Freedom Flyer 16

Sir: The Speaker's Corner feature which appeared in the Aug. 19 edition of your newspaper (Canada's poor should learn to help themselves) provides an excellent example of why reducing poverty in Canada has remained so difficult.

The observations and opinions put forth by the author are insulting to the vast majority of the poor, which is made up of children, the disabled, the elderly, single parents, and ethnic minorities. Sadly, many Canadians share the attitude expressed by the author. It should be recognized, however, that simply because this attitude is popular does not necessarily mean that it is correct.

Mounting evidence is demonstrating how firmly entrenched discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age, and social class is in Canada.

The approach of totally blaming the individual for his or her circumstances while conveniently ignoring the role society performs in the determination of this has long since been abandoned by serious social thinkers.

No solution to poverty can come from this attitude; its results only being a false feeling of moral superiority for those who hold it and increased stigma for those at whom it is targeted. Meanwhile, the wealthy continue to amass more and the poor continue to increase in numbers, which amounts to nothing more than maintenance of the status quo.

Without doubt, there is the factor of negative personal attitudes held by many poor individuals. However, if we look beyond these attitudes to the causes of them we might just find that they are largely developed in response to the callous perspectives held by many of those in better financial circumstances.

Attacking the poor has never provided solutions to poverty; attempting to understand them might.