Poverty Awareness in York Region

I would first like to say first that I was asked to be here by some of my friends and peers and I will do my best to represent those people. They chose me because they believe I have a strong voice and will speak from the heart. I will keep them informed of what is said here today and get their feedback, and in turn bring, that information to you(The PACC Council). I also would like to say that I truly feel honored to be the voice of my friends and peers on this council.

As a person who has been personally victimized by the negligence on the cities part of both poverty and homelessness I feel that I am very well educated on what this group is trying to fight and by being here today I hope to articulate my views and stand points on the issues this council is out to address. I also believe that we as a united group need to take a stand against the terrible things that are happening to our fellow man and woman.

In Newmarket there is ONE shelter for women and to my understanding you can only stay in there if you have been beaten by your BF/GF not your parents or for any other reason. This in itself is complete lunacy for this kind of blatant discrimination to be allowed its completely absurd

The ONE male shelter is in poor care, believe me I lived there. The staff are AMAZING but are under-paid and over worked, sometimes have to work 12 hour shifts with only 4 hours in between, They cannot afford milk for the(shelter) house, and even things like eggs are also rare; once again a total and blatant disregard for the sanity of life.


The (Newmarket) Youth Center is a great place for youth to hang out and relax in a safe environment get some help with jobs, clothing, food etc but it’s NOT a shelter at all. They cannot keep youth over night, however to keep things clear this is not an attack on the Youth Center I whole heartedly support their staff, programs, and the center itself but we need more shelters, food programs, more places like the Youth Center and in general HELP lots more help for the homeless and impoverished.

The point of this is that people are suffering in great numbers, greater then I can fathom and some with their foolish ignorance are living out their lives blissfully, in a fairy tale world, ignoring the problems. Even worse than this, much worse, is that some in their great ignorance don't think homelessness or poverty is even real! The fact that this type of ignorance and negligence is tolerated is disgusting, and should outrage any descent person. This group(PACC) must act NOW today if possible, to change the publics view as well as the Cities’. We need to shout what's on the tip of everyone's tongue, we need to expose what is being ignored, we need to show people there is poverty and we need to show that homelessness is REAL By protest, marches, talking with the press, post flyers, even working out some sort of program with the Youth Center, have a music show as once was planned anything!! We must take action NOW the longer we wait the more people suffer and I simply cannot bear to witness suffering any longer.

MATT

About what Matt said and beyond...

The preceding excerpt is taken from June 2006 PACC’s Coordinating Committee meeting from Youth PACC member Matt.The same meeting resulted in the decision to further "discuss" action in the form of a “walk” from Newmarket to Georgina( which has been identified as York Region’s most impoverished sector).