FOCUS ON POVERTY OTTAWA (CPA) — Fed- eral and provincial officials gathered here to set the stage for the War on Poverty, and the extent of the problem seemed to surprise many par- ticipants. This conference was not de- signed as a strategy session to establish actual combat on the problem. One official de- scribed it as “an intellectual exercise” to bring heads to- gether. : But the meetings did help to bring the problem into fo- cus. Dozens of briefs were presented, all of them point- ing to severe poverty pockets in Canada, and the officials who will follow up with ac- tual war plan will at least know what they’re getting into on a national scale. Tom Kent, the prime minis- ter’s policy secretary, who will direct the war on pover- ty from the national level, outlined his views behind the closed-door session before other government and organ- izations flooded the room with additional briefs. They came from all types of organiza- tions. For instance, a Canadian Welfare Council report said that Canada’s rural poor sub- . sist In some areas on incomes as low as $11.71:a month, The report contained case his- tories of 290 families, most of whom derived their incomes from farming, fishing, wood- cutting and unskilled labor. It told of one family, with 12 children, whose total monthly income was $165 a month. SHARE David Woodsworth, who headed the study for the Council, said that “if there is a single conclusion to be drawn from the present study, it is that the poor are not degraded, and that there is a great deal that can be done to restore them to a just share in the life of the coun- try.” The Manitoba government presented a brief which said that national policy in the past can assume much of the blame for poverty in Canada. It said that since Confed- eration, government has played a strong role in na- tional expansion but it hasn’t concerned itself enough with regional disparities and social inequalities. Only recently has Canada become conscious of these serious obstacles to economic growth, said the re- port. And “a philosophy of eco- nomic development, if it is to be appropriate for Canada, must take full account of its . vast size and the diversity of its economic growth.” The brief warned against over-riding concern with “na- tional economic aggregates’’ rather than balanced regional development, Another problem brought clearly home to the delegates involves the Canadian 1nuian. The federal Indian Affairs Branch recommended a 10- year crash program to bring Indians more into the main- stream of Canadian society. The branch’s report said the average age of death in 1963 for Indian males was 33.3 years of age. The national average is 60.5 years, It said more than 6,000 Indian fami- lies are badly in need of hous- ing, and 60 percent of all In- dian families earn less than $1,000 a year. The 175 delegates to the conference were broken down > into five groups to look at CHRISTMAS TIME IS FUN TIME... & W Mi It Ue oy: My ev: BAY yt Ras: Rata tao ta ta te employability, manpower, in- fluence of environment, and social security and welfare measures. The meeting is ex- pected to be followed early next year by a decision- making session. A} il | IN DAYTON’S! ... and a Very Merry Christmas to All Woodworkers and. Their Families from All of Us at DAYTON BOOTS DAYTON SHOE MANF. (BC) LTD. 2249-50 EAST HASTINGS STREET VANCOUVER 6, B.C. tS