Solutions must come from the public

Solutions must come from the public
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby NOW assistant editor
Published Oct. 23, 2002

One of the most surprising facts about Beyond Statistics: The Burnaby Poverty Profile, is that the 100-page document has no recommendations.
The report contains lots of numbers and compelling personal stories about the effects of poverty in Burnaby, but there are no proposed solutions.
And the fact there there are no recommendations was a deliberate decision made to encourage more people, businesses and agencies to get involved in finding solutions, said report organizers Jack Styan and John Argue.
"We believe there aren't going to be any quick and easy solutions," Styan said. "Sure, it would be easy to say the federal government or provincial government must take steps to solve this, but I think the solutions are more complex."
Argue, program director of the Working Group on Poverty, said one of the most perplexing problems of poverty comes from the fact that earlier studies and government reports have done little to improve the situation for poor people in Canada.
For instance, he notes that Oct. 17 was declared the United Nations Day to Eradicate Poverty, yet it passed with barely any notice in the media.
He also points to a pledge made by the Brian Mulroney government on Nov. 24 1989 to eradicate child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.
"Here we are in 2002, and child poverty is still a big problem," Argue said.
Argue and Styan believe the current report will be just the first step in developing a long-term solution to the issues of poverty.
"If the community comes together, I think it's more likely that the different levels of government will do something," Argue said. "Get the facts known, and I think more ideas will come out and we'll have better suggestions. And, if that happens, I think it's more likely that the politicians will respond."