I think for housing it is a really important thing, but one thing I'm concerned about is how often there is a split between provincial and federal policy-makers and politicians. The most disadvantaged people in our communities are caught by this. It's like they're political footballs almost.
A national housing strategy that had support at the provincial level would be a wonderful thing for rural communities, as would a transportation policy that would help people live in more isolated communities so they could still access service. There may be cheaper accommodation in smaller communities, but if you don't have a vehicle, then you can't get to services and employment. It's of no use to you.
It would be good to have a more national vision whereby people have the right to decent housing. It would be good to get the idea back on the table, federally and provincially, that women and children shouldn't be living in substandard, unsafe housing because they were abused. That shouldn't be the option--i.e., live with your abusive partner in your nice house or leave your abusive partner and live in a horrible, unsafe place that still isn't going to even protect you from the abusive partner when he comes and bashes the door down. Those are the alternatives that women in our community are faced with now. There isn't decent housing in rural communities that people can afford. If you're on welfare or any form of social assistance, you can't afford any decent housing. You can't. You can't even feed your children properly.
So that's where we are. What women in our community are saying to us is why, when you get sick or you have an abusive partner or you lose your job and there is no other job to go to, are you treated as though you don't count, as though you've failed and are not worth anything? The women we work with are very eager not to be poor, but they have more barriers in rural communities. They are staying poor longer, having more trouble getting out of poverty, and getting more discouraged. In the end, many of them leave because they can't get ahead.
In rural communities, that's a big problem. Why are we exporting women and children out of our rural communities because we don't have decent policies and supports in rural communities for women and children? It makes no sense to me--or to them. They don't want to leave their communities. They like their communities. But the federal and provincial policies now make it almost impossible for women to survive unless they have family or friends. Many women don't have family supports. The women who succeed are the women who have family and friends and supports that they can call on when things happen to them.
We had these workshops where we had women sitting there saying, “I never in my life thought I would be sitting in a workshop on poverty. This wasn't in my game plan. I can't believe it.” Teachers, nurses, farmers, all kinds of occupations--there they sat. They can't get out of poverty.
My question to you is why is that happening? We have lots of money in this country. Why is that happening? It wasn't happening 20 years ago. It probably wasn't even happening 10 years ago. But it's happening now.