Child Poverty and Health in Manitoba

CHILD POVERTY AND HEALTH IN MANITOBA

GRADE LEVEL: GRADE 9

SUBJECT AREA: MATHEMATICS

CURRICULUM OBJECTIVE: GLO: Collect, display, and analyze data to solve problems

SOCIAL JUSTICE OBJECTIVE

Students will deepen their understanding of child poverty in Manitoba and Canada including challenges faced by the impoverished and health concerns related to poverty.

MATERIALS NEEDED  Article 25 video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6gPpdG7az8  Poster Paper for Charts  Cooperative Group Learning Roles (bookmarked under the navigation bar)  Poverty Video: Where is the love (Has a sample of a chart) http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=HJuOrb2hFt8&feature=PlayList&p=B265BE1C2C6DA695&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&ind ex=4  Target Poverty Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEkhrPgOebk&feature=related  Social Planning Council of Winnipeg 2009 report (has charts for students if you need) http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/provincial/Manitoba/2009%20RCChildandFamilyPov ertyReportCard.pdf

EVALUATION:

 Charts (Teacher Rubric included)

 Group Evaluation

 Self Evaluation

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ACTIVATING

1. Show video on Article 25. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6gPpdG7az8)

2. Hand out copies of Janelle’s Story from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba Branch. Read together as a class. http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/reports/docs/SIC_200 9_report_120909.pdf

3. How do you feel about Janelle’s story? How do you think Manitoba rates in terms of poverty in Canada? Let’s find out!

4. Show “Poverty Video” with sample chart. Pause at chart and look at how it is set-up for the students. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=HJuOrb2hFt8&feature=PlayList&p=B265BE1C2C6DA695&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&ind ex=4

ACQUIRING

1. Divide students into 4 (or more) groups. Give each group 2 graphs to fill out (Group pages are divided up already).

2. Hand out the Cooperative Learning Group Roles. (5 roles per group, some students may have 2 roles or some students may be part of the group without an explicit role), they must write down their name and role on the Group participation evaluation.

3. Each group will be expected to report their findings and present their graphs to other groups.

APPLYING

1. Have each group present graphs and finding to the other students. Post their graphs around the room.

2. ACTION and REFLECTION

a. Show Target Poverty Video http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=TEkhrPgOebk&feature=related

b. Give students at least 5-10 minutes to think about the ideas that were shared during the class presentations.

c. Ask them to make at least one personal commitment. Ask them to write this down and hand it in to you. You can hand it back to them at the next class. For example:

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1. Start a Social Justice Club at their school

2. Fundraise and advocate for a free breakfast program.

3. Join a student group that is working against poverty http://targetpoverty.ca/content/54

4. Write their government representative to talk about their concerns.

5. Ask Winnipeg Harvest to do a talk at their school.

6. Volunteer at a soup mission or Winnipeg Harvest.

7. Eat healthier and exercise more and encourage their family to do the same.

3. Collect hand-outs to use for evaluation.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:

 Ask Winnipeg Harvest to make a presentation to the class. Ask them to bring statistics on how many people use their service. Have class chart these statistics.

 Ask the Canadian Diabetes Association to do a presentation at your school.

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GROUP 1: YEARLY MANITOBA CHILD POVERTY RATES AND THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

“Measuring Poverty”

In Canada, there isn't a standard measure of poverty. The most accepted one, however, is the LICO. Statistics Canada measures the number of families who are below the low- income cut-off (LICO), which means those who spend 20 percentage points more of their gross income on food, shelter and clothing than the average Canadian. This figure is often used as the unofficial "poverty line."i

“It isn’t that poor people don’t want to get better jobs, better houses, better lives, and a better future for themselves and their kids. It’s that so much of their energy is sucked into simply existing. They don’t have the luxury of hope. They can’t often see a way out. That’s where you come in.” Harry Lehotskyii

Chart #1: Chart #2:

Graph the Manitoba Child Poverty Rate by year. Graph the National Poverty Rate average by year. Manitoba Canada Year Percent Year Percent 1989 22.7 1989 15.3 1992 25.0 1992 20.0 1995 26.0 1995 22.0 1998 25.0 1998 20.0 2001 23.0 2001 17.5 2004 20.0 2004 17.5 2007 18.8 2007 15.0

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Sample- numbers are not correct!

Discussion Questions:

1. How does Manitoba compare to the national average for child poverty? 2. Why do you think Manitoba has a higher national average?

3. Do you think it is only people who don’t work who are poor? iii

4. Brainstorm some ideas of things you could do to change the problem of poverty in your school, community and province.

PREPARE CHARTS AND DISCUSSION FINDINGS FOR PRESENTATION

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GROUP 2 : CHILD POVERTY BY PROVINCE 2007

“Measuring Poverty”

In Canada, there isn't a standard measure of poverty. The most accepted one, however, is the LICO. Statistics Canada measures the number of families who are below the low-income cut-off (LICO), which means those who spend 20 percentage points more of their gross income on food, shelter and clothing than the average Canadian. This figure is often used as the unofficial "poverty line."iv

Chart #1: Chart #2:

Graph the percentage of children living in Graph the percentage of children living in families who spent at least one year of the last poverty in 2007.vi six with incomes below the Low Income Cut-off (Before-Tax.)v Province Percent

Province Percent Manitoba 18.8

Saskatchewan 39.0 British Columbia 18.8

Manitoba 37.5 Saskatchewan 16.7

British Columbia 36.0 New Brunswick 14.9

Newfoundland 34.8 Ontario 14.5

Quebec 29.2 Newfoundland 13

Ontario 25.5 Quebec 14.9

Alberta 24.0 Nova Scotia 14.9 Alberta 11.2

Prince Edward Island 8.3

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Sample- numbers are not correct!

Discussion Questions:

1. Which province has the highest number of children living in poverty?vii

2. Where does Manitoba rate in terms of children spending at least one year in poverty?

3. What are some issues that people living in poverty have to worry about? Would one year in poverty affect someone’s life?

4. Brainstorm some ideas of things you could do to change the problem of poverty in your school, community and province.

PREPARE CHARTS AND DISCUSSION FINDINGS FOR PRESENTATION

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GROUP 3: LINK BETWEEN HEALTH AND POVERTY

LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2010 | 2:49 PM CT

CBC News

Research reveals that social status and income level play a crucial role in a person's health.

"People who are poor have the highest rates of nearly every disease we know about," said Len Syme, who grew up in Winnipeg's North End, but is now professor emeritus of epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley. Syme has spent his academic life researching the underlying causes of disease and his conclusion is that health is directly related to your income and social status. Of two people in the same state of health, but different socio-economic spheres, the wealthier one is less susceptible to disease, according to Syme. Residents of lower income neighbourhoods have higher mortality rates and higher prevalence of mental and physical illness, according to a 2009 Manitoba RHA Indicators Atlas report. "The people at the bottom have less resources available to them and less training on how to use resources," said Syme. According to Syme, teaching people how to cope with life's obstacles and disappointments could be even more important to helping poor people have long-term health. "Even when you provide people with money, it doesn't really solve the problem," said Syme. "We really need to empower people to navigate the world." Syme said the tools needed to cope with stress should be taught at a young age. "If I was in charge tomorrow I would make high-quality preschool education universally available – really challenging children to be the best they can be - even at age 2, 3 and 4," said Syme.

Chart #1: Chart the percentage of poor children in Chart #2: families in which someone is working in a Chart the average household income in full-time job. relation to the percentage of children with ix Province Percent Lower Functional Health. British Columbia 80.3 Manitoba 69.4 Average Income $ % of children Nova Scotia 68 with lower Quebec 63.7 functional Ontario 60 health Alberta 55.3 Under 20,000 13.4 Saskatchewan 39.7 20,000-40,000 8.6 The Canadian average is 63.4, add to the 40,000-60,000 8.1 chart. 60,000-80,000 8.3 Over 80,000 5.1

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Sample- numbers are not correct!

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the percentage of children in poor families (in which someone works the equivalent of a full-time job) that live in Manitoba? 2. Did you know this? Does this change your consideration of poverty in Manitoba? 3. What are some reasons why people might be poor besides not having a job? 4. What does graph #2 tell you about health and income levels for children? Why do you think this is so? 5. Do you think there are different levels of poverty? If you said yes, how would these affect health?

6. Brainstorm some ideas of things you could do to change the problem of poverty in your school, community and province.

PREPARE CHARTS AND DISCUSSION FINDINGS FOR PRESENTATION

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GROUP 4: HEALTH AND DIABETES IN MANITOBA XI

Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin or can't use its own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugar to build up in your blood.

Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations.

Poverty, Stress & Diabetes among Native Americans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3CJKtC8aCc

(States that stress, nutrition and a lack of physical activity all play a role in developing type 2 diabetes)

Chart #1: Chart #2:

Graph the number of Canadians with Graph the estimated direct costs of treating diabetes presently and in the future diabetes in Manitoba by year.xiii (estimated). Year Cost Year Percent 2000 $ 189,600,000 2000 4.2 2005 $ 214,900,000

2010 7.3 2010 $ 247,900,000

2020 9.9 2016 $ 295,300,000

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Sample- numbers are not correct!

Discussion Questions:

1. What does your group know about diabetes?

2. What do these charts tell you about diabetes in Manitoba?

3. Why would diabetes be included in a lesson on poverty?

4. Do you think there is any correlation between poverty, health and diabetes? Why or why not?

5. What do rising health care costs mean for you and your classmates? What can you do about it?

6. Brainstorm some ideas of things you could do to change the problem of poverty in your school, community and province.

PREPARE CHARTS AND DISCUSSION FINDINGS FOR PRESENTATION

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RESOURCES: December 2009 ISBN: 978-1-897569-83-2 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives–Manitoba State of the Inner City 2009: It Takes All Day To Be Poor Acknowledgements This report is available free of charge from the CCPA website at http://www.policyalternatives.ca Printed copies may be ordered through the Manitoba Office for a $10 fee. AN EXCERPT:

It’s Not About. . . No It’s All About Pride: Janette’s Perspective

“When I used to see commercials on TV where the guy opens a can of food and the roof comes off his house, I get it, because that’s how it feels,” Janette, the single mother of a young, healthy son, writes in her journal. At another point in time, she writes about how she narrowly escaped eviction after shorting her rent so that she could buy some food. Only the intervention of a worker from a local service organization kept a roof over her and her son’s heads. Janette’s transition from social assistance back into the workforce over the past half-year or so has been anything but smooth and easy.

Janette was born in Winnipeg, describes herself as Black, and was raised by her grandparents along with 11 other children, 10 who were her uncles and aunts and one her cousin who is more like a brother. “My mother was sick,” Janette journals. “She had epilepsy and she had violent seizures where they put her in Selkirk. They thought she was crazy.” She supposes growing up she lived in “financial poverty” but says she felt no lack for anything. Today, however, Janette writes a different story.

For example, one morning she writes this in her journal:

Great, no sleep last night. All I did was think about paying my rent, and my son. For a 10 year old little boy he takes on things like a man. Talking about getting a job to help me/us out. Nothing seems to come easy to us. Here I’m stressed out about wanting to work and can’t seem to get a break. The break that Janette is looking for is a fulltime, permanent job that will support her and her son with at least a decent standard of living; cable television would be a luxury. When she began journaling, Janette had an open file with Workers’ Compensation. As of this writing, that case is still unresolved, but at least she did find another, albeit temporary, minimum-wage job, again without benefits. Unfortunately, this position

Grade 9 Mathematics Page 12 of 19 Child Poverty and Health in Manitoba ended shortly after the journaling project ended. Again, she is dealing with Social Assistance workers whom she finds difficult, and this is not the first time she has been through the welfare turnstiles.

“You must understand,” a journal entry begins not long after she started her second position:...being on welfare’s degrading. All by itself, who wants their employer to know that they’re on welfare. This [case] worker is one of the worst. No “good job” or “congratulations”— nothing. Just “when’s your first cheque” and that she would look into child care for me (to see if I was entitled to it). Yes, I am entitled to child care because there are no day cares open at 6:30 am anywhere in the city or province.[which is when I have to leave for work]. So I almost went to steal a pair of pants from a store but thought hell no, what if I get caught. No job. I’m just blown away. You’d think welfare would help just so I could get a fulltime job. No. Janette will not and cannot give up, though. She must persevere. She has two futures to think of: [My son] and I decided to go for walks just to get out and try to forget about things at home and we talk about things we want. Both our futures—I want to get back into the work force or get more education. All I want for my son is for him to finish his school, not to worry about adult stuff and enjoy being a kid.” This is an intense theme that runs thick throughout Janette’s journal: “I love that kid so much, always thinking about me first when he should be a kid.

Janette, frustrated and disenchanted as she seems to be with taking one baby step forward and three giant steps back, maintains a strength and optimism that is peppered into her journalling. She writes: So I’ve decided not to get worked up instead get working. Tomorrow I’ve decided to make as many cold calls that I can and to just survive. No one will keep me down and out, as long as I don’t let them. She had not had a promising day. And it is not as if her short-term plans are unrealistic: I’m going to try to save the $35 a week I make at [a local service organization] in order to enjoy myself. How you ask? I’d like to take a course at Urban Circle, but you need funding, so if I could save half [and] maybe get a loan for the other half, my son and I could move out of this area after I finished the course and wouldn’t have to rely on Welfare. Welfare gives us $387 for rent, my rent is $525. So $138 comes out of our food budget. We haven’t had cable or a phone for over a year. So when I do get myself together, and move on I’d like to help people to get on their feet.

In the meantime, Janette is interested in doing nearly anything to earn a decent pay cheque, as this entry explains: It’s not about, no, it’s all about pride. I want my son to work for a living, not sit on welfare...and live off of welfare that way. Be proud, work for what you want. Growing up... I didn’t ever know what welfare was.

There’s no pride being on it and they (workers) seem to think everyone on welfare is lazy.

Not true! I’d pick up garbage or do almost anything just for a pay cheque with my name on it. Show my son with some hard work he could have the world.

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COOPERATIVE LEARNING GROUP ROLES Recorder Reporter - Records group member’s ideas. - Reports the group’s finished work to the class. - If needed, writes on the board for the whole You might say: class to see during the presentation. “How do you want this to sound?” - Or, posts the chart paper with recorded “How should we say this?” information where it can be seen. You might say: “I think I heard you say______, is that right?” “How do you want me to write this?”

Runner - Briefly leaves the group to collect and return Chair supplies to the teacher. - Makes sure that every group member has a - May also leave the group to ask for help chance to express their opinion and be heard. from the teacher if the group agrees that they (Freedom of speech, freedom of opinion) are stuck on a problem or need more - Makes sure the group stays focused on task, information. and that conversation is on topic. You might say: You might say: “Do you think we need to ask the teacher for “Let’s hear from _____ next.” help?” “That’s interesting, but let’s get back to our “I’ll go and get more______.” topic.” “Please pass the ______so I can return “We haven’t heard what _____ thinks about the supplies.” this yet.”

Time Keeper Every Group Member - Encourages the group to stay on task. - Contributes their thoughts and ideas to the group. - Announces when time is half way up and - Listens to other group members when they when time is nearly up. are speaking. Sounds Like: - Stays on task and contributes to completing “We only have a few minutes left, let’s see if the task. we can wrap this up.” Sounds Like: “I think that …..” “What about…..?” “Maybe we could….”

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GROUP PARTICIPATION AND WORK RECORD

Name: ______Date:______

At the end of class fill in this form with help from your group members.

1. Two topics which generated the most discussion today were:

2. As a group, we agreed that one of the most important or interesting statistics we learned was:

3. Group Participation

Name & Group Participation and Listening to others /10 Total Role Cooperation /10

TOTAL /20

Remember to give this page to the teacher at the end of class

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Name: ______

SELF- EVALUATION FOR GROUP PARTICIPATION Consider the Following: 1 2 3 4 5

Poor………..Excellent 1. I carried out the responsibility of my role to the best of my ability.

2. I contributed my ideas and opinions to the group discussion.

3. I listened attentively and respectfully by giving my undivided attention to other group members when they were speaking.

4. I offered help when it was needed.

5. I gave a response to the questions and statements of other group members.

6. What I could do differently next time…

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GRAPHING LINEAR RELATIONS RUBRIC FOR THE TEACHER

Group: ______Teacher: Date Submitted: ______Title of Work: ______

Criteria Points 4 3 2 1 A complete response Good solid Explanation is Explanation with a detailed response with Misses key points. ____ unclear. explanation. clear explanation. Drawn to appropriate Included most of scale with x axis and y Clear graph with a Missed almost all the key Graph axis clearly labeled. few missing important points ____ components of Title included. components. on graph. the graph. Straight lines. May be some Major math No major math serious math errors or serious Mechanics No math errors. errors or serious ____ errors or flaws in flaws in flaws in reasoning. reasoning. reasoning. Shows complete Shows substantial Presentation Presentation understanding of the understanding of shows a complete Demonstrated shows some questions, the problem, lack of ____ Knowledge understanding of mathematical ideas, ideas, and understanding for the problem. and processes. processes. the problem. Goes beyond the Meets the Hardly meets the Does not meet Requirements requirements of the requirements of requirements of the requirements ____ problem. the problem. the problem. of the problem. Total----> ___/20

Teacher Comments:

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END NOTES AND REFERENCES

Grade 9 Mathematics Page 18 of 19 i http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/economy/poverty-line.html ii Paul H. Boge (2010) “The Harry Lehotsky Story. Horizon Press, Winnipeg, MB. iii ANSWER: “7 out of 10 of the children living in poverty are in families in which the parents work the equivalent of a full-time, full-year job. They are the working poor.” p. 7 Ibid. iv http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/economy/poverty-line.html v Ibid vi Figures obtained from graphs in the 2009 Manitoba Child & Family Poverty Report Card. Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. November 24, 2009. vii ANSWER: “Manitoba is tied with British Columbia for having the highest number of citizens under the age of 18 living in poverty. That’s almost four percentage points above the national average.” p. 2 Ibid viii Paul H. Boge (2010) “The Harry Lehotsky Story. Horizon Press, Winnipeg, MB. ix Taken from the book Math Matters by David Stocker. A graph produced by the Canadian Council on Social Development using a National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (1994-95) x Paul H. Boge (2010) “The Harry Lehotsky Story. Horizon Press, Winnipeg, MB. xi An Economic Tsunami; The Cost of Diabetes in Canada. A 2009 Report from the Canadian Diabetes Association. Retrieved on December 16, 2009 from: http://www.diabetes.ca/documents/get- involved/FINAL_Economic_Report.pdf xii Paul H. Boge (2010) “The Harry Lehotsky Story. Horizon Press, Winnipeg, MB. xiii Diabetes Report 2005 Retrieved on December 9, 2009 from: http://www.diabetes.ca/files/diabetesreport2005/backgrounders/Manitoba%20backgrounder%20-%20FINAL %20.pdf