Alleviating poverty used to be something that the church believed was its duty. Today the Anglican church, as it visibly withers year by year, is very much wrapped up in its own myopic pursuits: seeking out gay individuals to transform into clergy, suing those who are not in agreement and paying for full page newspaper ads badgering the government to do the church’s job. After a token plea to Anglicans, Johnson makes clear that charity has become the province of government – and the taxpayer:
As we come together to celebrate this Thanksgiving, I ask you to pause and imagine looking down at a half-empty plate of plain food, a meal that will leave you hungry at the end. That’s the reality for 300,000 Ontarians who rely on food banks to ward off hunger each month.
There are many others. Some we know personally, because they turn to our churches seeking food and companionship. We do what we can to help. The needs are great. The numbers of the poor have grown in the recent recession.
A key part of the solution involves a stronger response from Government. We applaud this Government’s initiative in its current budget. There is still much more that must be done for the hungry and poor in our midst.
As a first step, we recommend a $100 Healthy Food Supplement be added to the monthly incomes of people living on social assistance. Research has shown that people on social assistance, living far below the poverty line, have a poorer diet and get sick much more than other people. An extra $100 per month would enable them to afford more nutritious food.
Yes, there is a cost to this. But hunger and poverty are also costly, in terms of extra health care, emergency food services, less alert students and much more. And what price can we put on the anxiety of not being able to feed your children properly, or the desperation of simply struggling to get through each day?
