Lindsay (Swooping Hawk) Kretschmer

Executive director of the Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council.

What is a common misconception about poverty that you come across?

That people who are living in poverty have at some point been at a disadvantage in life that others haven’t been in. While that may be true to some degree, poverty is a complex and intersecting issue which is sometimes generational and sometimes due to the systems we’ve designed that are flawed and stand to do better.

What is your ‘big idea’ in the fight against poverty in the GTA?

I would say to assemble a group of champions who have the authority to change the landscape at a systems level. This task force would address strategically what is reasonable and possible by creating a multi-year action plan, not a strategy. It needs to be actionable.

What inspires your work?

Growing up I had a bedroom with a milk crate for a dresser and a mattress on the floor. Often there was not enough food to eat. It’s at the heart of everything that I do because I understand what it’s like to wake up hungry and to not always feel a sense of belonging or a sense of confidence. I understand that first-hand.

Adaoma Patterson

Manager of Poverty Reduction and Community Engagement at the Region of Peel.

What is your ‘big idea’ in the fight against poverty in the GTA?

The development of a mixed table working collectively to reduce and mitigate the impact of poverty in our community. We cannot solve complex issues like poverty without having everyone at the table. Our Peel Poverty Reduction Strategy, for example, is unique in that it boasts a committee made up of a mix of residents, members of the municipal government and many of our systems working on this issue together.

What inspires your work?

I’m passionate about people and I’ve always seen my role as bringing or providing space and a voice for people who aren’t part of decision-making. That’s always been my motivation for many, many years in the work that I do.

What work are you most proud of so far?

One initiative I would point to is the Affordable Transit Program in Peel. In our consultations, residents were clear that one of their biggest barriers was the ability to affordably ride the transit. We heard that, were able to bring the people who could make those changes to the table and the Affordable Transit Program, which provides a 50 per cent subsidy on the monthly bus pass, was created.

Victor Willis

Executive director of The Parkdale Activity — Recreation Centre (PARC).

What is a common misconception about poverty that you come across?

That people in these situations aren’t resilient — the fact is people who are poor often lack access to resources. It’s not that they are any less capable, in fact they are remarkably resourceful because they’ve survived poverty. Let’s actually look at that as a strength and then let’s look at how to unlock opportunity.

What is your ‘big idea’ in the fight against poverty in the GTA?

That agencies such as PARC provide people in a community with knowledge and some transfer, so in turn they are then able to participate in design and engage in the kind of neighbourhood that they want and the kind of future that they want. This makes the agencies the facilitators — so that we’re not telling people what’s good for them — they know what they need.

What inspires your work?

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What’s important about why I do this — and I’ve done it for 30 years — is that it’s personal. I have family members who struggle with precarity of housing and the hope to hold onto employment. I want to see these things solved so that my family and perhaps their family’s families will have the kinds of opportunities that I didn’t and that my parents didn’t.

Jonathan Gitlin

President and chief operating officer at RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.

What is your ‘big idea’ in the fight against poverty in the GTA?

The Small Business Catalyzer program came together following a round-table spearheaded by United Way and BMO. The idea is to take all of our combined business expertise and lend it to people from the community who have a great entrepreneurial idea but who lack advice or the money to (act on) it. I think if a community that is facing issues of poverty sees its own homegrown businesses succeeding, and in turn gives jobs to people within that community, it does create a sense of pride and of hope. And I think that if our few businesses that we’ve helped incubate can create hope, that might have a cascading impact — a small, incremental step in the very complex fight against poverty.

What inspires your work?

My mother is a very giving person and has always taken huge strides to give of her time and effort — she has always set such a wonderful example. It’s the example that it’s not just good enough to just write a cheque to a charity — that’s the easy way out. You have to put forward a lot more effort than that.

Joseph Silva

Director, Strategies and Partnerships in the Community and Health Services Department for York Region.

What is a common misconception about poverty that you come across?

I would say that a common misconception is that poverty is monolithic, visible and uniformly experienced, when data, research and experience show that poverty is complex, can be hidden and is multi-dimensional.

What is your ‘big idea’ in the fight against poverty in the GTA?

One thing I know that this requires is a willingness to work together and to be creative about our strategies and recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. In a region like the GTA, poverty knows no borders and we know that municipal and community boundaries are porous, so concerted and collaborative efforts are required.

What inspires your work?

When my family and I came to Canada in the mid-’90s, we accessed some of the same types of services and social supports that I’m surrounded by in this position. So now to be at the other side of that — being given the chance to help shape and lead these types of plans and services, and in some ways dealing with organizations that my family dealt with years back, is truly rewarding.