Project Funded by Trillium Foundation to Address Racial Inequities and Racialization of Poverty in Ontario!

The Health and Racism Working Group is the local lead for the Colour of Poverty Campaign's Trillium Funded project addressing employment equity and disaggregated data.

October 1, 2009

For Immediate Release

PROJECT FUNDED BY ONTARIO TRILLIUM FOUNDATION TO ADDRESS RACIAL
INEQUITIES AND RACIALIZED POVERTY IN ONTARIO

The Colour of Poverty Campaign (COPC), a coalition of human services, advocacy and human rights organizations and individuals drawn largely from communities of colour across Ontario, is the proud recipient of a $255,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation – to help undertake a province wide project to address poverty among racialized communities. “Working with all our partners, we’re committed to reducing poverty across our province. That’s why projects like the Colour of Poverty project are so important. They help us understand what it
means to live in poverty, who lives in poverty and why. I look forward to hearing the project’s
research findings,” said Deb Matthews, Minister of Children and Youth Services, who spoke at
the media launch of the project held earlier today.

“After the election of President Obama, some people suggest that we live in a post-racial era
where racism no longer exists, but we know that is not the case,” said the Hon. R. Roy McMurtry
at the media launch. “Racism is alive and unfortunately, well, in our society,” added the former
Chief Justice of Ontario and co-author of the Root Cause of Youth Violence Report.

“Racialization of poverty is real and is causing immeasurable hardship to an ever greater number of Ontarians. It is only by working together on as broad a basis as possible that we will have a chance to effectively address this critical issue,” said Shand Licorish, a member of the London Chapter of the Colour of Poverty Campaign.

The generous support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation will allow the Colour of Poverty
Campaign to work on two of its most critical priorities as identified in the Campaign’s Shared
Framework for Action:

1. The collection and tracking of disaggregated data across a number of institutions and
sectors in order to better identify racialized and other structural and systemic disadvantage, and to develop clear definitions and indicators, in order to get full and consistent pictures as to who - and why - are the poor in the province; and

2. Re-introduce the policy imperatives of employment equity to Ontario to level the employment
playing field for racialized communities & other historically disadvantaged groups.

“Stronger communities are created and sustained when people believe that opportunities exist for them to achieve success,” said Mary Ann Chamber, former Scotiabank Executive and former
Ontario Cabinet Minister who spoke at the launch about the need to make workplaces in Ontario
more diverse as well as the benefits diversity brings to businesses.www.colourofpoverty.ca

“With the funding support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we will be able to undertake
this new project that will be led by, and undertaken for the benefit of, racialized communities,”
said Avvy Go, Clinic Director, Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic and a
steering committee member of COPC. “It is by supporting racialized communities in their taking
the lead to address issues that affect them the most, that we have the best hope of ensuring that
these communities will escape poverty and other systemic disadvantage,” said Go.