Windsor needs to address poverty

Re: Windsor to join Detroit in ‘game-changer’ bid for Amazon HQ, by Doug Schmidt, Sept. 18.

It was with profound grief that I read the contrasting headlines in recent editions of the Windsor Star. Windsor is joining Detroit in a bid for Amazon’s new headquarters. Meanwhile, Windsor has the highest child poverty rate in Canada.

Both cites want international headlines. Yet, both cities live with a poverty that winning a bid for Amazon’s second North American headquarters will do nothing to resolve. In Canada, federal, provincial and municipal governments all participate in policies which create poverty.

When a woman is abandoned by the father of her children, she is legislated into poverty before she can collect benefits. This is also true of a Canadian citizen who becomes disabled. This poverty is so severe that it leads to an early grave, 21 years sooner.

In Canada, people who are by definition high needs are put into a situation that would create disease in a healthy person. Canada is a wealthy nation with oil reserves that are the third or fourth largest in the world. But we treat our most vulnerable citizens with disdain.

The cities of Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, recognizing the enormous cost of homelessness decided to put an end to it. They did this, not out of compassion, but because it made economic sense. They did so in less than five years. They made national headlines.

The City of Windsor has a list of over 200 names of those who are homeless. The mayor doesn’t need to do anything original. All he needs to do is phone his counterparts in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge.

Poverty is a form of violence. So now, Windsor can lay claim to being the most violent city in Canada. Can our mayor and those who are so prone to using the expression “moving forward” bother to make two phone calls? Or will angels continue to weep for Windsor?

James Kuracina, Windsor