Interview by Chrisoula Poulos (she/her), teacher, traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓w̓ətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations, and Tobias Lemay (he/him), teacher, unceded Quw'utsun territory
Over the summer we were grateful to have an opportunity to interview Rowan Burdge from the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. As members of the Economic Justice Action Group, we wanted to hear about the work of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, and what role teachers can play in the poverty reduction movement. We had a great chat and were excited to hear from Rowan about poverty reduction efforts in the province. Here’s some of our conversation.
Toby and Soula: How would you define economic justice?
Rowan: I think economic justice is more than income. We talk about it as a good life for everybody. For me, that includes universal basic services where people have access to things like adequate healthcare, adequate childcare, housing, a good living wage, and time for leisure. It extends into human rights as well. For example, for migrant workers economic justice includes having the right to see their families and being able to come in and out of the country. I think of poverty as an economic issue, but also an issue that ties into all parts of our lives.
Tell us more about the work of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition.
The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition is made up of around 85 member organizations that collectively advocate for public-policy solutions to end poverty in BC. We have a province-wide scope with three prongs to our current campaign work. The first prong is housing. We’re advocating for the creation of legislation that would make housing a human right in BC. The second prong is raising the rates for income and social assistance. Right now, social assistance is far below the poverty line, so it doesn’t meet basic needs like housing, access to food and nutrition, and medication. The third prong is around transit. Kids under the age of 12 can access transit for free and we’re advocating for this to be extended to include everyone under the age of 18, as well as people on any kind of social assistance. Transit gets people to the jobs they need, it gets them to recreation, to see their friends and engage in social activities, to appointments like counselling or other medical appointments. It’s really important to have access to transit.
We have created a blueprint for justice that all the member organizations co-created and signed. It outlines the key areas that we work in, which are economic security, universal basic services, equity, and climate justice.
What issues has the coalition identified as key needs of school-aged children and youth living in poverty in BC?
One big one is access to food and food security for students. We know the number of people accessing food banks has increased, so we advocate for better food systems that provide culturally appropriate, nutritious food for people.
The housing crisis has also really impacted families, and many families are now what we call “inadequately housed.” For example, we’ve heard of families living in cramped conditions or families who can’t afford to heat their homes or cool their homes in extreme weather, which can be unsafe.
Digital access is also a really important piece for school-aged kids. There is a digital divide in BC; for example, internet access can be challenging and expensive in the North and in rural areas. Access to devices can also be hard for some families. Limited or no access to a device or internet at home puts people at a deep disadvantage in terms of school and opportunities.
Can you speak to short-term, band-aid solutions compared to long-term, systemic solutions to poverty reduction?
There are a lot of band-aid solutions in place; food banks are a really good example. We need food banks right now and they are an important service, but giving people access to food through a food bank is very different than creating sustainable food systems or eliminating price-gouging that makes food unaffordable. There are many ways in which we, as a society, focus on short-term, band-aid solutions to intersecting and complicated problems.
Our focus is upstream solutions, meaning we don’t want to be responding to something down the stream that’s already happened, but looking at what is causing the conditions and thinking about how we can intervene at the upstream level to prevent the problem from happening.
What can teachers do to address poverty in the classroom?
There are a lot of structural and systemic changes that need to happen to reduce and eliminate poverty in BC. The Child Poverty Report Card noted that one in six children are experiencing poverty in BC. And what we hear from folks who are experiencing poverty is the impact of stigma.
I think teaching kids about poverty, about compassion and collective care, is such an important intervention. Kids grow into adults who hold onto what they learned in their childhood. So if people grow up believing that poor people have just made bad choices, they will continue to create the conditions under which people experiencing poverty are punished, and this will not help reduce poverty.
Educating kids about the abundant and beautiful society we want and shifting away from narratives of blame on people experiencing poverty are extremely important in intervening in cycles of poverty.
The other thing we talk about is universal supports and services. This means making sure everybody in the school has access to the supports and services and students are not singled out. There’s so much anti-poverty stigma that many students will choose not to access a service if they’re going to be singled out amongst their peers as somebody who needs the service.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us. The Economic Justice Action Group of the BCTF Committee for Action on Social Justice is always actively involved in advocacy for poverty reduction and looking forward to using some insights you’ve shared to inspire our work in the new school year.
Labour unions have a key role in poverty reduction. They’re collectives of workers designed to advocate for rights. The coalition relies on unions to support our work, whether that’s through funding or mobilizing members and supporting our calls to action. Labour unions have power to support workers in creating policy changes that benefit everybody.
The Economic Justice Action Group of the BCTF Committee for Action on Social Justice is working on the following actions for poverty reduction:
Advocating for a provincial (and national) school lunch program.
Advocating for provincial student loan forgiveness for all teachers, with an emphasis on the importance of putting this in place for BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ teachers.
Researching the intersections of mental health and poverty in teens in BC.
Researching the public funding of BC private schools.
Advocating for the removal of “citizenship” requirements from all school districts registration documents, so that school districts are in line with the Schools Act and to create more access for families with precarious immigration status.
Creating lesson plans that highlight upstream thinking regarding economic justice and poverty reduction.
Some actions you can take in your schools, classrooms, and communities:
Recognize October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Host a “free store” for students.