NAPO’s Annual General Meeting

NAPO held it’s Annual General Meeting in Ottawa from July 11-15. During the five days new board members met veteran board members, our consultants from Catalyst facilitated team-building and organization renewal activities, updates were given on activities occurring in the various regions of the country, working groups were set up, and the new board approved the budget and set priorities for the upcoming year.

There were also several important presentations. An information session on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas took place on the Saturday and an analysis of the Federal government’s new poverty measure, the Market Basket Measure (MBM)was given by Richard Shillington. He outlined the pros and cons of the MBM and offered advice on how to approach the new statistics. (Shillington is a senior social researcher and statistician who has worked with NAPO in the past.)

A moving description of problems affecting homeless youth was made by Chris Keats and Linda Scharf on the final day of the AGM. Keats is an activist and homeless youth who has suffered police brutality and harassment while living in the streets in Victoria and Ottawa. Scharf is a member of the Somerset West Action Network and the initiator of the Homeless Action Strike presently taking place in Ottawa. (See the article on the Homeless Action Strike for more information.)

In response to their stories, the new board decided to issue a press release that condemned the continued use of the Ontario Safe Streets Act to cover up poverty and homelessness, called for increases to social assistance rates in Ontario and other regions in the country where rates have been slashed, and expressed support for the Homeless Action Strike.

NAPO’s board is looking forward to putting in place new initiatives and to strengthening NAPO’s national leadership role around issues affecting poor people.