One hundred people attended an early morning breakfast in Greater Sudbury to learn more about the 25 in 5 movement on the morning of October 30. A diverse crowd from the business, labour, health care, education, social service, municipal, faith based and general community gathered to listen to three key addresses from community leaders.
- Brian Gatien, Chair of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce spoke to the business case for reducing poverty.
- Dr. Penny Sutcliff, Medical Officer of Health spoke to the health and social impacts of poverty.
- Laurie McGauley, a key leader in the local arts community, provided a fascinating explanation as to why ending poverty was good for the environment.
Janet Gasparini, Executive Director of the Social Planning Council of Sudbury invited participants to sign on to the 25 in 5 Declaration following the presentations as a way of showing solidarity with many across the province who believe the time has come to make significant reductions in poverty levels in Ontario.
The Social Planning Council has developed a local plan for poverty reduction and organizations were requested to ensure they had endorsed the strategy and were committed to working locally as well. Copies of the 3 presentations can be found at www.spcsudbury.ca.
Report submitted by Janet Gasparini, Social Planning Council of Sudbury