| Spring Cleaning |
[Mar. 26th, 2008|01:13 am] |
According to the (modern) calendar, it's officially spring now. As some of my other friends are doing, I've decided to do a minor purge of my friends list. Mainly, it's just because some of the people I once added are not people I really interact with much anymore and (no offense) I don't really want to read their journals all the time. I really hardly ever post here these days and when I do it's mostly quizzes anyways... People are free to un-friend me in return if they so wish (or not)... If you really want me to re-add you (and subsequently reconnect perhaps) feel free to comment here (will be screened).
If you can see the post immediately following this one you have not been removed.
EDIT: I've now locked down most of my journal to friends only. Feel free to post here if you know me and you want me to add you as a friend. |
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| The state of Canadian Income (a commentary by Me) or "What I've Learned at School". |
[Apr. 8th, 2006|12:47 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | writings | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | adrenaline high | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | rebellious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | We're Not Gonna Take It - Bif Naked's version | ] |
A message recently forwarded to me: (with commentary to follow)
"Subject: Canada Pension. Do not apply for your old age pension. Apply to be a refugee. It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.00 and each can get an additional $580.00 in social assistance for a total of $2,470.00. This compares very well to a single pensioner who, after contributing to the growth and development of Canada for 40 or 50 years, can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement. Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees! Let's send this thought to as many Canadians as we can and maybe we can get the refugees cut back to $1,012.00 and the pensioners up to $2,470.00, so they can enjoy the money they were forced to submit to the Canadian government for those 40 to 50 years. Please forward this to every Canadian you know."
I realize this message is meant to be a joke (sort of), however I do not appreciate the humour. I agree that pensioners are not given enough money for many to live on, but cutting government humanitarian aid to persons who are forced to leave their countries due to war and the prospect of persecution - often without much more than what they can carry - is not a "light-hearted" solution.
As a student of the humanities, I study many social outrages. One that this message glosses over is the relatively minimal sum of $580 that (single) persons forced to live on welfare are meant to live on. Take into account that a small bachelor apartment costs upward of $600, and most rooms cost approximately $400.
Or the fact that working 40 hours a week at minimum wage currently only grosses $1240 (before taxes). Many low income workers are supporting families, and a 1- or 2-bedroom apartment is usually upwards of $800.
A standard definition of poverty is "any individual or family that spends more than 70 percent of its income on the necessities of life - food, clothing, and shelter". Based on this standard one in six Canadians are living in poverty (16%). The child poverty rate is 18.5%. And yes, 11 per cent of the elderly are below the poverty line - some without access to *any* kind of pension. These rates do not include aboriginal persons living on reserves or in the Territories - one of the poorest groups in Canada.
The government regularly turns back or deports individuals with legitimate refugee claims - either for "security" reasons or to avoid their international responsibility to provide aid to refugees and landed immigrants. Canada is a country of immigrants. We are one of the richest nations on the planet, yet we squander our wealth on fast food and fast thrills.
Yes, we pay taxes. Taxes pay for our health care and education, our roads and our peace of mind. In our society, a person can theoretically go from rags to riches or from riches to rags. But how often does that happen? When my grandparents immigrated here they had opportunities they wouldn't have had before. Now anyone without a university degree is basically told they aren't welcome and the few that are invited are subjected to a blatant de-valuation of their skills and experience.
Everyone deserves the necessities of life. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) estimates that the minimum wage needed to support ones' self above the poverty line is $10 per hour which works out to about $1600 per month. If you want to lobby for something, I'd suggest a fair wage.
Oh, and incidentally the original message is a hoax.
The $1,890 was a *one time* start up fee offered to African refugees as reported in the Toronto Star in March of 2005. Like all disadvantaged persons they are eligible for social assistance until they can find work. Anyone who's ever dealt with welfare knows its not a "cushy" lifestyle, as living on an untenable budget and the threat of losing everything at any time is always a reality.
It took me 30 seconds to find the facts on this hoax.
Maybe the next time a hateful or even slightly off-sounding message comes through your email-box you'll check the facts.
P.S. Feel free to ignore this message, however if you'd like to help reverse the damage of the original, feel free to forward it.
The original was forwarded to a list of my contacts and those the original had reached with just such a hope in mind.
Notes: This commentary was constructed with:
- statistics from my Sociology textbook (original info from chapter 7 in "Sociology in our Times: The Essentials, Third Canadian Edition" edited by Naiman, Linden & Murray (c) 2004)
- Calculations based on the current Ontario minimum wage of $7.75 (x 40 hours x 4 weeks) and OCAP's "living wage" ($10 x 40 hours x 4 weeks) http://www.ocap.ca/
- information from the original hoax-buster "kdmacken" of Blogspot.com on January 15, 2006
http://kdmacken.blogspot.com/2006/01/refugees-vs-seniors-pensions-monthly.html |
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| Book meme |
[Apr. 4th, 2006|01:31 pm] |
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.
"water or herbal tea" |
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