And when it happens in the city, people become wards of the state, with all the trappings of guilt and loss of self-respect. We have no street people in the small town of Liverpool where Rural Delivery has its offices. We do have hundreds of people who are dependent on the food bank, charities, and a host of government agencies, to make ends meet. In town, living in apartments or in houses on tiny lots, they can do little for themselves. For too many, life appears centred about making endless trips to the post office, like pigeons in a Skinner box, pecking for a handout of one kind or another.
Young teens hang about on street corners looking for meaning.
Others drive 'round and around the block. We need especially to support the small family farm and rural homestead where people can do much to look after themselves, and where there is work and responsibility for just about everyone regardless of physical or mental ability, age or stability. We need a renewed commitment to rural extension services equipped to support life in the country, not just bigger and bigger farms. Where land is being priced out of reach, common lands could be purchased and set aside, tax-free, with help provided so that local residents can use them for growing food, shelter, fuel, and for recreation. The glow of city lights should have to compete with the shine of a full moon on rural Canada.