Marginalized

This is getting to be all too common a sight in Vancouver. Years of government cut-backs on social and welfare fundings are taking its toll on these people. Politicians of every stripe and colour talk about them yet nobody does anything concrete to solve the problem. To them the most important matter is scoring political points and producing the appropriate sound clips for the evening news.

Recently a women's group from the Downtown Eastside asked Vancouver's mayor and aldermen to spend 8 weeks living in the area and surviving on the same income as the welfare recipients. As expect all of them declined citing personal commitments (family) and bucket passing such as this is the responsibility of the provincial and federal government because they have more money to spend.