Since the release of Dignity for All: A National Anti-Poverty Plan for Canada, the Dignity for All Campaign has been travelling across the country to spread the word that #WeNeedAPlan and #WeHaveAPlan. Last week marked a huge step in the campaign, as we travelled across three provinces and territories to spread the word.
We had an amazing response from groups on the west coast. To keep you updated, we’ve put together this travel log of Michele and Darlene’s travels in communities on the West Coast.
Sunday, September 13th 2015
Darlene and I headed out on our way to the West Coast, first stop – Calgary Alberta! In the morning Dignity for All was featured on Calgary radio station on News Talk 770/630 CED.
Monday, September 14th 2015
Today was our first official West Coast workshop. We had an amazing group for this session, almost 120 people attended the workshop at Ambrose University, definitely the biggest one yet! A very big thank you to Canada Without Poverty board member Derek Cook for helping us pull together such a successful workshop.
In the afternoon we hit the road to our next workshop location – Edmonton!
Tuesday, September 15th, 2015
It was a rainy day in Edmonton but that didn’t stop participants from attending the Dignity for All workshop. We had some really excellent discussion with the group at The King’s University. Thank you to Dr. Gerda Kits from King’s for all her work getting the session together!
Off we went to Vancouver that evening to start the British Columbia phase of the tour.
Wednesday, September 16th, 2015
In the morning, Darlene and I had a very delicious breakfast with CWP staff member Megan Hooft. Megan was off to Toronto for a conference, but we got to say a quick “Hello” before we went in either direction!
We also had a great article published in the Tyee, which featured our workshop tour on the west coast. Check it out here.
On Wednesday morning we had an excellent session in Vancouver with the help of Raise the Rates BC and Trish Garner of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. The session was at the Carnegie Community centre at the edge of the Downtown East Side, after the workshop we took a walk through the neighbourhood. One of the great things about this trip was getting a real sense of poverty in each of these communities across the country.
Off we went that evening to Victoria, we jumped on the ferry and took a beautiful ride to Vancouver Island.
Thursday, September 17th, 2015
In the morning Darlene and I had our first opportunity to do some tourist exploring, and what a beautiful place to do it in downtown Victoria! 
That afternoon we had a fantastic session with the folks at Faith In Action. We had a very lively conversation about what we can do leading up to the federal election. It was a really excellent group. We are so grateful for the help of Faith In Action to put together this workshop in beautiful Victoria.
That evening we jumped on a plane up North to another beautiful community – Whitehorse, Yukon.
Friday, September 18th, 2015
We spent the day in beautiful Whitehorse. The morning started with a Whitehorse CBC interview – I got to do the session with our amazing Whitehorse board member Kate Mechan.
After the interview we enjoyed a delicious breakfast with the whole group of the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition.
That day we had TWO workshops – one in the afternoon and one in the evening. In both sessions we had an excellent group. It was very interesting to hear about particular poverty concerns in a northern community such as Whitehorse.
Whitehorse was beautiful. Thank you so much to the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition for the invitation and support to get there!
Saturday, September 20th, 2015
After a fantastic trip meeting anti-poverty advocates across the West Coast, it was time for Darlene and I to head home. We had an amazing trip, it was so inspiring to see the work being done in communities all across the country.
Thank you to all the individuals and groups who have helped with the Dignity for All #WeHaveAPlan workshop tour. We’ve now had the opportunity to conduct 15 workshops in six different provinces and territories across the country.
Do you want to spread the word about the need for a national anti-poverty plan in your community? Join us this October 6th in ChewOnThis!, visit www.ChewOnThis.ca for information.
