Anti-poverty groups handed out bagged lunches today at street corners across Canada.
In Regina, local organizer, Florence Stratton says her bags contained an apple and a postcard addressed to the Prime Minister calling for a poverty action plan.
Stratton says food banks and homeless shelters are necessary but do not address the underlying causes of poverty.
She says people need to push governments into action:
“If there’s more public awareness and then more pressure on the various levels of government then maybe we will move towards the eradication of poverty. It’s not hard to do. Canada is a very rich country.”
Stratton says poverty has gotten worse not better in Regina, even though the economy of the city has never been better.
Today is the international day for the eradication of poverty.