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Toronto Star - December 24, 2007 - Volunteers Making a Difference

They say that when you give, you get back in return. Volunteer Nancy Garrow has watched this adage unfold since she began volunteering as a youth, and it continues with her latest role as an income tax adviser for St. Christopher House. The 95-year-old social services agency in west Toronto supports residents living on low incomes as well as new immigrants. Every winter, before tax time, Garrow, 64, spends several days a week at the centre, giving advice on finances, tax filing and government social benefits...

Nancy Garrow - St. Chris FAPS volunteer
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The Star - Senate putting on a lively show
December 19, 2007 Carol Goar
There are some deliciously subversive ideas circulating in the Ottawa that Stephen Harper is presumed to hold in an iron grip.
The source of this independent thinking is the Senate, the one part of Parliament the Prime Minister does not control.
Harper would like to overhaul it. He's even spoken of abolishing it. But before he can do either, the Senate – known as the "chamber of sober second thought" – is putting on a rather lively show.
Its finance committee, chaired by lawyer Joseph Day (a Liberal), is exploring gender budgeting. It wants the government to analyze the differential impact of its tax and spending decisions on men and women.
The intent is to show that policies such as the dismantling of child care, the tightening of Employment Insurance, the underfunding of public housing and the paring of social transfers to the provinces impose a disproportionate toll on women.
"Despite having paid the lion's share of costs of getting our fiscal house in order, women have been told to wait for help, in good times and bad," said Armine Yalnizyan, research director of Toronto's Community Social Planning Council, in her brief to the committee. "Perhaps gender-budgeting tools will help make the case that this is a patently unjust stance for our governments to adopt."
Its social affairs committee, chaired by former cabinet minister and Toronto mayor Art Eggleton (a Liberal), has spent the past six months looking at the costs of poverty, hunger and homelessness.
It hopes to convince the government that the development of an entrenched urban underclass would strip Canada of its resilience and undermine its reputation as a humane, forward-thinking country.
"Growing income inequality is destructive to our basic social fabric," John Stapleton of Toronto's St. Christopher House told the committee last week.
Its legal and constitutional affairs committee, chaired by Montreal journalist Joan Fraser (a Liberal), recommended this month that the government review all of its legislation to ensure it does not infringe on aboriginal or treaty rights.
Although these rights have been enshrined in the Constitution for 25 years, they have yet to be incorporated into the policy-making process. "We think that the government should move quickly on this," said Fraser. "Aboriginal people have been waiting long enough for their concerns about the potential impact of federal legislation on their rights to be addressed."
And its energy, environment and natural resources committee, chaired by Edmonton musician Tommy Banks (a Liberal), is heading to the Arctic this spring to ask northerners how they see the region's future. The senators will carry backpacks and sleep in tents in some remote settlements.
"Northern sovereignty is not just having battleships," said Céline Hervieux-Payette, leader of the Official Opposition in the upper house. "The test is whether you have people residing and making a living there. "
The Liberals hold 61 of 105 seats in the upper house. While they are clearly driving the Senate's work plan, they are getting a fair amount of help from their Conservative colleagues, who tend to be more progressive than their counterparts in the Commons.
It is not unprecedented for Parliament's two houses to be out of synch. It happens after almost every change of government.
What is unusual is the current manifestation. Rather than obstructing Harper's legislation, the Senate is highlighting the issues he is overlooking, amplifying the voices he is ignoring and putting forward proposals that are slightly ahead of their time – and light-years ahead of the Tory agenda.
Hervieux-Payette admits it has been difficult to compete with the Brian Mulroney-Karlheinz Schreiber show going on in the Commons. And she acknowledges that the Senate, where the average age is 66, could use some renewal.
But she and her colleagues are not about to let Harper dictate the terms. They like their autonomy, their collegiality and their ability to remind the Prime Minister, when the occasion requires it, that he is not in total control.
Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.


 
Metro Morning
Weekdays from 6:00-8:30 a.m.
on 99.1 FM in Southern Ontario
 
Struggling With Debt
Andy Barrie spoke with Miryam Zeballos. She is the co-ordinator of the Financial Advocacy and Problem Solving Program at St. Christopher's House. But first, Mary Wiens met with a woman who has spent more than $700 financing a $300 loan.

Struggle with debt - mp3

Struggle with debt - mp3

TheStar - Queen St. blamed for crime - Aug17 07
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TheStar
Crack on Queen St. blamed for crime
August 17, 2007
Jen Gerson - staff reporter

Queen St. W. has long been a mixed-market location where the club kids and art fiends could slum it with the down-and-out. But during the past four or five years, residents say the criminal element has become more threatening, more aggressive. They're blaming the decline, in part, on an influx of crack.

Teen Helps Build Community - Toronto Star - April 20-06
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“Teen Helps Build Community” - Toronto Star, April 20, 06
By: Leslie Ferenc
 
While other kids are glued to the tube or plugged into a video game, Eric Yam is getting to know his city and the people who live in it.
A grade 8 student at the University of Toronto Schools, the engaging 13-year-old believes that the best way to do that is up close and person.

Toronto Star March 19 2006 - T4 Blues
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Curing the lost T4 blues

Mar. 18, 2006. 06:05 AM

ISABEL TEOTONIO - STAFF REPORTER  

Shawn Conway wrinkles his brow in confusion as he sifts through T4 slips for different years belonging to Katarina Bouz. One, it seems, is missing.

"I'm sorry," says the lip-biting and hand—wringing 19-year-old, explaining she worked at three different places last year but has only two T4 slips to show for it. "I've never done taxes before. It's so confusing."

CCSD - Perceptions Winter 2005
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CCSD - Perceptions Magazine - Table of Contents
Lessons from Katrina: Preserving a civil society in the face of disaster by Paul Kovacs
Beyond wishful thinking: Emergency planning for persons with disabilities by Gail Fawcett
Why must chronic illness mean poverty and isolation? by Michel Martin
A cautionary tale from Australia by Lynne Wannan, Australian child care expert
The Progress of Canada’s Children and Youth 2006
Creating safe and supportive environments for young Canadians by Pam Jolliffe
CCSD Member Profile: St. Christopher House – A dynamo of social change.
A helping hand up for the working poor by Don Drummond and Gillian Manning
The World We Have: Towards a new social architecture by Katherine Scott
Rebuilding Social Programs by Ben Carniol
A meal served with a smile
Dec. 12, 2005. 01:00 AM
LESLIE FERENC
STAFF REPORTER TORONTO STAR
 
Neither rain, nor hail, sleet nor snow can keep Ann Cooper or Amalia Monteiro from their appointed rounds.
No, they're not postal workers. But for these two women, among a dedicated team of some 300 Meals on Wheels volunteers at St. Christopher House, their deliveries are as precious as the mail.
News from globeandmail.com
Thursday, July 14, 2005

RBC extends Bay Street to the hood
 
PATRICIA BEST
St. Christopher House long has been a beacon for the poor, marginalized and newly arrived in Toronto's Parkdale district, providing an array of lifeline services. But one program stands out for charitably inclined business people -- the organization's two-year-old Financial Advocacy and Problem Solving Program, or FAP.

Toronto Star - 12/12/06 - Meal Served With A Smile
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scan of GED story

Globe and Mail - Financial Advocacy and Problem Solving
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Eric Yam - St. Chris Volunteer Awarded
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Annex Guardian
 
 
Boy, 12, honoured for his selfless volunteer work
 
CARRIE BRUNET
Jun. 24, 2005

Inspired by the work of a local social agency, 12-year-old Eric Yam decided he too should be a part of the solution.
"I witnessed many social injustices," said the boy who recently received an award from the United Way for his volunteer work. "I thought 'why not get involved.'"
As a preschooler, he attended St. Christopher House (at Dundas Street W. and Ossington Avenue), which gave him his first insight into the world of others.

Investing In Neighbourhoods - audio file
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CBC Radio
 
Rich City, Poor Neighbourhoods
Friday: Making It Work
June 20-24, 2005
On Friday, Andy Barrie spoke with Frances Lankin, president of the United Way, about what it will take to make neighbourhoods designed for another time, for people with deeper pockets, work for Canada's new poor.
In their report, Poverty by Postal Code, the United Way has depicted the level of family poverty within each census tract for 1981, 1991 and 2001, using poverty levels defined by Statistics Canada.

Opening the Door to the Future
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Opening the door to a future

By Nick Candiotto
Toronto Sun


Colin Lupton knew an education would open up all the doors he couldn't -- he just needed somewhere to start.
"I was living at Eva's Phoenix and having trouble finding a job," says 21-year-old Lupton. "I needed to get my GED. If I did, I knew it would be much easier to get a job."

Enter the Employment Skills Development Program (ESDP) at St. Christopher's House.

Toronto Star - Social Agency Cleans House
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Toronto Star
Nov. 20, 2004 Social agency cleans house
JOHN HARVEY
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

All Through the House is a home-cleaning service targetting the growing number of condos in the King St. W. area between Bathurst St. and Spadina Ave.

If the company makes money, it will support programs at St. Christopher House

Dream Homes and Condos
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Cleaning business seeks niche market  while serving community

by Jacquelyn Francis

Not many can say they’ve turned a class project into a job, but that is essentially what Tomislav Rimac did.

While working towards his MBA at the University of Toronto, Rimac’s Organizational Change and Development class introduced him and other classmates to the work of social agency St. Christopher House.

The Star - Easing a Tough Life in a New Home
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Toronto Star
Nov. 28, 2004 Easing a tough life in a new home. Hard to find work, despite qualifications. Program helps with families' culture shock

 

 

LESLIE FERENC
STAFF REPORTER

They landed on Canadian soil, their life savings in their pockets and their hearts filled with hope for a brighter future.

RDSP Macleans
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Macleans Magazine 

March 15, 2004

The idea is simple: allow low-income workers to put aside money in a special account generating tax-free interest; in a crunch, savers could tap those funds without tax penalty for specified purposes such as retraining and, if the provinces agree, without loss of welfare benefits. If they don't use the money, they could tap it in their old age -- without loss of public pension benefits. "This is a very practical, concrete and fresh way to modernize our income security system," says St. Christopher CEO Susan Pigott.

Toronto Star - Carol Goar - RDSP (PDF file)
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Toronto Star Dec 2003

Three single parents came to John Stapleton at St. Christopher House, asking how to start a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). He told them they'd be crazy to do it.
It was tough advice for the social policy analyst to give. 

CBC Story - A Panel of Experts
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A Panel of Experts
Daniel Schwartz, CBC's The National
February 4, 2002

The names of the panel meeting around the table might make an awesome corporate board of directors or blue-ribbon government advisory board. It's the furniture in this room that suggests otherwise. They are here as volunteers and their purpose is to get a fairer deal for low-income Canadians.