Being Heard

Hi everyone,

Election time - and the group "Make Poverty History" is working hard to get poverty on the radar as an election issue. Not *the economy* - they mean *poverty*. Somehow it tends to fall through the cracks in the agenda, just like real people do.

I noticed a section of their website that gives links to ways to connect to media outlets to share under-reported news. This could come in handy for HN, for our outreach teams and communities to share stories that don't make it to mainstream media. I wonder what the CBC would make of the "HN News" episodes?

http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/en/take-action/action-alerts/media-issue

Below is a cut & paste from their website with current stats on Canadians, First Nations and global poverty.

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Statistics on Canadian Poverty

* In 2007, almost 800,000 Canadian children, or almost 1 in 8, were poor.
* Canada’s child poverty rate of 11.7% is three times higher than Sweden.
* Almost 800,000 people rely on food banks every month – 40% children.

Statistics on First Nations Poverty

* 1 in 4 First Nations children live in poverty and 1 in 8 are disabled, both double the rate of Canadian children.
* First Nations high school completion is half the Canadian rate, and suicide accounts for 38% of deaths for youth aged 10-19.
* 1 in 3 First Nations people would consider their drinking water supply unsafe, and 12% have to boil their drinking water.
* First Nations communities would rank 68th on the UN Human Development Index, compared to Canada at 8th.
* Life expectancy is 7.4 years less for First Nations men, and 5.2 years less for First Nations women, than Canadian men and women respectively.
* More than half of First Nations people are unemployed, and 80% of households have below $30,000 personal income levels.

Statistics on Global Poverty

* Nearly half of the world’s population lives on less than US$2/day.
* 1.4 billion people live in abject poverty on less than US$1.25/day.
* 50,000 people die from poverty-related causes every day.
* Every three seconds a child dies from poverty-related causes.
* 800 million people go to bed hungry every night.
* 880 million people lack access to basic health care.

Canada’s Role in Global Poverty

* According to the OECD, Canada gave 0.28% of its Gross National Income (GNI) to development assistance in 2006.
* Canada was ranked 16th out of 22 donor countries, with five countries, including Sweden and Denmark, having reached their 0.7% commitment.
* Another 11 countries, including UK and France, have timelines for doing so before 2015. Canada is not one of them.