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What is poverty costing us in BC?

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    [piano music...]
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    A lot of people think poverty is a problem
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    for other people in other neighbourhoods.
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    But even if you, or no one you know
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    is ever affected by poverty,
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    not doing anything about poverty
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    is costing us all.
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    It's costing money.
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    More and more money, every single year.
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    British Columbia has the highest poverty rate in Canada.
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    Not addressing this comes with a price.
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    And this is what it looks like
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    when we do the math:
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    For starters, it costs us one point two billion dollars per year
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    to pay for the healthcare costs related to poverty.
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    That's because poverty is literally bad for your physical and mental health.
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    You're more likely to live in
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    poor quality or unsafe housing,
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    or none at all.
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    You're more likely to go hungry,
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    have a job that exposes you to hazards,
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    or end up with preventable health conditions.
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    We've heard a lot lately
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    about how we need to get "tough on crime",
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    but some crime could be prevented by reducing poverty,
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    which is linked to
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    crimes of desperation, low literacy rates, and living in unsafe situations.
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    The poverty related costs of crime in BC
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    add up to $745million per year.
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    Then, there's the income that the poor might have earned from working,
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    if they had access to better supports and training.
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    Or the income that the working poor could have earned
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    if their jobs paid better wages.
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    This is also a loss to our economy
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    to the collective wealth of our society.
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    And it adds up to as much as 7 point 3 billion dollars per year.
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    So that's what it's costing us
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    to stick with the status quo
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    of keeping one in nine British Columbians in poverty.
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    All together, it works out to between
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    8 and 9 billion dollars every year.
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    This is a terrible deal.
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    And the worst part of this
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    is that it would cost us
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    between 3 and 4 billion dollars per year
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    to put an effective, poverty reduction plan in place.
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    That's less than half of what poverty is costing us now.
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    You don't have to be an economist
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    to see that it costs more to keep people in poverty
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    than it does to fix the problem.
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    It's just simple math.
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    Not for other people
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    in other neighbourhoods,
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    but for all of us.
Title:
What is poverty costing us in BC?
Description:

Think we can't afford to end poverty? Actually, we can't afford not to. Help change the conversation about poverty:
SHARE this video
LEARN http://www.policyalternatives.ca/costofpovertybc
TAKE ACTION http://www.bcpovertyreduction.ca

Video produced by Combination Films (www.combinationfilms.com) and CCPA.
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Video Language:
English
Duration:
03:02
terra edited English subtitles for What is poverty costing us in BC?
Radical Access Mapping Project added a translation

English subtitles

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