The Colour of Poverty- Making the Connection
The Colour of Poverty and the Ontario Federation of Labour
Present
A Symposium on Poverty Reduction
OFL/FTO
Poverty is colour coded. Between 1980 and 2000 in Toronto, the poverty rate for the non-racialized population fell by 28%, but poverty among raciallzed families rose by 361%. Even after 20 years, immigrants are more than twice as likely as someone born in Canada to have a low income. Working full-time all year, women of colour earn only 64% and Aboriginal women an appalling 46% as much as men. One in four First Nations children lives in poverty. These are the facts of poverty.
Making the Connection
2 Here’s another fact: Unions fight poverty. But while 1 in every 3 non-racialized workers in Canada enjoy the benefits of a union, only 1 in every 5 racialized workers are unionized. The time has come to ask the questions: Why is it that the workers who would benefit the most from a union are less likely to be unionized? How can the labour
movement and racialized communities come together to help end poverty? The time has come to make the connection.
COLOUR
OF
POVERTY
CAMPAIGN
Join us Friday and Saturday January 16 & 17, 2009 at the OFL Building, 15 Gervais Drive, Toronto as community and labour
come together for: MAKING THE CONNECTION: A Symposium on Poverty Reduction For more information contact: Janice Gairey OFL 416.443.7687 Michael Kerr Colour of Poverty 416.971.9676
‘The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and Immediate abolition of poverty.”
Dr, Martin Luthor King Jr.
