MAIN POINTS
(from interviews)

1. Children scarred for life from poverty: mental, physical health

2. Families broken by poverty

3. Child apprehensions from poverty (courts, social workers, lawyers, foster parents)

4. People shunned by their families because they are poor

5. Destruction of culture from families living in poverty

6. Aggression and violence from stress, frustration and anger

7. Women with children trapped in abusive or violent relationships to provide for their children

8. Children affected by living with violence in the home

9.   Systemic violence against women

10. People, family and community only in survival mode

11. People without income are targets of violence

12. Police, courts, prisons and youth detention costs relating to poverty

13. Escalating security costs

14. Drug use, drug-dealing and prostitution relating to poverty

15. Wars, big and small, over natural resources

Coordinator's Note: During this project, I had the opportunity to talk with Diane Bernard who worked for many years a probation officer in the 1980's. She related that during her 10 years of doing this work, all but one of her women clients lived in poverty: "The number one factor that they were involved in this stuff was because they were facing the poverty crunch. If they had the stability of reasonable income to count on, they wouldn't necessarily have been involved with these characters [men with criminal records]. If they just had decent work, or a decent job, or a decent income, decent money-not even a lot of money, but just the assurance that they didn't have to panic about rent or food [it would have changed things]. And that is what the panic was about. There would be this acting out. They had so much on their plate, all stemming from the fact that they couldn't rely on money coming in. For women [income stability] means an immediate reduction in involvement in institutions."   (Interview, April, 2006)

SOCIAL BREAKDOWN - Quotes

There is total genocide of family, number one. Because family does not work under the current rule, if you are impoverished, you lose your kid because of your inability to provide. And if you can provide, you could lose your child because of negligence, because you're not there because you are out providing for them. This gets into intergenerational stuff. -Mary C

If a woman is in a bad situation in BC today, an abusive situation, and she leaves, the minute she walks out of the bad situation, the first time she goes to a transition house, the Children and Families Ministry are notified and she has no income, and probably can't get welfare. So she has a choice to make: stay in the bad relationship, kids will have a home, she won't lose them, and her kids eat; or leave and lose her kids and everything else. So what will she do? She will stay and take the beating to sacrifice for children and home, and that is what happens everyday in Victoria. -Mary C

It's incredible what being a mother and having children will do to you when you have to think about having rent money, food, clothing. It's so ridiculous with the current system; it just breaks people. The [welfare] system just perpetuates nothing but negative life for people, really puts down people and is degrading and disrespectful. It has nothing to do with supporting people at all. People are existing just to survive with the current system, not even to live, just surviving-no, not even barely surviving. It's not living; it's abusive. They are being abused by the system. It's sadistic. Working all these jobs to try to meet the needs of your family; neglected children may end up in the wrong circumstances, situations that are not healthy for them that can lead to abuse. It can have psychological, physical consequences. It has a domino effect. -Ruth

A lot of women will enter the sex trade to avoid living on the street. Look at the hospitalization costs alone, whether the women get HIV or Hep C or get beat up. Look at how often they are victimized, whether they are targeted for murder, abuse or rape and the investigation costs. You can see the effects of poverty on society when you look at the women entering the sex trade. -Suzanne

You see young kids bullying one another. Do you think they are coming from a happy home that is well adjusted and has time to deal with whatever issues? -Brenda

Not having GLI is violating people's security of person and creates crime. Can't they figure it out? Over a generation, maybe we wouldn't have jails anymore. -Donna

If you look at the police budget, it is huge, because you are paying them around $70,000 a year each, And then the running of it. If you took that money and transferred it to social programs, would you need the police? It's mind-boggling. As taxpayers we okay it for the protection of property, but not the protection of human life. If you murder somebody, that is a different story, but it is okay if they die of hunger or homelessness. -Brenda

If we want to survive in the current system we have to learn to lie or figure out smart ways to of doing things, get more cunning. People have to do what they have to do to survive. -Faith

They make you criminal, and there is no two ways around it. I know people doing grow ops just to make money; it's the least harmful thing they could be doing. -Rachel

In poverty people do what they can to survive, and sometimes that does gets them in trouble with the justice system. People self-medicate, plus they don't feel good about themselves and become targets for other people to prey on them. -Samantha

Violence-cops cost so much money, and people do things out of desperation. The whole legal system is a cost.   -Aletheia

Stress from lack of income affects our whole community. With children, it can lead to other issues that have a big impact on their community. Is there anything that can be more stressful than to be able to keep your children fed? If you are on welfare how can you pay for extracurricular activities for your kids? That's expected now, because they are cutting back on those extras in school.   -Sol

There are often children in violent situations [because of the mother not being financially able to leave]. The woman is trying to raise them to be nonviolent, but you can't do that in a violent home. So she feels bad and guilty, but she still feels she has no choice. -Debie

You can't raise happy kids if you aren't happy. They learn from you. -Meshum

Even with adequate day care, mothers have in essence two jobs: a full-time job as mom and a parent, and then another job taken under duress and stress. -Rita

Nobody has time for the kids anymore. -Jennifer

How many families do I know who are split up because of poverty and jobs? -Kym

I would imagine health costs are pretty huge. There are a lot of uncalculated costs, like policing, but is that poverty or social control?-Sol

Addictions are based on trying to not feel the way you really feel.   If people weren't desperate and hungry, and needing to change how they feel, they wouldn't need to do drugs, go gamble, drink, all the other addictions, because if they felt okay, they wouldn't need to change that. It might take a while for the diehards, but eventually people would go- "I have enough money for food..." -Donna

Right now, because you don't know your neighbor, you are defensive, you feel aggression, and there is more violence. Look at the costs, if people had a decent income and community involvement, as compared to that child getting in trouble, foster care, drug habits, car accidents, etc. -Meshum

The worry about what you are going to do after high school affects kids in a big way. I think about the stress all the time. It feels like you have to be super, super smart to get a good job. You have to jump through hoops because there is so much competition. Obviously something is not right when grade 9 girls are coming to school and doing E [ecstasy] in the bathroom. Taking drugs makes kids forget about the pressure. -Kyla