Child Poverty in Hamilton.

Recently a number of students from our grade 8 class were selected to attend the Gifted Outreach Conference at Redeemer University College in December. We had the privilege of going to the conference along with students from various other public and Catholic schools in Hamilton. Students were divided up into different groups and asked to explore an issue that was of importance to Hamiltonians. Our topic was Child Poverty. At the end of the day each group presented their topic and solutions and then voted for the topic they thought was the most urgent. Finally, our group was selected to present our arguments to the Hamilton city councillors.

Going to City Hall was a great honour. We were given the opportunity to present the topic of child poverty, propose the solutions to the problem, and to get valuable feedback from the councillors. Many of the council members, including Mayor Eisenberger, told us that they were very inspired by our passion!

One of the solutions we proposed was raising minimum wage because the total income in a year of somebody who makes minimum wage is approximately $1000 less than the poverty line! We also proposed lowering public transit fees and creating more community gardens.

Although they enjoyed our presentation, they said that sadly they didn’t have enough money to end child poverty and that we should go to either the provincial or federal government for more funding. We were encouraged to keep making noise!

In conclusion, we are very grateful for the opportunity and we hope that we will make a difference.