Thank you for coming this morning.
We're happy to be here. All of us around the table think it's important that we hear firsthand. Given that our goal is to develop some thinking around the federal role in a national anti-poverty strategy, it's important that we come to places like Whitehorse and here.
As Mike has said, we've been at this now for quite some time, hearing from people, different organizations that speak on behalf of those who advocate, and the poor themselves, and there are some common themes beginning to emerge. We'll table a report, hopefully, to the federal government some time in February/March. It always seems to take a little longer than we would like, but I'd like to make sure that we get it as right as we can when we table it, with a call for action on that. So it's important that we hear from folks like yourselves.
Is what we're thinking reflective of what is needed? Are there things that we're missing? Are there some unique features in this part of Canada?
You spoke of the high cost of living. That's not something that we, who live in the southern part of the country and east, have any real understanding of, unless we come here and see for ourselves. For example, I spent a couple of days in a first nations community on the James Bay coast a few years ago, looking at poverty. They used, as an example, a case of Carnation milk that in Timmins would cost, let's round it off, $25; in Cochrane, where there's better transportation access, it went up about $10; you bring it over by train to Moosonee and it's gone up to some $40; and by the time it gets up to, say, Attawapiskat, it's $65. It's amazing. And yet they get the same levels of social welfare, and at that time that's what most of them were counting on to look after themselves.
That was an eye-opener for me, and it's something that I think we have to keep in mind. We have a big country, challenging geography, and things are different.
The other thing I heard you say this morning was around the issue of EI and the nature of work up here. We've heard that in other places as well, but I'm going to ask you to maybe expand on that a little bit, the nature of work and the importance of having income in between the seasons, for example.
A couple of things that I'm looking at in terms of the report, that we need to talk about in the report and have something specific on, are income security and, as you've all mentioned, housing--this is a huge issue across the country. There is also the issue of social inclusion.
Maybe I'll leave it there and see what you have to say in response.