots of good ideas for activists in cities all across Canada and the United States. Some really good work going on here… Alan
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2011
From: Four Directions Walk
Subject: Four Directions Walk Cte meeting – Tues, Nov 1
Four Direction Walk to End Poverty in Manitoba
Dear Friends, Sisters and Brothers,
Thank you everyone who attended, walked and helped out with this year’s 4DW last Saturday! We’ll be having a meeting to see how things went and make plans:
Four Directions Walk Committee
Tues, Nov. 1, 4:30 pm
St. Matthews Maryland Church
641 Maryland
(Use the South door on McGee)
Everyone is welcome.
Numbers, media, etc.
This was our largest annual Walk to date; more than 100 people participated including 10 Walkers from the perimeter with another 20 joining along the way.
A larger number of groups participated, swelling the numbers including Occupy Winnipeg, Action 1:21, FemRev Winnipeg, Feed My Lambs (thank you for the food!) and The Urban, among others. We want to thank all the groups that helped out, some of which are not listed here!
For the first time, we both major newspapers in Winnipeg covered the Walk. The articles are appended, below. Cheryl-Anne Carr, a Walk Committee member, is quoted accurately:
“The problems have been studied long enough, the situations have been looked at long enough, the problem is that there are not enough jobs, and the pay is not high enough. The problem is the province wants to keep people poor so that theres a huge pool of labour that’s frightened and can be used to keep wages down, and prices high. There’s a shortage of housing, theres a shortage of education spaces.”
Paul Graham with the help of Ken Harasym has produced a 30 minute video of the Walk, which will be broadcast repeatedly on Shaw Cable’s community channel: http://paulsgraham.ca/2011/10/24/video-four-directions-walk-to-end-poverty/
Many thanks! This is a must-see!
There is another video on youtube, but I don’t know who produced it:
It looks like we’ll have to have another Walk next year, because we had zero response from the government. We invited all elected politicians to listen, not speak). Only Harvey Smith from Winnipeg City Council attended (J Gerbasi and J Browaty sent their regrets they could not attend).
Of Winnipeg’s MPs, 3 Conservatives sent regrets (Fletcher, Toet and Bateman). Of MLAs, only one Progressive Conservative sent regrets (R Eichler, chair of the caucus).
If you have qs, we are at 792-3371 or reply by email.
Yours For Ending Poverty in Manitoba,
Four Directions Walk Committee
* * * * * *
Anti-poverty rally held at Legislature
By,Winnipeg Sun, Saturday, October 22, 2011
(81 internet comments omitted)
With flags waving and protest signs in the air, people marched from four directions of the city with one message eliminate poverty.
Protesters walked for hours before joining for a rally at the Manitoba Legislative Building Saturday afternoon.
“The problems have been studied long enough, the situations have been looked at long enough, the problem is that there are not enough jobs, and the pay is not high enough,” said Cheryl-Anne Carr, Four Directions Walk committee member.
“The problem is the province wants to keep people poor so that theres a huge pool of labour that’s frightened and can be used to keep wages down, and prices high. There’s a shortage of housing, theres a shortage of education spaces.”
The event marked the fourth annual Four Directions Walk to End Poverty. Clothing and food donations were being taken at the rally for the less fortunate.
Protester Terry Weaymouth said he hopes the protest will open people’s eyes to Winnipeg’s poverty problems.
“I think everybody’s affected by poverty, especially in my life,” he said. “I grew up in poverty and my friends have been affected by poverty. Its a big issue.”
Shon Villier held up a sign that read Solidarity in different languages.
“We don’t have to live in a society where people are hungry and living in the streets,” Villier said. “We have the resources to share, we have the money and it doesn’t have to be this way.”
Politics blamed for plight of poor
Marchers rally at legislature
By: Alexandra Paul, Winnipeg Free Press, Sunday, October 23, 2011
(72 internet comments omitted)
Under grey skies, about 50 people with banners and placards that called for an end to poverty rallied on the steps of the Manitoba legislature Saturday.
The fourth annual Four Directions Walk to End Poverty saw groups of a dozen or more gather at each of the four cardinal points of the Perimeter Highway and walk through the city to meet at the government seat.
“I came all the way from the Perimeter at Headingley,” said Neil Adams, a community worker from the North End. “I told people on the way here, who were honking their horns on Portage Avenue, to honk for better housing, better water and more wages.”
The annual event draws together a coalition of anti-poverty groups that believe it is a lack of political will that keeps welfare rates low and the working poor dependent on food banks.
“The problem is the government wants to keep people poor so they’ll have a pool of cheap labour,” organizer Cheryl Ann Carr said.
“We’ve talked to hundreds of people and put together a justice charter, and we can eliminate poverty in this province and we can do it quickly,” Carr said.
The charter is a six-point plan that calls for housing, expanded health care, jobs and annual incomes to be human rights. It also calls for an end to racism, sexism and all forms of discrimination. The sixth demand is for proportional government and pay cuts to match the average workers wage and benefits for all MLAs.
The Lutheran Urban Ministry collected sweaters, coats, shoes and boots to distribute at the rally.
Another group was handing out food next to a sign that read, Feed My Lambs.
Walkers began at St. Mary’s Road and the Perimeter in the south, Portage Avenue at the Perimeter in the west, Main Street at the Perimeter in the north and Pembina Highway at the Perimeter in the south.
“The major problem we face in this city and in this province is poverty… What it requires is for some level of government action to do something about it,” Coun. Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre) said.
He pointed to municipal housing programs in cities like Calgary that could be adopted in Winnipeg to cut the rate of homelessness.
Longtime poverty advocate Nick Ternette said he puts the blame for a lack of political will squarely on the shoulders of the provincial government.
“The NDP has paid no attention to poverty issues in an effective way. During the election campaign, I asked one cabinet minister (if he supported) a guaranteed annual income and he said No. A single person on social assistance gets $481 a month; thats $4 a day for food. It hasn’t increased in over a decade,” Ternette said.