PCAP Supports Tenant Action Group "Food Grab"

(Peterborough, ON) -- The recent 'food grab' action of the Tenant Action Group in Belleville, should be supported not criminalized, says the Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty (PCAP).

Last week, members of the Tenant Action Group (TAG) issued a press release warning of upcoming 'food grabs' in protest of welfare and disability rates in Ontario. TAG announced that members would enter grocery stores en masse and help themselves to food. These actions are part of a province-wide campaign by anti-poverty groups in the Common Front who are demanding a 40% increase in social assistance rates.

"If the Liberals persist in refusing to provide its citizens with the basic necessities of life then poor people will simply take it" stated TAG.

On Friday, April 23, 2004, 11 anti-poverty activists were arrested and charged with counseling to commit theft, after distributing pamphlets in a grocery store in Belleville.

"TAG members should not be criminalized for taking action to address the dire level of social assistance rates," stated PCAP organizer Sarah Lamble. "The real crime is that grocery stores shelves are stocked with food while poor people go hungry." PCAP urges all charges to be dropped against the activists.

"PCAP stands in full support of the Tenant Action Group," stated Lamble. "We know that people cannot survive on the current rates of assistance, so until the Liberal government ensures that people's basic needs are met, we will continue to take action."

PCAP is organizing a public speak out at the welfare office in Peterborough on June 11, 2004, as part of the Common Front's Raise-the-Rates campaign. "Individuals on social assistance will be sharing their stories about what it is like to try to survive on the current rates," stated Lamble. "We want the public to understand that a raise in the rates is needed, and the government to know that we will won.t back down until we get one."