Special Screening - Poor No More

POOR NO MORE
...there is a way out

a film by Deveaux Babin Hosted by Mary Walsh

Toronto Premiere April 26, 2010
The Royal, 608 College St. West - 7:00PM

Admission: One hour of your wages

Students | Seniors: $8

CUPE 3902 members with card: $4

Those without earnings will be admitted for no cost.

Sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association,

CUPE 3902, and the Society of Energy Professionals

http://www.PoorNoMore.ca

(Toronto – April 20, 2010) “Hard work pays off,” we were told. But while corporations protected their profits, hard-working Canadians’ lives and livelihoods have unravelled. The recession erased jobs and piled up public and private debt, leaving more people poor or insecure.

Now, imagine a world where people do not have to beg, where housing is affordable and university is free. When it’s clear that countries that give priority to their citizens’ well-being also prosper economically, one must ask: why don’t we do the same?  That’s the premise of Poor No More, a feature documentary about Canada’s working poor.

Hosted by TV and film star Mary Walsh, Poor No More offers a compelling look at Canadians in low-paying jobs with no security and no future. Mary then takes us to Ireland and Sweden to see how these countries have tackled poverty while strengthening their economies. It presents an alternative to the two-jobs-to-survive, unemployment-plagued North American reality.

Poor No More explains the roots of our economic insecurity, its impact on Canadians, and proposes remedies. It aims to move this issue from the margins to the mainstream.

Amid myriad personal stories of Canada’s working poor, Poor No More focuses on Vicki and Durval.

Vicki Baier works part-time at a small-town Ontario liquor store to support herself and her teen daughter. After 12 years, she is still denied fulltime status and its attendant health and disability

benefits. A breast cancer patient, she keeps working – and arranges treatments during her breaks. Vicki is one of more than 600,000 part time and temporary workers in Ontario.

Arriving in Canada as an undocumented worker, Durval Terceira worked long hard hours in unhealthy conditions for minimal wages. He became a union organizer, fighting against the use of temp agencies that allow employers to treat workers as widgets without benefits.

Mary Walsh accompanies Vicki and Durval on a journey to Ireland and Sweden to see poverty solutions firsthand. They discover that countries with the least poverty offer affordable housing, universal early childhood and free university education. Those injured at work are treated with respect and given the help they need to move on in life. Food banks are virtually unknown. We see young Swedes exclaim, “We love taxes!” It is easy to understand why when you see the high quality of life the Swedes enjoy because they have invested in themselves.

Corporate propaganda has convinced Canadians that the poor will always be with us. So we think minimally – increasing the minimum wage by a minimal amount, reducing childhood poverty by minimal fractions. Poor No More is a radical rethink of a miserable status quo.

Poor No More is directed by Bert Deveaux and produced by Suzanne Babin, film-makers who have generated documentaries and television series for national and international broadcasters including CBC, CTV and NBC. Executive Producer David Langille is a social justice activist who teaches at York University.

This film has been paid for by Main Street, not by Bay Street or by government. Sponsors and supporters range from the Anglican Church of Canada to the United Way of Calgary. They represent students and teachers, nurses and pipe fitters and more. Donors of distinction include the Society of Energy Professionals, Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

The film’s sponsors speak for more than five million Canadians from coast to coast; a potent block of voters with the power to invoke real change.