A recent report by Access Alliance, Working Rough, Living Poor, highlights the employment and income insecurities experienced by racialized neighbourhoods in the Black Creek area (an apparent Ford Nation stronghold).
It found that locals lack adequate resources and programming and experience place-based racism. There are no resources available to counter their lived experience of discrimination, and participants expressed frustration at the lack of accreditation hindering their access to dignified work. The report notes that poverty and precariousness have adverse impacts on health.
It’s easy to see the people of the suburbs thinking that if social programs aren’t supporting their neighbourhoods, why should they be paying into them? If transit isn’t accessible, why invest in something they will never be able to use? Ford has tapped into this alienation in phenomenal and concerning ways that we need to understand.
