ACORN Canada’s Fair Banking/End Predatory Lending Campaign calls for an inter-jurisdictional strategy to tackle the high-interest lending that further entrenches poverty within our communities.
Ce document analyse les résultats d'un sondage qu’ACORN Canada a mené à l’aide sur un échantillon de ses membres dans le but de comprendre pourquoi ils se tournent vers des services financiers alternatifs tels que les prêts sur salaire à taux d'intérêt élevé.
Le sondage révèle que la majorité des 268 répondants utilisent des services financiers à taux d'intérêt élevé, tels que les prêts sur salaire, qu’en dernier recours parce que les banques traditionnelles leur refusent les services de crédit adéquats.
This paper analyzes findings from a survey by ACORN Canada of a sampling of its membership to understand why they turn to alternative financial services such as high interest payday loans. The survey finds that the majority of the 268 respondents turn to high interest financial services such as payday loans as a last resort because they are denied adequate credit services from traditional banks.
LES BANQUES CANADIENNES NE RÉPONDENT PAS AUX BESOINS DES COMMUNAUTÉS À FAIBLE REVENU.
Avez-vous obtenu un pret sur salaire aupres de The Cash Store ou D’Instaloans en Ontario apres le 1er Septembre 2011?
Did you take a Payday Loan from Cash Store or Instaloans in Ontario after September 1, 2011?
In 2015 the six largest banks in Canada – TD, BMO, RBC, Scotia, CIBC and National Bank – generated $35 billion in profits, up from $29 billion in 2013. This perception of achievement, however, is misleading. Canadian banks are failing Canada’s low and moderate income residents. The banks’ focus on profits have led to service cuts, branch closures, and high fees, primarily impacting Canada’s low and moderate income earners.
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Internet Use and Accessibility for Low-Income Canadians
A Class Action Settlement has been reached. Please read this notice.
ACORN’s housing campaign calls for the Federal Government to enact legislation that clearly establishes the right to secure, adequate and affordable housing.
In 2011 statistics, there were 390,280 private households across the province of Nova Scotia. 29% is listed as renter households. Almost a third of the population lives in a rental unit. There have been some bylaw changes made across the province in recent years aiming to improve rental housing conditions. However, as this report will show, there is still a lot to be done on both the provincial and municipal level.
This report shows that the more needs be done to support tenants and hold landlords to account, as renters are living in substandard conditions without the necessary support to stand up to landlords on issues such as rental unit repairs.
In Halifax, 2011 statistics showed that 37% of households in Halifax were rented (STATCAN: http://bit.ly/2jQTYRp), a number which is continuing to grow in an increasing rental market. There have been some bylaw changes made by City Council in recent years aiming to improve rental housing conditions. However, as this report shows, there is much still to be done.
Les membres d’Ottawa ACORN croient que le gouvernement municipal a la responsabilité de gérer les cas horribles de logements insalubres à Ottawa et les régions environnantes.
Ottawa ACORN members believe that the municipal government has a responsibility to address the causes of the horrific state of housing in Ottawa and the surrounding region.
Ce rapport démontre que le gouvernement municipal doit faire plus car les locataires vivent dans des conditions de logement déplorables et n'ont pas le soutien requis pour se défendre contre les propriétaires et d'avoir leurs besoins comblés. Le Règlement en matière de normes foncières a plus d'étapes dans la procédure et plus de délais que la plupart des règlements et tout avis de violation est inexécutable. Pour ces raisons, ACORN demande la création d’une licence pour propriétaires MAINTENANT!
This report shows that the municipal government needs to do more as tenants are living in substandard conditions without the necessary support to allow them to stand up to landlords and have their needs met. The Property Standards By-law has more procedural steps and delays than most by-laws in addition to any notice of violation being unenforceable. This is why Ottawa ACORN members want landlord licensing NOW!
The Tenants' Case for Landlord Licensing in Toronto
ACORN has been fighting for Landlord Licensing for 12 years in Toronto, and on Thursday May 19th ACORN won a big step in the campaign – a motion for landlord licensing is being voted on at City Council in early June. Here are some common questions that ACORN members have been answering over the past 12 years.
It has been six years since Toronto’s living wage estimate was calculated at $16.60 in 2008.
Since then, the cost of living has gone up: the cost of child care has risen by 30 per cent; rent has increased by 13 per cent; the cost of public transit has grown by 36 per cent. This report updates Toronto’s living wage to reflect what it takes for two working parents with two children to make ends meet in 2015. It’s based on the needs of a family with two parents and two young children ages 7 and 3. Each of those parents needs to earn $18.52 per hour, and work 37.5 hours per week, in order to afford the basics in life in this very expensive city.
In a new nationwide survey among 3,000 Canadians conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Canada for the Broadbent Institute, Canadians were asked about their perceptions of inequality and the distribution of wealth in Canada. The findings demonstrate that Canadians vastly underestimate how skewed the distribution of wealth actually is and think there should be a much more equitable distribution.
New research shows that in Ontario, large employers are the biggest culprits in perpetuating a low-wage economy.
Written by Metcalf Innovation Fellow and labour market policy expert Tom Zizys, the paper examines our under-performing labour market and challenges the popular notion that the threat to good jobs is inevitable.
Better Work chronicles the economic and political changes that have brought us to our current situation. It reconstructs the advent of our global economy and reflects deeply on its effect on employment practices. Central to its thesis is a simple proposition: workers are not a cost to be constrained but, rather, an asset to be invested in.
Among industrialized countries, Canada has the highest proportion of residents with a post-secondary education. Yet we also have the highest rate of degree holders working in jobs earning half the median income or less. We know there are many external factors at play, and that a rise in precarious employment and the widening gap between knowledge sector and entry-level jobs is creating income disparity. But the question remains, are we responding to the emergence of technology, globalization, and increased competitiveness in the most efficient and equitable way? Are our workplace practices, labour market institutions, and the norms and values that shape our economic thinking supporting the best interests of both employers and employees?
Un extrait de Global Grassroots sur salaire de subsistance, par John Anderson.
There are over 338,000 migrant workers in Canada. This number has more than doubled since 2006. As Canada increasingly relies on a work force of transnational migrant workers with temporary status, an industry of third-party for-profit recruiters has emerged to match workers with jobs in Canada.
This report exposes how temporary foreign workers are paying thousands of dollars in recruiting fees — equal to as much as two to three years’ wages in their home currency — to work in minimum wage jobs in Ontario.
The People’s Budget campaign was initiated as a response to the continuing evidence of the failure of the austerity agenda. Austerity measures have had a devastating impact on the people of Ontario, particularly its most vulnerable citizens. When even organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Economic Forum are calling for a reconsideration of the austerity agenda, it is time for Ontario to chart a new course.
Ontario ACORN members are demanding an increase to allowable employment income before deductions and increases to allowable asset limits for ODSP and OW recipients
In 2006 the United Nations held a convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Article 28 states: “States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing.”
“Adequate” does not include unhealthy and dangerous housing standards or negligent property owners.
Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms“ guarantees the life, liberty and personal security of all Canadians.”
ACORN MEMBERS DEMAND a housing allowance that guarantees ODSP and OW recipients’ healthy housing where they can freely choose a home that guarantees their personal security from violence and negligent property owners.
The first comprehensive report on child and family poverty in Toronto since 2008 will be released by Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, Social Planning Toronto, Family Service Toronto, Colour of Poverty-Colour of Change, and the Alliance for a Poverty-Free Toronto .
New data in the report shows that Toronto is becoming an increasingly divided city. Where a child is born and raised in Toronto greatly influences their chances of success.
Canada’s disability income expenditures are rising at an unsustainable rate and the largest and fastest growing program is social assistance. Nowhere is this more evident than in Ontario where ODSP expenditures increased 44.8% between 2005 and 2010.
This report by Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton, provides critical insight into the intricate drivers behind the alarming rise of disability income expenditures.
More than two decades have passed since the House of Commons’ unanimous resolution “to seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000” and four years after the entire House of Commons voted to “develop an immediate plan to end poverty for all in Canada.” Neither the promised poverty elimination nor plans have materialized.
Read BC ACORN's submission to the Province's consultation on the poverty reduction strategy.
Ontario ACORN surveyed 212 low-to-moderate income families across the province, to explore the impact of high child care costs. The survey revealed that many parents are forced to forgo work, education, savings, and basic necessities to pay for child care.
This evaluation reports on the outcomes of ACORN Canada’s Protect Your Privacy-Online! project, funded by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. This project consists of three workshops, offered in four Canadian cities and is designed to educate lower income Canadians about the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). PIPEDA is Canada’s Federal legislation that establishes rules for how private-sector organizations must protect the online privacy of Canadians.
This groundbreaking report maps out the strategies and practices that lie behind today’s most successful advocacy campaigns both in Canada and abroad. In the process, it demonstrates how and why they succeed in creating lasting change on the issues they address while so many others fail. Based on a study by authors Jason Mogus and Tom Liacas that looked at mostly U.S.-based case studies, this report now presents similar innovations in Canada by reviewing in depth case studies of eight breakthrough Canadian campaigns. The report’s goal is to transmit a model that can be learned and replicated by other campaigners for how to blend grassroots participation and organizing with disciplined central planning to win.
Nova Scotia ACORN's municipal platform
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner and ACORN Canada Present: Protect your Privacy - Online!
Results of BC ACORN's survey of Surrey candidates
This election season, ACORN sent out a nine-question survey to all elected candidates running in this year’s municipal election in Ottawa. Out of the thirty-eight respondents, the majority were in favour of many of the proposed changes that were outlined in the survey.
Through correspondence with the City of Ottawa, it was suggested to ACORN--by the individual responsible for administering polling station locations--that the city uses voter turnout rates as the primary criterion for where to locate polling stations. This is extremely problematic, for it goes against democratic principles for voting to be made more convenient to those who more regularly exercise that democratic right; instead, the more democratic criterion for the location of polling stations would, of course, be based on population density.
ACORN Canada’s free income tax sites are a staggering success, ensuring low income Canadians get every penny that is owed to them through the tax refunds, credits, and benefits.