In December, while political leaders in Ottawa were trying to figure out who was going to form the government, Rebecca Harrison felt that there was more important work to do. The Whitby, Ontario resident felt that the deepening economic crisis was going to hurt those living in poverty.

"It didn't seem to me to be enough of an issue, with the media, with pollitiicans, or with the general public."  She was determined to do something about it.  Her motivation was simple. 

"It was seeing this economic strife coming, and knowing that the people on the bottom always suffer first.  So I just said that I would take things into my own hands and make this a news story, because in today's society you have to get in there and do that, for anyone to pick up on it", she said.
Harrison organized a rally in her hometown, the riding of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, as well as starting an online petition calling for a national poverty reduction plan to be included in the upcoming federal budget.

"The main goal was to get something included in the budget, not only for industry and business sectors, but for individuals who are vulnerable, for the inviduals who are suffering at this time."

She called on Make Poverty History, Campaign 2000 and a number of other community and labour groups to help her organize.

"I see all the wonderful work that Make Poverty History has done, that Campaign 2000 has done, and I wanted to people to see that you don't have to be in one of those groups to be able to make a difference. I wanted to be able to inspire people to start a rally in their own town. To say "this is unacceptable in my town, in my country and in my world."

Harrison didn't manage to get the attention of Minister Flaherty - he only sent his regrets last week, almost a month later - but a lot of other people paid attention. Her rally on January 17th gathered dozens of people and lots of media attention. She ended up being recruited by Global News to give her commentary on their blog, as a concerned citizen, when the budget finally did get released a month later.

She didn't think much of the budget, calling the improvements to Employment Insurance 'meagre'. But she is still organizing in Whitby, saying she is inspired by how much support she is getting.

"It was really encouraging, to hear from everyone after the budget, because as we all know, the jobs not done yet...I don't expect to end poverty overnight, but I do want to see, before the end of my time here on earth, that we have implemented some policies, some structures to lessen it, so that some day we can have a poverty-free Canada."

Harrison said she was raised to make sure that things changed for the better. "My father always told me 'If you are not using your government, your government is using you'".

More

Listen to a phone interview with Rebecca  [MP3, 8.2Mb]

Sign the petition at www.povertyplan.ca

Read the blog at http://povertyplan.blogspot.com/

Youtube video of Rebecca presenting her petition to Jim Flaherty

Toronto Star article about the January rally