1. Part C: Written Research Summary
Findings from research:
Each country has its own measure of poverty to gauge whether a person or family is living in
food deprivation. It is a fact that nobody really knows how many Canadians are living in
poverty. Statistics Canada provides a low-income cut off (LICO) depending on the size of family
and the place of living. The LICO for a 4 member family in Toronto is given as $32759 and
$21760 for a family of two. For a single adult it is $16542.
Canada has considerable population living under poverty. It is estimated that 550,000 Canadians
live with less than half of LICO. We are not in a position to classify people into those living in
acute poverty or those living in the periphery of poverty. Through our research we have found
out that, in the absence of a real demarcation the fight to eradicate poverty does not have a clear
starting line.
Unemployment is a major cause of poverty and work can lift people out of poverty. In Toronto
we can find a large number of people live in poverty while still working. The number of
working poor is the highest in Toronto. This is because of the basic needs of life food, clothes,
transportation and shelter are expensive and even a full time job may not be sufficient to move
above poverty line. John Stapleton, Brian Murphy, Yue Xing define the working poor as
individuals who:
“has an after-tax income below the Low Income Measure (LIM)
has earnings of at least $3,000 a year,
is between the ages of 18 and 64,
is not a student, and
lives independently
According to the above authors 23% of the working poor are immigrants.”
We believe poverty is a social problem. It is a question of social justice. It is also a question of
distance between haves and have-nots.
Canada ranks 24 out of 35 industrialized nations in child poverty. As per the Toronto campaign
2000‟s report card on child poverty in Toronto, one child in three lives in poverty. Toronto has

2. the dubious distinction of the highest rate of child poverty. This affects the mental and physical
growth of scores of children leading to various developmental problems.
We wish to provide an excerpt from „Citizens for public justice‟ report 2002 which depicts what
goes in an innocent child‟s mind when faced with poverty:

3. How can we face this problem of poverty? Can we remedy it?
According to UNICEF Canada President David Morley “The good news is that when we invest
in things like early childhood education, when we invest in early health care, when we invest in
helping the most vulnerable children it makes a difference”.
Food banks play a major role in fighting poverty among the members of community. Ontario
Association of Food Banks (OAFB) runs 120 food banks in Ontario. On a monthly basis they
serve more than 148000 children in Ontario. OAFB administers a number of initiatives. One of
them is community harvest program which is run with the cooperation of big farms from where
the volunteers collect huge amounts of left-over fruits and vegetables and supply to the needy.
More than 500 dairy farms in Ontario support providing more than one million liters of milk
every year for the families through the food banks. Many food supply organizations donate to
provide daily food items such as pasta, milk powder and canned foods for distribution.
According to the hunger report 2012 published by OAFB, 412998 persons in Ontario accessed
food banks in March 2012 alone and 17190 new families accessed food banks for the first time
in 2012. More than 16000 children use food banks in Ontario per month. The statistics is quite
alarming.
There are many reasons cited for the increased dependence on food banks such as cuts in Federal
and Provincial social assistance Programs, increased unemployment and sharp rise in living
costs. More adults and children are now seeking food bank services. Urban Ontario has more
food bank subscribers than other areas. The largest growing groups are women, new Canadians,
laid off workers, university graduates, single parent households and senior citizens.
The community must take note of the increasing dependence on food banks which also points to
the underlying social problems facing the country. The wealthy citizens of Canada and the
corporate bodies must pay more attention to the struggle by the food banks to supply healthy diet
to the impoverished. More helping hands are needed to serve the increasing numbers of the
needy. The government of Ontario must also rise up to the occasion to legislate to implement
solutions so that dependence on food banks can be reduced.

4. The advocacy position we have taken up has touched a chord in our hearts. We never
understood the enormity of the problem when we took up the project. Our visits to the food
banks, our interaction with the food bank officials and the extensive research we did have created
an urge to help the people in need. We are now more determined to do our best to contribute
whatever we can to help those out there who need help in finding their daily bread.
Addressing specific questions from PART B:
Our research questions address how to help the disadvantaged using or getting more help from
private companies and firms and our research indicates that Corporate Social Responsibility is an
ideal way to get companies to fund initiatives. Corporate Social Responsibility platforms not
only provide a medium for advertisement for the companies, it gives the company a positive
name when they fund projects.
Our research indicates that a high volume of participants are involved in food banks, therefore,
the best way to distribute food is by utilizing the already preexisting food bank structures to give
out goods for the poor.
According to our research, Statistics Canada provides a low-income cut off (LICO) depending on
the size of family and the place of living. The LICO for a 4 member family in Toronto is given
as $32759 and $21760 for a family of two. For a single adult it is $16542. Anyone with all of the
following reasons should be eligible for services from the food bank: “has an after-tax income
below the Low Income Measure (LIM), has earnings of at least $3,000 a year, is between the
ages of 18 and 64, is not a student, and lives independently.”
If we target private companies and firms and convince them to be part of a Corporate Social
Responsibility drive in the neighborhood around Centennial College Ashtonbee Campus, we will
be able to raise about $2500, provided we show cause and an established history of continued
work on this project.
Our research shows that, Food banks play a major role in fighting poverty among the members
of community. Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) runs 120 food banks in Ontario.
On a monthly basis they serve more than 148000 children in Ontario. OAFB administers a
number of initiatives. One of them is community harvest program which is run with the

5. cooperation of big farms from where the volunteers collect huge amounts of left-over fruits and
vegetables and supply to the needy. More than 500 dairy farms in Ontario support providing
more than one million liters of milk every year for the families through the food banks. Many
food supply organizations donate to provide daily food items such as pasta, milk powder and
canned foods for distribution. According to the hunger report 2012 published by OAFB, 412998
persons in Ontario accessed food banks in March 2012 alone and 17190 new families accessed
food banks for the first time in 2012. More than 16000 children use food banks in Ontario per
month.
According to our research, although job training is the long-term solution to solve the
unemployment crisis, in current economic climate and current macro-economic policies do not
have surplus amounts of hiring intake. The idea is right, however, the product might be lacking.
We still suggest, that job training is crucial and in the long run it will help to alleviate poverty.
Through our research, we also found out that poverty in Ontario is on the rise primarily because
of unemployment and lack of economic opportunities available due to the aftermath of the
recession, etc With majority of the poor in Toronto being new and recent immigrants and
employers preferring to hire people with Canadian experience, unemployment continues to rise
and it is directly proportional to the rise in poverty as well.
Our research fits in with the issues we wanted to address. There is a pre-existing poverty
problem in Ontario. Through our research we are able to add more perspective and sense into the
issue and we have gained more knowledge on the topic it as well. Overall, we believe, our
knowledge and understanding of the subject will help us succeed in formulating a good plan
which will be able to combat poverty in Ontario.

6. Bibliography:
1. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/2007/01/06/defining_poverty_critical_first_step.html
viewed on 21 April, 2013
2. http://metcalffoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Working-Poor-in-Toronto-
Region.pdf viewed on 20 April 2013
3. John Stapleton, Brian Murphy, Yue Xing; “The working poor in the Toronto Region,
who they are, where they live and how trends are changing” Metcalf foundation,
February 2012
4. http://www.moorelands.ca/poverty.php viewed on 21 April 2013
5. Greg deGroot-Maggetti: “ A measure of poverty in Canada, A guide to the debate about
poverty lines”, Citizens for public justice, March 2002
6. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2012/05/29/canada_lags_on_fighting_child_povert
y_report_finds.html viewed on 21 April 2013
7. http://www.oafb.ca/about-oafb viewed on 21 April 2013
8. Ontario Association of food Banks, Hunger Report December 2012 available at:
http://www.oafb.ca/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/pics_cms/2012_OAFB_Hunger_Repor
t.pdf
9. http://www.yongestreetmedia.ca/features/toronto4acumen05162012.aspx