If you’re finding it hard to keep food in your fridge and insurance on your car, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction wants to hear from you and any ideas you may have on how to improve things.
Maple Ridge, next Monday (March 26), is the next of several community meetings around B.C. addressing the issue as the ministry tries to write a poverty reduction strategy by this fall.
Everyone is welcome at the meeting, which takes place at Maple Ridge Seniors Activity Centre, 12150 – 224th St., from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The government formed an advisory panel last fall to create the strategy with intent of tabling legislation sometime this spring. But delays have stalled that until later this year.
Metro Vancouver’s homeless count said that homelessness had increased by 30 per cent in the region in the last three years, while the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows area saw an increase of 48 per cent in the last three years, based on the last homeless count.
The committee is co-chaired by Vancouver-Kensington MLA Mable Elmore and Dawn Hemingway, at University of Northern B.C. It has 28 members and a budget of $1.8 million to conduct forums and consultation across the province.
The committee has already visited several towns and cities around B.C.
• The seniors activity centre is accessible to the physically challenged. Supports are available for people taking part, including transportation, child care, disability and health supports, as well as secure storage for belongings, by calling Jayd Ursulak at 604-718-7745 or e-mailing JUrsulak@sparc.bc.ca.