Anglais

Child poverty plagues every corner of Toronto, census data shows

Published

6 années ago

octobre 1, 2018

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Upwards of 125,000 Toronto children — more than one in four — are growing up in poverty, a problem that plagues pockets of every city ward, says a new report being released by Social Planning Toronto on Monday.

It is a disturbing reality all candidates vying for office in the Oct. 22 municipal election need to address, says the advocacy organization in its sixth annual report.

Neil Donaldson, an artist and community activist, has lived near Oakwood Ave. and Vaughan Rd. for more than two decades. He said it wasn’t easy growing up in a struggling single-parent family so close to the affluent neighbourhoods of Cedarvale and Forest Hill. (Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star)

“Toronto is a city of great wealth and prosperity,” report says. “We can do better and … we must do better.”

With an overall poverty rate of 26.3 per cent, the city maintains its dubious status as the child poverty capital of Canada, said Peter Clutterbuck, the organization’s acting executive director.

“But there’s no question, poverty gets a bit more hidden in the larger 25-ward structure,” he said of the provincial government’s bombshell move to cut the city’s 47 wards to 25 midway through the municipal campaign.

Unlike past reports by the organization, which looked at child poverty by ward, the latest edition uses newly released 2016 data to examine the problem by census tract.

The data shows child poverty exists in all 25 of Toronto’s new city wards. Even in wards with lower rates, there are pockets where it is double or triple the ward’s overall percentage, the report notes.

“There is a tendency to assume poverty and child poverty are concerns only in certain areas of the city,” Clutterbuck said.

“But we should recognize in our own neighbourhoods, maybe a couple of blocks away, there is a community with a child poverty rate that is 10 per cent to 20 per cent higher,” he said.

For example, in Ward 8, Eglinton-Lawrence, 55 per cent of residents own their homes, the average after-tax household income is about $119,500, and child poverty runs at 15.1 per cent, the lowest in the city. And yet, child poverty more than triples to 52.6 per cent in the ward’s Lawrence Heights social housing community near Lawrence Ave. W. and Allen Rd.

In nearby Ward 12, Toronto—St. Paul’s, where the overall child poverty rate hovers at 15.5 per cent, the rate more than doubles to almost 38 per cent in the northeast corner of the ward near Eglinton Ave. E. and Mount Pleasant Rd.

Child poverty hovers around 24.7 per cent in the northwest corner of Ward 12 near Oakwood Ave. and Vaughan Rd., where Neil Donaldson has lived for more than two decades.

The artist and community activist said it wasn’t easy growing up in a struggling single-parent family so close to the affluent neighbourhoods of Cedarvale and Forest Hill.

“There was no community centre, no programming and nothing to motivate us culturally,” said Donaldson, 36. “I was lucky to have a diverse range of friends and to be driven to find my own supports.”

But he has peers who weren’t so fortunate.

“Many are unemployed, in jail or victims of violence. It’s just tragic and it doesn’t have to be that way,” he said.

Through his social enterprise, called Stolen from Africa, Donaldson is using his experience to help mentor and motivate young people in low-income neighbourhoods in Scarborough. And he is showcasing his provincially funded youth-resilience project — a multimedia art project called Crystals as Crowns — in his home neighbourhood on Oakwood Ave. on Oct. 25.

“I am hoping to be doing more work in the area because youth services and programming are still lacking,” he said.

Ten city wards — almost half in the new 25-ward system — have child poverty rates between 30 per cent and 45.2 per cent. But at the census tract level, rates soar as high as 72.3 per cent.

The report shows children in Indigenous, racialized and newcomer families are struggling the most, with child poverty rates of 84 per cent, 33 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

Among children from various racial groups, poverty rates ranged from 36 per cent for Latin Americans to almost 44 per cent for Black families, 58 per cent for Arabs and 60 per cent for those of West Asian descent (which can include Afghans and Iranians).

Although youth who were born outside of Canada have extremely high poverty rates, children of West Asian and Black backgrounds continue to experience higher poverty rates even when they were born in Canada and have parents who were born here, according to the report.

The data “presents a disturbing picture of the reality of child and family poverty in Toronto (and) underscores the need for the next mayor and city council to make a serious commitment and take real action to improve conditions for families struggling in this city,” the report says.

“In particular, council will have to address the disproportionality of poverty impacting particular communities including Indigenous children, racialized children, and children in families of West Asian, Arab, Black and Latin American backgrounds.”

Sara Wolfe, an Indigenous midwife with Seventh Generation Midwives, said she sees the disparities up close among the patients she serves.

“Poverty impacts these families on so many levels,” she said. “It impacts their ability to have a healthy pregnancy, to take care of their other children, to just eat one meal, let alone a nutritious one.”

The Social Planning report focuses on children under 18. It considers children to be living in poverty if their annual family income is below Statistics Canada’s low-income measure, after taxes, which in Toronto was $31,301 for a single parent with one child and $44,266 for a couple with two children in 2015.

The report urges all candidates for city council to commit to fully fund Toronto’s poverty reduction strategy, anti-Black racism action plan and strategies for newcomers, youth equity, child care and affordable housing. It also wants the city to adopt measurable targets and timelines to assess its progress.

Toronto residents can’t afford four years of “inaction and half measures,” the report says.

“The well-being of Toronto’s 125,000 children living in poverty is at stake,” it warns. “These children and families deserve better.”

Laurie Monsebraaten is a Toronto-based reporter covering social justice. Follow her on Twitter: @lmonseb

Anglais

Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

Published

3 années ago

août 10, 2021

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Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline.

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors.

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity.

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement.

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level.

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet.

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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Anglais

MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.