When her medication got too expensive, Theresa Schrader just stopped taking it. Schrader has anxiety, Type II bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. She’s also struggled with addiction and takes medicine for diabetes and blood pressure. When Schrader had a… Continue Reading
Pat Capponi’s Order of Canada recognizes advocacy for mentally ill Catherine Porter Jul 01 2015 Canada Day was a big day for the crazies of this country. Pat Capponi was awarded the Order of Canada. She wasn’t the first to… Continue Reading
Shut out of medicare by shame: Goar Carol Goar Sep 02 2014 Life on the streets takes a punishing toll. It’s not just the elements, the hit-and-miss meals or the nights spent on park benches and heating grates. It’s the… Continue Reading
National Household Survey 2011: Ontario making progress fighting poverty Ontario rates of low-income suggest provincial efforts to reduce poverty are paying off. Laurie Monsebraaten Sep 11 2013 Dawnmarie Harriott was on welfare and living in a downtown Toronto rooming house… Continue Reading
Porter: Linda Chamberlain’s job was making her broke CATHERINE PORTER Nov 19 2010 Linda Chamberlain left her dream job because it was making her broke. She’s richer earning nothing, living in her subsidized apartment and getting monthly disability cheques from… Continue Reading
Escaping the poverty trap Laurie Monsebraaten Jul 19 2010 For years, “hope” was just a four-letter word to anti-poverty activist Mike Creek. After working his way up in the hotel industry from dishwasher to head office manager, Creek lost it… Continue Reading
Theresa fought her way off the street, out of despair AVRUM ROSENSWEIG November 02, 2009 She was a prostitute. A whore. A sex-trade worker and homeless. She was the type of throw-away woman homicide officers might scoff at, had she… Continue Reading
Agents of change rise from the streets Carol Goar June 19, 2009 The four-month interlude between the announcement of Ontario’s poverty reduction plan and the release of the provincial budget was a tough time for Children’s Minister Deb Matthews. The… Continue Reading
Real life lessons from the street Carol Goar Nov 12 2008 One of the delegates brought along a sleeping bag. He stretched it out and fell asleep whenever the proceedings bored him. Another lost his train of thought at the… Continue Reading
Everyone pays the province’s $38 billion cost Laurie Monsebraaten Nov 20 2008 Poverty costs Ontario a staggering $38 billion a year – and we all pay the price, says a new report that offers the first-ever analysis of the problem’s… Continue Reading