Spread the Word

Please print and distribute widely. Right-click on the image, then select download or save.
Poster:

  JPEG file at 300 dpi (354 KB)

Postcard to Send to Gordon Campbell:

  front - JPEG file at 300 dpi (631 KB)

  back - JPEG file at 300 dpi (313 KB)

Leaflet:

  Leaflet front - JPEG file at 300 dpi (455 KB)

  Leaflet inside - JPEG file at 300 dpi (881 KB)

The older posters below can still be used but may need some slight modification (WhiteOut works well):

Couch: high PDF (2.84 MB) | medium JPEG (588 KB) | low JPEG (319 KB)

Pick-Pocket: medium PDF (487 KB)

These one-pagers produced by Streams of Justice can also be used:

Barriers to Income

BC - Leader in Child Poverty

Being Poor in a Civil City

Criminalization of Homeless

Homelessness and Housing

 

Join the Municipal Campaign

Press your city council and/or school board to get them to pass resolutions to raise welfare rates, end the barriers that keep people in need from getting welfare, restore the earnings exemption, and raise the minimum wage.

This kind of pressure made a significant difference last year - 6 city councils passed resolutions addressing some or all of our welfare demands, which meant that the issue was taken to the Union of BC Municipalities. Though time ran out and the motions were never officially discussed, Gordon Campbell was obviously feeling the pressure as he included in his concluding speech a promise to raise the shelter welfare allowance in the next budget.

More pressure from local councils around the province would have a significant impact on furthering this campaign. Already Nanaimo and North Vancouver City Councils have passed motions to pressure the provincial government to raise the minimum wage to $10/hour. Please join this municipal campaign and continue the pressure from the welfare campaign started last year.

This information package contains everything you need to approach your local council, including sample resolutions.

Write to the BC Government

Please join us in pressing the provincial government to reduce poverty by improving the welfare system and raising the minimum wage. Pressuring the government does make a difference - policy changes caused many of these problems and policy changes can help create a more fair society.

1. Write/email your MLA - contact information for your local representative can be found here

2. Write a letter directly to Claude Richmond, Minister of Employment and Income Assistance:

Room 133
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC
V8V 1X4

Phone: 250 387-7750
Fax: 250 387-7292
Toll-free: 1-866-387-3952

Or email him at Claude.Richmond.MLA@leg.bc.ca
(Many people believe that written letters are more effective than emails.)

In your letter, be sure to tell Richmond you want his government to:

• Raise income assistance rates by at least 50%
• End the barriers to getting on income assistance so that people in need will not become homeless
• Allow everyone on income assistance to keep the first $500 a month that they earn
• Raise minimum wage to at least $10 an hour now; and end the $6 an hour training wage.

Send a copy of your letter or email to:

Jagrup Brar, the NDP critic for the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance
Room 201, Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 or
13545 64th Ave., Surrey, BC V3W 1Y2
Fax: 604 501 8233
Email: jagrup.brar.mla@leg.bc.ca

This letter was written for our campaign by a concerned citizen and is a great model for your own letter.

3. Alternatively, sign and send Claude Richmond this standard letter we have written for your convenience.

Sign the HOUSING NOT WAR Declaration

Anti-poverty advocates of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) and the Canadian Peace Alliance are joining forces to launch a national HOUSING NOT WAR campaign. Canada once had a world-renowned National Housing Program - but it was scrapped in the 1990s. Soon after, municipalities across Canada declared homelessness a national disaster. Today 300,000 people in Canada experience homelessness with its violence, illness and death.

Meanwhile, Canada's military spending has skyrocketed to the highest level since WWII. In Afghanistan, Canada fights an intense counter-insurgency that a majority of Canadians do not support. In 2007-2008, $18.2 billion will flow to war – 8.5% of the federal budget.

TDRC and the Canadian Peace Alliance are calling on the government to end its wasteful and destructive war in Afghanistan and invest in peace at home and abroad. They call for a one percent solution: Raise federal funding for housing by 1% to 2% ($4 billion) of the budget.

Please consider joining in calling on the government to implement a Housing Not War strategy. Learn more, sign the declaration, and get involved at www.housingnotwar.ca.

Run an Information Table

Volunteer to run an information table at your local community event - contact us with the date and location and we can provide you with all the materials you will need.