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Mission serves record crowd for Thanksgiving

OTTAWA — Try telling The Ottawa Mission director Diane Morrison that Ottawa-Gatineau’s jobless rate is falling and the economy is picking up.

Morrison’s reply is that the recovery hasn’t yet filtered down to the region’s neediest residents, families living on welfare, the jobless and the disabled.

At The Mission on Waller Street, where Morrison helped organize Thanksgiving Dinner for a record 2,700 people on Monday, there was no sign that people expected to land a job soon and find a way out of poverty.

“We are seeing more people who have lost their jobs and have a waiting list for beds every day at 4 p.m.,” Morrison said.

“I know that the economy is picking up, but it takes a long time for that to reach people at the bottom. A lot of the low-paying jobs that the people here used to get are being taken by people who have lost higher-paying jobs.”

Morrison said the 230-bed shelter is full every night and the 15 to 20 people who can’t get beds and are sent to the Shepherds of Good Hope on Murray Street.

Last year, at Thanksgiving, the Mission expected 2,200 people, but served 2,600.

Food bank usage in Ontario is also on the rise, according to the Ontario Association of Food Banks, which says they are serving 20 per cent more clients compared to this time last year.

A total of 350,000 people in Ontario now rely on food banks to put food on the the table.

Many of the diners at The Mission said they were lonely and depressed and live on welfare or a disability pension. Morrison said no one had enough money for a turkey dinner.

Daniel Waselnuk, 51, who arrived for dinner just after noon, used to be a clerk at Canada Revenue Agency, but lost his job and now lives in a subsidized room at Options Bytown near Bank and Gilmour streets.

“I had a heart attack and have been depressed, so I have some health issues,” Waselnuk said. “I have been trying to get a part-time job, but it is harder to find work because of the recession.”

“I have been looking for part-time work downtown. Employers say they will call me if they need me, but they never do. It is tough going.”

André Bédard, 60, said he suffers from depression and lives on a disability pension.

“I used to work with race horses and was a cleaner with the Museum of Science and Technology, but now I can’t work because I can’t concentrate.”

Julien Roy, 50, said he finds it hard to get work because he had a heart attack several years ago and can’t read or write.

He said he would work as a cleaner, but he needs someone to help him read the job advertisements.

Joseph Brantford, 60, who suffers from arthritis, said he is looking for part-time work, but finding a job is more difficult than it was a few years ago.

“It is hard to find work because there are fewer jobs available and employers prefer to hire younger people,” Brantford said. “I live on a pension and more than half of the money goes on rent.”

Some diners snapped their fingers as soon as they sat down and Ottawa police officers immediately brought them juice.

“Let’s face it, these people have not made a choice to be here today,” Supt. Mike Flanagan said. “But they are just like you, me and everybody else and they are fabulous.

“It is a tradition for police officers to come in here at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Unfortunately, we get to know more of these people because more of them come in here.”

The Mission dinner ran from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. A similar dinner was held Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral Hall on Sparks Street.

Ed Mahfouz, a retired high school teacher, served more than 1,000 Thanksgiving dinners at the Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School cafeteria on Sunday.

With files from Global News

The Ottawa Citizen
Dave Rogers
October 13, 2009

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