Yellowknife (May 06/05) - After MLA Sandy Lee pays for rent, utilities, laundry and food for herself and her two year-old daughter, she has no money left over for a coffee out with friends, a telephone or the vet bill when her dog gets hit by a car.

She must borrow from friends and family, or go without food when she runs out of money and groceries before the end of the month.

MLA Sandy Lee plays a single mother during the "Poverty Game."

Lee was playing a 19-year-old single mother in "The Poverty Game," an exercise in role-playing based on the lives of four NWT women.

The game was part of a day of events that focused on women's poverty in the North, sponsored by union, women's and service organizations in the NWT.

Experienced poverty

Long-time Yellowknife resident Arlene Hache has experienced poverty and sees it daily as the executive director of the Centre for Northern Families.

"Thirty years ago I remember being frightened as I hid under bushes at night because I didn't know I could go to a shelter," she said at a panel discussion Monday.

Community and government leaders have a responsibility to educate the public on poverty issues and stop the poor-bashing, Hache said.

Foster parents receive $25 per day for each child, while parents needing assistance receive $5 per day, she said.

"I recently met an 11-year-old girl in Yellowknife who had sex with a man because he gave her french fries and gravy," Hache said. "The public has to stop blaming the poor and do something."

MLA Charles Dent, minister responsible for the Status of Women and Education, also spoke during the panel discussion on poverty. He invited the audience to open discussion with him when social programs come under review later this year.

Enough reports

Audience members said there have been enough reports and now is the time to act on past recommendations such as increased assistance and child-care.

Kate Wilson, director of transitional housing for the YWCA, said it is not acceptable to have the level of poverty that exists in the NWT in the midst of an economic boom.

"I come from Ghana, a third world country, but Canada is supposed to be a first world country," Wilson said. In her 11 years in Yellowknife, Wilson said the poverty situation is getting worse with more young people on the street and more people going to food banks.

"Kids are often kept home from school because they don't have the money or food for lunches," Wilson said.

In 2003, 1,334 people used an NWT food bank, a 5.8 per cent increase from 2002.