This from the Toronto Star a little while ago. Has some good numbers on poverty...no surprise that the numbers all point to 1980 (the beginning of the neoliberal attack) as the year when things start getting worse. Something I find interesting is the impact on immigrants. I think its fair to say that the pattern of struggling for a few years and eventually working your way up the income latter is no longer the dominant pattern of the immigrant experience. The woman interviewed in the article and her family have been here for 13 years with little change in their economic situation and this now seems to be the trend. On the upside, the recent emergence of immigrant worker centres in Canada means immigrant workers are starting to organize.

Does anyone in Common Cause have experience working with (im)migrant workers?

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GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR

The gap grows greater ... more children are in need

# 24.7%: region's poverty rate in '05, up from 22.9% in 2000

# 10.7: In 2005, families in the top 10 per cent income bracket in the region had incomes 10.7 times that of families in the bottom 10 per cent. Double the gap 25 years ago.

# $15,000: The income of families in the lowest 10 per cent income bracket averaged $15,000 in 2005, down 39 per cent from 1980.

# $160,500: The income of families in the highest 10 per cent income bracket averaged $160,500 in 2005, up 30 per cent from 1980.

# 1.6%: The combined incomes of all families in the lowest 10 per cent income bracket in 2000 accounted for 1.6 per cent of total family income in the region — the lowest share among Canad's metropolitan areas. The highest 10th percentile accounted for 30.6 per cent — the highest share.

# 56.5: The rate of child poverty in the region (23 per cent) has increased 56.5 per cent over the past 25 years (1980-2005) while the rate of elderly poverty (15.9 per cent) has declined 56.1 per cent. Between 2000 and 2005, the rate of poverty among children grew 13.3 per cent and fell 18 per cent among seniors.

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Vital Signs - Why Toronto needs a sudden boost
Positive reports outweighed by troubling trends such as a widening income gap

October 02, 2007
Laurie Monsebraaten
staff reporter

First, the good news.

Toronto continues to rank among the world's most livable cities. Crime rates are down, physical activity and environmental awareness are up. And the city is the centre of a growing and prosperous region.

But according to Vital Signs 2007, the Toronto Community Foundation's annual checkup on the city's social and economic health, Toronto has stalled in terms of population growth and prosperity.

The signs are troubling, starting with the city government struggles with a $1.1 billion annual deficit that can no longer be met through reserve funds and debt. A failed attempt in July to raise cash through a new land transfer tax and vehicle registration fee forced the city last month to close libraries and recreation centres once a week, raise TTC fares, reduce snow clearing and shorten the outdoor skating season.

Meanwhile, the gap between the rich and poor continues to expand with the richest tenth now earning on average nearly 11 times the amount of the poorest tenth.

Finding work – and jobs that pay living wages – remains tougher for new immigrants and young people. And families continue to flee to the suburbs for more affordable homes.

From his 21st-floor office in the heart of the city's financial district at King and Bay Sts., TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond says he's not overly concerned about the city's stagnant population numbers. Like all big cities, growth tends to occur on the outskirts where there is more room for housing development, he says.

But he is somewhat alarmed that it has taken Toronto so long to deal with its structural deficit and believes this is the year city council will have to take definitive action to get it under control. And that could hurt.

"To have the deficit linger for a long time is not good," he says. "But some of the things they may have to do to address it may have unfavourable side effects, too."

Drummond doesn't mind the prospect of a new vehicle registration fee, but he thinks the proposed land transfer tax should be imposed only as a last resort, as it would accelerate family flight to the suburbs.

Instead, he'd like to see a GTA gas tax similar to those levied around Vancouver and Montreal to pay for transit. This could free up between $200 million and $400 million annually for Toronto, Drummond estimates. Another $100 million in savings could be squeezed out of the city's agencies, boards and commissions. And he expects the province can still be counted on to help by making good on its promise to pick up more social costs that were downloaded to cities during the 1990s.

Finally, Drummond believes the city will likely have to raise property taxes beyond the inflation-level hikes of the past three years.

"Toronto's taxes are low compared to similarly-valued homes in other Canadian cities," he says.

But for Sri Lankan refugee Lucya Pirapakaran, 46, whose family waited 10 years for subsidized housing in a Scarborough co-op, home ownership is just a dream.

It's after 10 p.m. by the time the mother of five – two children in university, two in high school and one in elementary school – has finished cleaning up the supper dishes, overseeing homework and reading bedtime stories and has time to talk.

Pirapakaran's husband, Prabaharan, is disabled and has been unable to work since the family moved here in 1994, she says. As the sole income earner, she has had to juggle two and sometimes three temporary or part-time jobs in coffee shops, factories and offices, earning minimum wage or less with no benefits.

"It's been really, really hard on me," the former preschool teacher sighs. She remembers crying when she had to pawn her gold wedding necklace, earrings and bangles to pay first- and last-month's rent on their first apartment in a private rental building. But she has always been able to earn enough money to pay back the "loan" of her jewellery.

"I'm lucky I have that," she says, noting that she's used it often since, most recently to cover her son's university tuition because his government grant won't arrive until later this fall.

For five years, Pirapakaran worked overnights in a factory driving a forklift and part-time during the day as a home visitor for a parenting centre.

"It was crazy. I returned to work three months after my youngest was born, pumping breast milk on my breaks," she says. "I had no time to spend with the children, no time for family life, no time for myself."

When the factory pulled up stakes for Brampton in 2003, Pirapakaran had to quit – she had no car and simply no time in her already hectic life to take transit across town.

But she has continued to visit struggling mothers like herself and is amazed that so little has changed in the 13 years she has been here. "I see so many parents who have no time with their children; fathers work during the day and the mothers during the night. They have no time for each other or themselves.

"They have no time to upgrade their skills to get ahead. So they are stuck working part-time, temporary jobs their whole lives," she says. "It's time the government did something. We need a $10 minimum wage now and better labour laws so that workers aren't exploited."

Economist Armine Yalnizyan says Pirapakaran's story is one of thousands of examples of how low- and moderate-income families in Toronto are not reaping the benefits of the city's booming economy.

In the Growing Gap, her analysis of Statistics Canada income data for families raising children released earlier this year by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, she found that most low- and moderate-income families in Canada are sinking further into debt and working longer hours just to keep pace. The problem is even more pronounced in Ontario and most severe in the Toronto area, she says.

"What's needed is a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy that's not just about incomes but about making life livable in all its dimensions," she says.

This includes affordable housing, child care, support for the disabled equal to seniors' benefits, dental and drug plans for low-wage workers, an unemployment insurance program that covers all workers and a decent level of support for parents who are unable to work.

"If you can't provide these supports under these economic conditions, when can you?" she asks with frustration. "These conditions are going to haunt us for decades, because children growing up in these stressful circumstances aren't going to reach their potential to become happy, healthy and productive adults," she warns.

But there are glimmers of hope for today's so-called "at risk" youth and they are reflected in the faces of people like Shahina Sayani, 34.

The St. Catharines native of South Asian decent turned her back on a career in occupational therapy and came to Toronto a decade ago to help young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods find their way. "There was so little for me growing up as a young person of colour," she says. "I always knew I wanted to change that."

Through small youth-led agencies like For Youth Initiative in the city's Weston-Mount Dennis area, Sayani has offered job skills, leadership training and employment to hundreds of young people.

Sayani's new agency, ArtReach, is helping marginalized youth find their creative voice through art. The agency helps young people start their own arts-based businesses and non-profits, helps them write grant applications and learn how to run their own organizations.

Last month, For Youth Initiative handed out its first scholarships to youth in the area to help them pursue studies in law, social work and aviation.

The grants of $2,000 and $1,000 are small, Sayani admits.

"But ... the ripple effect is enormous."