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There are two ways to reduce poverty:

The best way is to get money into the hands of low-income people and adopt other practical and effective measures, such as affordable housing, education and training and so on. The other way is to define poverty out of existence by statistical sleight of hand: Tell the poor, and everyone else, that the poor aren’t really poor, and hope that they just go away.

The Fraser Institute, the private-market-obsessed policy institute, opted for numerical dexterity as it published its latest research paper on poverty in Canada. Author Christopher Sarlo makes the astonishing claim that poverty in Canada has shrunk to a statistically tiny level in recent years.

The Ontario government launched its public consultation on its proposed Poverty Reduction Strategy with a few bumps this week. Closed-door, invitation-only meetings are not the best way to engage the people of Ontario, including those who have a direct experience of poverty.

There is real expertise and a great deal of wisdom from the "ground up" about practical solutions to poverty in Ontario - that's been the experience of the Wellesley Institute over the past 10 years as we have been the leader in funding community-based research. And that was the first message that we delivered to Ontario Minister Deb Matthews, who is chairing the Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction, during a four-hour session in Ottawa that included representatives from across the province.

Toronto City Council's powerful Executive Committee has unanimously adopted a detailed panhandling strategy that bucks the terrible trend throughout North America to criminalize activities associated with homelessness, housing insecurity and poverty. The plan recognizes that there are socio-economic and health issues that drive people to beg for change on the city's streets and, therefore, the best response is not to arrest and ticket panhandlers, but to ensure that they have access to housing, supports and income.

It was particularly heartening to see representatives from Toronto's business, tourism and entertainment all stand in support of this plan - along with the Wellesley Institute. Even Toronto Police Services spoke against criminalizing panhandling and in favour of the approach that tackles the fundamental concerns. Just one year ago, many business groups and others were clamouring for a police-led crackdown on panhandling.

The City of Toronto is building a 10-year housing strategy called Housing Opportunities Toronto. The city's plan was launched one year after the Wellesley Institute released our Blueprint to End Homelessness in Toronto, which includes both the basic 10-year plan plus a much-more-detailed framework document with lots of background material. We've prepared a number of backgrounders on the HOT proposal, including recommendations to Toronto's 2008 budget process to finance the housing plan.

The City of Toronto has announced a series of public meetings to hear recommendations about the HOT plan. These include:

Wednesday, May 14 – Scarborough Civic Centre, 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Wednesday, May 28 – North York Civic Centre, 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Wednesday, June 4 – Etobicoke Civic Centre, 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Monday, June 16 – Affordable Housing Committee                       
Deputations – 1:30 p.m., City Hall, Committee Room 2

Today is Earth Day 2008 - and a very happy birthday to a much-abused dear old planet Earth!

Statistics Canada has released this morning an update to its Human Activity and the Environment series that reports, among other things, that the emission of green house gases are up by 25% from 1990 to 2005. Lots more troubling indicators, including a stunning chart showing the remorseless rise in mean global temperatures.

Clean air and moderate temperatures are fundamental to good health. As Toronto braces for more smog days and extreme heat alerts, it’s important to remember that a safe and healthy environment, like most other determinants of health, is a fundamental health equity concern.

Some people in our city are more financially able to mitigate some of the worst effects of smog and heat than others (with air conditioning, vacations out of the city, etc.). 

Vancouver police officers are required to devote a huge amount of resources to mental health issues because "a lack of capacity in the mental health system is failing Vancouver's mentally ill and draining police resources". That's the stunning conclusion of a powerful new report from the Vancouver Police Department called Lost in Transition .

According to the report, more than one-third of all calls to Vancouver police involve people with mental health issues. The failure of capacity throughout the mental health system - from crisis response to supportive housing to services, along with failures in basic information-sharing - are causing a massive personal cost. The Vancouver study documents the ravages of increased illness and suicide for the people suffering mental health concerns. And there are heavy costs for the police service.

The report makes several key recommendations:

- a new mental healthcare facility for moderate to long-term stays;

- an urgent response centre for crisis intervention;

Canada's housing ministers held their first national meeting in almost three years on Wednesday evening in Ottawa, at the invitation of federal housing minister Monte Solberg.