A PLACE TO LAY THEIR HEADS:

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has launched another appeal on behalf of another poor person in the land of milk and money, Toronto. Khalton Mohammed is a single mother of five children in TO. Her and her children have been forced to live on the sub-poverty payments that the city of Toronto provides. Ontario provincial regulations permit the City to give 'Community Start-Up' payments in situations such as Ms Mohammed finds herself where a family lacks basic household items, in this case beds and bedding. The City has opted to send people such as Ms Mohammed to private charity and give no direct assistance. When she went to the Sleep Country Canada outlet they offered her less than the required number of beds. What was offered was dirty and dusty (her children have asthma !), and she was expected to cover the costs of transport. In this case the company gets a tax deduction for a "charitable donation" of stock which is unsaleable, the city shuffles the buck and everyone is happy except for the mother and her children.

OCAP wishes people to put pressure on the "progressive" faction at City Hall who pass resolutions calling on the provincial government to raise welfare rates and "ask" the city's Social Services staff to provide the special dietary allowances that OCAP has fought so hard for. Please go to the OCAP site for more details as to who to email, fax or phone and what more you can do to help this family. Click on the OCAP link here or above to be transferred. Or go to our Links section.

Molly