Fatima is a 39 year old woman who came to Canada in 2018 with her husband and two daughters. Fatima came to The Working Centre with a lot of concern and a sadness in her eyes. It had been 3 months since she stopped working and she had no income, and the weight of her commitments was overwhelming her.
In the beginning of the lockdown, it was surreal. The streets were empty and our doors were closed. But the phones were going crazy because it was tax time, and since all appointments had been cancelled, people were starting to panic. We spent a good 2-3 hours every day just consoling people and letting them know that they weren’t alone, and that we were working to try to figure something out.
We met Joe for the first time on a hot summer day. Joe was detained by the Canadian government at the Canada Border Services Agency Holding Centre in Toronto. After he was quarantined there for 14 days he was given a bus ticket to Kitchener where he had been living prior to the start of COVID-19. Joe arrived at our site broken and in tears. He had no money, no possessions, and no housing. So much had happened to him since the start of COVID-19.
Job Café works with people who are outside the traditional labour force. The challenge is to identify jobs that need to be completed while finding the right people with the skills to do the work. This work is about recognizing the barriers that leave people out. Our work is about making it possible to overcome these barriers or at least to push them aside a bit to allow for an opening. It is these openings where we have found opportunities for Job Café workers.
The Ontario government is going forward with three pilot projects on Basic Income. It will study whether a basic income can support vulnerable workers by giving security and opportunity. Will it be simpler and more economically effective? The experiments will last 3 years and involve up to 4000 people. At this time, it is highly unlikely that a Basic Income scheme can be generalized to the wider population, because the costs would exponentially increase government expenditures. This article suggests a different approach to Basic Income by answering two questions.
So often, global turmoil happens at a distance. This year we have shared in the collective experience of welcoming Syrian refugees to our community – or as they really are, Arabic speaking New Canadians – people who have physically journeyed through the turmoil, war and displacement of the Middle East and have come to our community to become our neighbours.
As a community we have risen to the challenge, welcoming 1,275 new members of the Kitchener Waterloo community, providing housing, navigational supports, hospitality and friendship.
In the midst of a February deep cold, we are constantly thinking of all the ways to build good spirit, offer hope and continue to act in thoughtfully intentional ways. We work to welcome people into the community of place, relationship and thoughtful engagement. The more people are tired, cold, and hunker down in these dark winter days, the more we at The Working Centre seek to hold the place where we can come together for rest and respect, and to open in a positive way to each request, each situation, and each moment.
The upcoming closing of the JM Schneiders plant on Courtland Avenue is a reminder of the continuing trend of workforce upheaval in the face of technological change and globalization. Schneiders has been vital to the Kitchener economy for over 100 years, yet it now joins other Kitchener based companies like Uniroyal, Electrohome, Goodrich, Deilcraft, Kaufman, Hoffmans, Grebs, Burns, Domtar, Kitchener Frame, and Ledco that have been shuttered.
In response to current economic development—where the labour market does not accommodate those willing and able to work with full-time permanent positions—we are engaging with people around livelihood and strategies for building a sustainable way of life that includes multiple income streams. In this way, we are expanding on a familiar conversation at The Working Centre – how to engage and maintain meaningful, community involvement – by linking the principals of producerism, living simply, building community and serving others back to income as it supports livelihood.
In 2004 members of the Waterloo chapter of MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Association) met with The Working Centre to identify a way to help people develop the skills needed for starting their own business. A feasibility study identified the need for training for people who may not fit the criteria of government sponsored initiatives. In particular the study noted the importance of training for middle-aged workers, women and New Canadians.
The Integrated Circle of Care is a fluid and collaborative approach followed by workers from different agencies weaving through St. John’s Kitchen. Within this approach, staff members from each agency are aware of their specific personal roles. However, the high level of collaboration between workers means that people can approach any worker, without knowing their agency association or specific role, and still receive support – either that worker will support the person directly, or they will introduce the person to another worker who can support the person more appropriately.
This approach makes relationships more natural and support more accessible. Workers from different agencies are easily approachable, meaning that people build relationships with multiple workers. Having relationships with different workers is important to a person’s support – it makes support from a trusted source easy to find, and means that people have a choice of worker to approach in any given situation.
In order to maintain a circle of care around a person, workers from different agencies ask for consent from the person for information to be shared between workers. Continuous communication between workers helps to ensure that people do not fall into gaps between services, and also that services are not duplicated.
