http://www.ocap.ca/rtr/diet/vawactivists

...“Without adequate social assistance, many women find themselves
remaining in abusive relationships to ensure their children have a roof
over their heads and food on the table,” says Cindy Cowan of OAITH, the
Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses. “It is
unconscionable for the government to place women in this position.”

Welfare rates were slashed by the Mike Harris Conservative government more
than 10 years ago, and have never been restored to the pre-Harris level.
“Restoring the special diet supplement, especially as we enter the most
expensive time of year, is only the first step that the government must
take,” says Pamela Cross, of the Ontario Women’s Justice Network. “If this
government wants to walk the talk of ending violence against women, it must
begin by ending women’s poverty.”

Provincial women’s anti-violence groups including the Ontario Association
of Interval and Transition Houses, the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis
Centres, the Ontario Women’s Justice Network and the Cross Sectoral
Violence Against Women Strategy Group call on Premier Dalton McGuinty and
Minister Sandra Pupatello to reinstate the special diet allowance benefit
effective December 1st.

For more information, contact:
Pamela Cross OWJN 416-392-3148
Cindy Cowan OAITH 416-461-9849

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