Poverty in Ontario is growing at an alarming rate. On September 5, 2007 the Colour of Justice Network announced the launching of the Colour of Poverty Campaign - a province-wide community-based effort to help raise public awareness about the serious problem of poverty within the racialized communities of Ontario.

With the Department of Canadian Heritage as a key sponsor, the Colour of Poverty Campaign partners have developed a series of ten ( 10 ) Fact Sheets addressing different aspects of racialized poverty and its negative impacts on education & learning, health & well-being, employment, income levels, justice and policing, immigration and settlement, housing and homelessness and food security in Ontario.

“We call this the Colour of Poverty Campaign because today in Ontario, those who are poor are most likely to be people of colour. While there has been increasing awareness among the general public about the growing disparity between the rich and the poor, few people realize that poverty in this province impacts communities differently,” said Avvy Go, Clinic Director of Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (MTCSEALC).

“Racialized communities are experiencing a disproportionate level of poverty. In Toronto, they are three times more likely to be poor than others because of the barriers and challenges they face in the job market” explained Grace-Edward Galabuzi, a professor at Ryerson University and the author of Canada’s Economic Apartheid – The Social Exclusion of Racialized Groups in the New Century.

In addition to the MTCSEALC, the project is a joint effort of several organizations and groups including : African Canadian Legal Clinic, Canadian Arab Federation, Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter, Hispanic Development Council, Karuna Community Services, Midaynta Community Services, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, and the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO).

“It is important to understand the connection between race and poverty if we are to launch a comprehensive strategy to reduce poverty levels in this country, especially in urban centres that are as diverse as the GTA. If we comprehend the causes of poverty, our solutions will be appropriately systemic and not just causal,” said Uzma Shakir, Executive Director of SALCO.

Along with the launching of the fact sheets, a new video on Race and Poverty in Ontario has been created as an educational tool, presenting compelling stories of individuals and families from racialized communities living in poverty and the daily struggles they face.