Our organization was set up by the Social Planning Council of Peel following a forum on child poverty. That was in 1997.
Since then, we have done a number of things. We have made a video about poverty and flogged it around schools. We have opened some community gardens. We have made presentations to council, and so on, on particular aspects, particularly on dental care, which is a disaster for older people especially, and of course for anyone who's homeless. Our organization has done other things, and it has moved over very much to being a political lobbying organization. We have no income, so we can't be cut off by choosing one party over another, although in fact we haven't done that. We try to be as even-handed as we can, but we can be nasty to people, and if they don't do what we think they should, then we can say rude things. We're not afraid of our grant being cut off.
The people who belong are the poorest of the poor in that they tend to be homeless and they tend to be people who have mental health problems, but of course we also have a number of very dedicated social workers, who are also members of Peel Poverty Action Group and who give us a lot of guidance. We are working with the Region of Peel, with their fair share committee, and with the region's poverty strategy committee.