Why do we allow poverty to persist in Canada?

Last month, a fascinating panel discussion was held in Winnipeg, entitled Poverty: Why do we allow poverty to persist in Canada? Above is an edited audio version of some of the commentary that emerged surrounding that discussion

The audience seemed highly attuned to the impacts of poverty on our community and some of the factors that may be perpetuating this problem.

We heard from panelists, Donald Benham, Hunger and Poverty Awareness Manager at Winnipeg Harvest; Diane Redsky, Executive Director at Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre; Susan Prentice, Professor of Sociology at the University of Manitoba; Evelyn Forget, Economist and Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba; and Edward Kennedy who is President and CEO for the North West Company.

President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manitoba, Dr. David T. Barnard, has hosted the series of Visionary Conversations since 2011 at the University of Manitoba.

Audience members were invited to ask questions or comment on the matters brought forward by the panel. There were a number of attendees who did.

This event seemed to open a door to a topic that’s long overdue for discussion. Surprisingly, we heard what some may consider to be unexpected answers, to the initial question, “Why do we allow poverty to persist in Canada?”

That question regarding the state of our society sparked more interest in the kinds of ideas the panel and audience members had to offer towards making real change for the better.

Reporter Susan Huebert interviewed panel members and audience participants about some of the discussion they heard in response to the question, ‘Why do we allow poverty to persist in Canada?’

Here are some of their answers:

These edited interviews (in the link above) along with the audio at the top of the article, were both edited by Anna Sigrithur from 95.9 CKUW.

The link below contains the full video recording from this event: