Page 87 - Six Nations Community Plan 2019

Measuring Progress

• All community members have their basic needs met • Greater alignment between living expenses and wages
• The wealth inequality in the community is narrowed

Key Challenges And Concerns

• Many in the community suffering from poverty, unable to keep up with bills, housing costs, etc.
• Poverty can be invisible in our community as we live separated lives, stigma keeps families from seeking help
• We have projects and programs that address poverty in a piecemeal way, but not getting at the root causes
• Wealth inequality—a few are disproportionately benefiting from the collective at the expense of people and the
environment while many struggle to meet their basic needs
• Lack of understanding within the community of budgeting skills, financial literacy
• Barriers to basic needs lead to many challenges—homelessness, unemployment, family instability, etc.

Suggested Lead Partners

• Ontario Works • GREAT /OSTTC • Health Services • Social Services
• Schools • Governance • Housing • New/emerging orgs

Discussion

• As Haudenosaunee people we have our own standard of what wealth means—including culture, natural resources, family
units, community members working to build a strong community, sustenance, governance traditions. As Haudenosaunee we
should not have our own people struggling to meet basic needs
• We have an opportunity to work together as a community to ensure all our members’ basic needs are met.
• Many of the Objectives outlined throughout this Community Plan wrap around our members to create space they need
to meet their basic needs (e.g., housing, food, transportation, wellness, etc.). Some specific objectives which emerged from
engagement to lift our people out of poverty are:

Timeline

OBJECTIVES STATUS IN 2019
Conduct research to develop a more comprehensive picture of poverty in the
SHORT Create a comprehensive basic community and develop an appropriate human rights-based strategy to address
(2019-2024) needs plan it from a community perspective and understand causes and linkages to all other
community priorities. Must include a living wage study and a research approach to
measure and track basic needs.
MEDIUM Develop a budgeting and Need to create awareness around financial literacy and share in employment agencies,
financial literacy education
(2025-2029) initiative schools, through public library.
Need to create our own financial support system, we are currently reliant on external
LONG Develop our own community- welfare programs and are not always able to wrap around community members and
(2030-2039) based financial support system care in a way that reflects our culture. Part of a bigger change toward self-determined
social support delivery.

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