Last year’s closure of the Loeb grocery store on Booth Street left a large number of residents in the Dalhousie neighbourhood without food security, an area that was already considered sparsely served.
In response, the Somerset West Community Health Centre is currently conducting an online survey to address the needs of the neighbourhood. Possible options include a community-based food co-op that would employ members of the community with fair wages, offer quality food at affordable prices and engage the community through involvement.
The initiative by the health centre and local residents is laudable. However, while this success should be praised, the issue should primarily be seen as a failure of government.
Canada’s federal and provincial governments have been criticized for their failure to uphold internationally constituted law in areas such as food security and housing. A number of documents, to which Canada is bound, inscribe these issues as fundamental human rights. Ontario is unfortunately far from an exception to these rights violations.
As part of Mike Harris’s so-called “common-sense revolution,” the Tories slashed welfare rates by over 21 per cent. Considering inflation, today’s rates are around 40 per cent less than they were in 1995.
So instead of keeping commitments to international law, governments are quite happy to pass on their responsibilities to band-aid solutions such as food banks and soup kitchens. Close to 40 000 Ottawa residents relied on food banks last year, a number that reflects a rising trend. While obviously necessary, these solutions are very problematic for a number of reasons. For one, this arrangement leaves a basic right to the whims of “charity.” Food banks also often fail to provide an adequate food supply, which is defined by things such as quantity, diversity, safety and nutritional value.
The lack of adequate affordable housing is another disgrace of the Ontario government. The current wait list in Ottawa contains 10 000 names and residents face a wait of up to seven years.
While the expected minimum wage rise in 2010 will be one very small step in improving these crises, a better solution may be to put food and housing rights on the same level of discourse that health care enjoys in this country.
Many Canadians are quite proud of their “sacred” right to health care. Food and housing are not given this same treatment. The reason is likely that the denial of these rights affects Ontarians much less equally than other social services such as health care and education. But it is difficult to deny these rights are any less necessary for a dignified life.
Would Ontarians be ready to accept health care by charity if the state decided it would cut services? And while surgery wait lists can be long, would we accept similar waits faced by those in need of affordable housing?
Besides being ashamed of the ongoing human rights violations in our own province, Ontarians should start to reframe the discourse and start considering the right to food and housing on the same level as health care. Governments won’t do this on their own so it’s up to those who put them there.
–Garrett Zehr