I just found whenever I have applied for Ontario Works you are not treated nicely.…I remember waiting in line one time at the social assistance office and there was, I assuming, the guy was homeless. He was up at the counter talking to the lady, and he did smell, he had quite an odour that filled the room but she was being rude to him, just in dealing with him. And then he’s two inches away from the counter and he’s walking away and she pulls out this big aerosol can and starts spraying down the whole station. It’s just rude. It’s degrading.

I’d like people to know that until you lived in poverty, you have no idea. You hear a lot of ideas, “Oh, poor people are just lazy, they have no ambition. They have no goals.”And that’s not true. We just can’t get them. We have goals and no way of reaching them. And, and even if we do find this magic ladder, there’s someone, somewhere that’s going to be putting these barriers up. I just think people need to have more compassion, more understanding.