11 Mar, 2026

Two Decades of Systems Change, Collaborative Leadership, and National Impact in Hamilton

By the Tamarack Institute

The Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction (HRPR) stands as a compelling case study in community-driven, systems-level change. Over its twenty-year history (2005–2025), the Roundtable has transformed Hamilton from a city with Ontario's second-highest poverty rate into a national and international leader in poverty reduction advocacy and policy innovation. Working in partnership with Tamarack Institute and drawing on the expertise of people with lived experience of poverty, HRPR has demonstrated how collaborative leadership across sectors, combined with a commitment to shifting mental models and addressing systemic barriers, can create measurable and lasting change.

Context: Origins and Partnership with Tamarack

The Hamilton Context (2005)

When the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction was launched in 2005, Hamilton faced deeply entrenched poverty challenges. In 1996, Hamilton had the second-highest poverty rate in Ontario at 21.9%, affecting 101,190 residents. The city's economy had suffered from industrial decline, particularly the loss of steel manufacturing jobs, which devastated working-class communities and created persistent pockets of deep poverty. Health disparities mirrored income inequality: the Hamilton Spectator's landmark "Code Red" series (2010) revealed that residents in low-income neighbourhoods on the east side died on average 21 years earlier than those in affluent areas. It was against this backdrop that local leaders from government, the non-profit sector, business, and the community recognized the need for a coordinated, systems-level response.

Origins and Co-Conveners

The HRPR was co‑founded in 2005 by two key community leaders: the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Community Foundation, specifically through the leadership of Carolyn Milne, then CEO of the Hamilton Community Foundation, and Joe‑Anne Priel, General Manager of Community Services for the City of Hamilton. This initiative emerged from “a deep concern that too many Hamiltonians were being left behind.” Early leadership was instrumental in shaping the organization’s collaborative philosophy. Paul Johnson, the Roundtable’s first Director (later City Manager of Toronto), emphasized that “this couldn’t be a single‑organization solution. It had to be the community leading together.” Mark Chamberlain, the inaugural Chair and a respected business leader, framed poverty not merely as a social issue but as an economic imperative: “Poverty is not just a social issue, it’s an economic one. If we ignore it, we do so at our city’s peril.”

Another influential voice during this period was former Hamilton‑Wentworth District School Board Chair Judith Bishop, whose steadfast advocacy helped keep the aspiration of making Hamilton the best place to raise a child front and centre. She championed this vision as a practical compass for policy, planning, and community action, reinforcing its power to unite diverse partners around a shared, future‑focused goal.

In the early days, this focus on children was a deliberate strategy. It opened up a new kind of conversation about poverty, one that centred shared responsibility rather than blame. We understood that children live within families and communities, and by anchoring the work in an aspirational statement, we invited Hamiltonians to see poverty not as something that happened to “others,” but as a challenge affecting the well‑being and future of the entire city. This shift created an important gateway for reframing the narrative: who is impacted by poverty, how it shapes community life, and what collective action could look like.

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Partnership with Tamarack Institute

In 2005, as the HRPR was forming, Tamarack Institute was developing its Vibrant Communities initiative - a network of Canadian cities collaborating on poverty reduction. Tamarack, founded in 2002 by The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, emerged as the intellectual and strategic backbone for a national movement toward collective impact and systems change in poverty reduction. By the early 2010s, Hamilton became one of Tamarack's flagship communities, participating in the Vibrant Communities network alongside cities such as Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.

The partnership proved transformative. Tamarack provided several critical functions:

Peer Learning Networks: Tamarack connected Hamilton leaders to other communities tackling similar challenges, creating platforms for sharing innovations and lessons learned.
Living Wage Framework Development: When Hamilton partners sought to calculate the city's living wage in 2011, Tamarack developed the living wage framework for Canada that guided the Roundtable's calculation and subsequent advocacy.
Leadership Development: Tamarack brought Hamilton leaders, particularly Director Tom Cooper, to speak at national convenings, amplifying Hamilton's voice and positioning the city as a hub for the Canadian Basic Income movement.
Methodological Support: Tamarack championed the Water of Systems Change framework and collective impact approaches, which became central to HRPR's strategic thinking and helped the organization articulate how change occurs across multiple levels of systems.

Understanding Poverty: The Market Basket Measure

Before discussing HRPR's impact, it is essential to define poverty using Canada's official measure, the Market Basket Measure (MBM). The MBM was established as Canada's Official Poverty Line through the Poverty Reduction Act (2019) and forms the basis of the Government of Canada's poverty reduction strategy. According to Statistics Canada and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the MBM is an absolute measure of low-income that determines whether an individual or family lives in poverty based on their disposable income relative to the cost of a specific basket of goods and services.

The MBM basket includes five core components:

Food: Healthy, nutritious food appropriate to family size and dietary needs
Shelter: Rent or housing costs, including utilities and home maintenance
Clothing and Footwear: Seasonal and appropriate clothing
Transportation: Public transit or vehicle costs
Other Necessities: Childcare, telephone, internet, and items permitting community engagement

The basket costs are calculated for a reference family of four and adjusted annually for inflation and regional variations. A family is considered to live in poverty if its disposable income - income after taxes and mandatory deductions falls below the MBM threshold for its region and family size. In Hamilton specifically, the MBM reflects regional differences in housing costs, transportation infrastructure, and other local factors. For example, the Dictionary of the Census of Population 2021 notes that regional MBM thresholds are calculated based on actual costs of goods and services in each region, making the measure more accurate than national averages. For context, the Social Planning and Research Council (SPRC) data illustrates how the MBM compares to Ontario Works, Disability Support Program, minimum wage, and living wage in Hamilton:

Ontario Works (2024): $10,092 annually
Ontario Disability Support Program (2024): $17,052 annually
Minimum Wage (37.5 hrs/week, 2024): $30,676 annually
Market Basket Measure (2023, MBM-AT): $26,712 annually for a single person
Living Wage (Hamilton 2024): $41,006 annually

This comparison underscores a core finding of HRPR's advocacy: individuals on provincial social assistance live in "deep poverty," surviving on incomes far below the level needed to meet basic needs as defined by the MBM.

Key Changes and Impact Areas

Era 1: Foundations and Influence (2005–2010)

HRPR's first five years were marked by foundational work and early policy influence. Under the leadership of Liz Weaver (who became Director in 2007), the Roundtable significantly shaped Ontario's emerging poverty reduction strategy.

Policy Influence: In 2007, HRPR's policy working group formally proposed the idea of a provincial Poverty Reduction Strategy - a proposal that echoed through Queen's Park. When Ontario adopted its first Poverty Reduction Strategy in 2009 (passed by unanimous vote of all parties), a Wellesley Institute evaluation later credited HRPR with having an important influence through its policy briefs, consistent outreach, and pre-election engagement. This dual strategy, influencing provincial reform while deepening local inclusion, gave HRPR unique credibility as both a grassroots and policy voice.

Social Inclusion Policy (2008): Perhaps HRPR's most innovative early achievement was embedding its Social Inclusion Policy, led by lived experience member Darlene Burkett and McMaster Professor Gary Warner. This policy ensured that citizen representatives with lived experience of poverty were full participants at decision-making tables and not consultants or observers, but shapers of policy. This principle became foundational to HRPR's identity.

Concrete Wins:

• Affordable Transit Pass (2008): HRPR helped lead the creation of this program for low-income workers, making transportation more accessible.

• Community Engagement: More than 75 community‑led poverty‑reduction projects were launched and advanced through partnerships with organizations such as the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton Spectator, and many others—demonstrating deep community engagement and delivering direct, measurable benefits for children and families living in poverty.

• National Child Benefit Clawback: In its early years, the Roundtable influenced municipal policy to ensure provincial clawbacks were redirected to low-income families

• Housing Investment: Early advocacy contributed to municipal investments in affordable housing.

By 2010, Hamilton had reduced its poverty rate to 18.1% (SPRC, 2019) - a meaningful decline, though progress remained incomplete.

Era 2: Momentum and Normalization (2010–2015)

The second period saw HRPR consolidate its influence and normalize ideas once considered "utopian."

Living Wage Calculation (2011): When HRPR partners calculated Hamilton's first living wage in 2011, the concept was dismissed by skeptics as impractical. Yet within years, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce became the first Chamber in Canada to officially adopt a living wage policy- a seismic shift in business thinking and a powerful signal of changing attitudes toward income adequacy.

This early work did not happen in isolation. The Hamilton Roundtable collaborated closely with living wage advocates in Waterloo Region and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to help establish the foundation for what would become the Ontario Living Wage Network. These partnerships strengthened the methodology, built credibility, and created a shared provincial framework that continues to guide living wage calculations today.

By 2024, living wage advocacy had become firmly embedded in municipal policy discussions and employer practices across Hamilton. HRPR continued to recalculate the living wage annually, ensuring the rate reflected real costs of living and providing a trusted benchmark for employers committed to supporting workers and families.

Speak Now Hamilton (2014): HRPR created this landmark speaker’s bureau under coordinator Celeste Licorish. The program provided training and support for people with lived experience of poverty to share their stories directly with schools, businesses, and community groups. Licorish described the goal as "to dispel myths of poverty and break down stereotypes by personalizing the issue". Through Speak Now, HRPR made storytelling a central advocacy strategy - recognizing that lived experience is data and that personal narratives can shift mental models more powerfully than statistics alone.

Advocacy on Social Assistance Adequacy: HRPR spotlighted the inadequacy of Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates, pressing for reforms that would ensure dignity and adequacy. This work laid the foundation for later policy recommendations. By 2016, Hamilton's poverty rate had declined to 16.6% (SPRC, 2019) - a 24% decrease from 1996. A testament to the cumulative effect of targeted interventions at federal, provincial, and local levels.

Era 3: Breakthrough Leadership (2015–2020)

This period cemented Hamilton's reputation as a national leader. Three major initiatives defined this era:

Ontario Basic Income Pilot (2017–2019): HRPR played an instrumental role in mobilizing community support for Ontario's Basic Income Pilot, which provided more than 1,000 participants across Hamilton, Brantford, and Brant County with a monthly guaranteed income. The Roundtable hosted town halls, ensured participants were connected to resources, and amplified their voices.

Among pilot participants was Lance Dingman, a Roundtable member who shared how Basic Income gave him "hope and stability" - a story that was even profiled in the UK's Guardian newspaper. Tom Cooper, HRPR's Director, played a leading advocacy role, helping build national networks of support and positioning Hamilton as a hub for Canadian Basic Income engagement. Though the pilot was prematurely cancelled in 2018 by a new provincial government, HRPR continued advocacy through new initiatives. The Living Proof Speakers Bureau amplified participant voices, and partnerships with McMaster, Toronto Metropolitan, and Carleton Universities documented the pilot's positive impacts on health, housing, and dignity. The momentum culminated in the summer of 2018, when Hamilton became the host city for the North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress, welcoming advocates, scholars, and government leaders eager to learn from the lived experience of local pilot participants.

Payday Lending Regulation (2018): In another national first, HRPR was instrumental in pushing Hamilton to become the first Ontario city to regulate payday lenders. A 2018 bylaw capped the number of payday lenders and required transparency on exorbitant interest rates - an innovation that sparked similar moves across Ontario municipalities. This targeted the predatory lending that trapped low-income residents in debt cycles.

International Advocacy: Through UN submissions, Hamilton voices particularly those of Roundtable member Laura Cattari, who became HRPR's Senior Policy Analyst, influenced Canada's human rights reviews under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2016), the 3rd Universal Periodic Review (2017) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017). By combining local testimony with international accountability mechanisms, HRPR showed how a local coalition could shape global processes. In 2017, Ontario’s Roadmap for Change was envisioned as a 10-year plan to transform social assistance from a system rooted in control and compliance to one grounded in dignity, trust, and adequacy. It called for a basic income floor aligned with the poverty line, portable housing benefits, and stronger support for people with disabilities. Laura Cattari served on the provincial working group that helped shape this vision.

Era 4: Adaptation and Resilience (2020–2025)

The final period brought new challenges - the COVID-19 pandemic and escalating costs of living, yet HRPR continued to innovate and lead.

Income Security Advocacy: The Hamilton Roundtable was one of the first national voices to call on the Federal Government to adopt emergency income supports during the pandemic. A short time later, the Canadian Emergency Relief Benefit was announced, and HRPR helped residents navigate benefits during the pandemic and later educated communities about the Canada Disability Benefit.

Basic Income as Living Movement: While the pilot had ended, HRPR helped co-coordinate the 2024 Basic Income Guarantee Forum in Ottawa and produced the short documentary ‘A Human Picture’, which told the stories of Hamilton pilot participants Jessie, Tim, Rhonda, and Tessa. These creative strategies kept the idea alive nationally.

Living Wage Recalculation: The HRPR, alongside community partners, launched Living Wage Hamilton, which, for several years, calculated the local living wage rate. HRPR later helped found the Ontario Living Wage Network, which now carries forward the work of calculating living wages across the province - reaching $22.60/hour by 2025 (reflecting a 6.1% increase from 2024, accounting for inflation and rising costs). As of 2025, Hamilton had approximately 50 certified Living Wage employers, including nonprofits, small businesses, faith-based organizations, and public sector entities - a quiet but substantial shift in labour practices.

Vulnerable Populations Focus: HRPR’s long-time administrative coordinator, Jennifer Chivers, worked with community advocates and tenants to highlight the vulnerability of tenants in residential care facilities, amplifying often-overlooked voices through unique documentary projects.

Research Partnerships: HRPR strengthened partnerships with Toronto Metropolitan University and McMaster University on a report reviewing the Province of Ontario’s Employment Integration Services (2025), ensuring frontline realities and policy research informed one another. Collaboration with SPRC on housing and social assistance reform deepened local expertise.

Public Forums: Monthly webinars on topics ranging from childcare and climate justice to housing and income security created consistent platforms for dialogue and learning. By 2023, Hamilton's poverty rate stood at approximately 9.9% - a decline of over 54% from the 21.9% recorded in 1996, though emerging challenges like food insecurity (affecting 20% of Hamiltonians in 2023) persisted.

The Waters of Systems Change: Shifting Policies, Practices, and Perceptions

Understanding the Framework

To understand HRPR's systemic impact, we must employ the Water of Systems Change framework, developed by FSG and advanced through Tamarack's work. This framework identifies six interdependent conditions that hold social problems in place, organized across three levels of explicitness:

Explicit Conditions (Visible Systems):

Policies: Formal rules, regulations, and laws
Practices: Activities, guidelines, and informal routines
Resource Flows: Allocation of money, information, and people.

Semi-Explicit Conditions (Relational Systems):

Relationships & Connections: Quality and structure of cross-sector collaboration
Power Dynamics: Distribution of decision-making authority.

Implicit Conditions (Transformational Systems):

Mental Models: Deeply held beliefs, assumptions, and narratives

The framework emphasizes that sustainable systems change requires addressing both visible and invisible conditions. Traditional approaches focus on surface-level fixes; the Water framework demands engagement with power imbalances and cultural beliefs that sustain inequity.

Mapping HRPR's Work to the Waters

Mental Models

Reframing Poverty Narratives: At the deepest level, transforming how people think about poverty, HRPR has been remarkably successful.

From Charity to Justice: Howard Elliott, managing editor of the Hamilton Spectator and long-time HRPR Chair, captured the Roundtable's ethos: "The Roundtable is not about charity, it's about justice. Our job is to change the systems that keep people poor". This reframing shifted public discourse from viewing poverty as a personal failing to recognizing it as a systemic issue rooted in inadequate wages, lack of affordable housing, and insufficient social support.

Living Wage Normalization: In 2011, the concept of a living wage was "dismissed as utopian". Within a decade, through consistent advocacy and business engagement, HRPR normalized the idea that workers deserve compensation reflecting the true cost of living. This shift in mental models preceded policy change, a classic systems change pattern.

Lived Experience Leadership: By institutionalizing the principle that people with lived experience are decision-makers, not consultants, HRPR challenged power hierarchies and changed how poverty is understood. When Lance Dingman's story appeared in the Guardian, or when Jodi Dean, Tim Hutton, and Alana Baltzer were featured on the BBC, PBS Evening News, and the Wall Street Journal, these personal narratives countered stereotypes and humanized poverty at global scale.

Storytelling as Advocacy: The Speak Now Hamilton bureau and Living Proof Speakers Bureau made narrative and testimony central to advocacy. Rather than relying solely on data and policy briefs, HRPR understood that personal stories told by people with authentic authority change how listeners feel about the issue, shifting mental models in ways statistics cannot.

Power Dynamics

Sharing Decision-Making Authority: HRPR addressed power imbalances by designing inclusive governance structures.

Social Inclusion Policy: By establishing structures that ensured people with lived experience held decision-making seats rather than advisory roles, HRPR intentionally redistributed power within its governance. Darlene Burkett’s leadership of this work, alongside McMaster University’s Gary Warner, marked a structural shift grounded in the recognition that those experiencing poverty bring expertise that cannot be replicated through traditional professional pathways. This approach led to Laura Cattari becoming the first lived-experience member of HRPR’s Operational Steering Committee. Laura brought significant experience, knowledge, and passion related to income security programs to the table, later joining the organization as Senior Policy Analyst and becoming a key contributor to its policy and advocacy work. Over time, other lived-experience leaders also stepped into Operational Steering roles, including John Mills, Naseem Sherwani, and Jodi Dean, reflecting the Roundtable’s sustained commitment to shared leadership.

Multi-Sector Representation: The Roundtable's membership spanning government, business, nonprofit, education, faith, and lived-experience sectors created conditions for diverse voices to influence direction. While power imbalances inevitably persist, the deliberate design reduced hierarchies that typically marginalize people with lived experience.

International Platform Access: Through Tamarack's networks and HRPR's own advocacy, Hamilton residents gained access to international forums - UN platforms, living wage networks in the UK, and global basic income discussions. This expanded the power of local voices to influence global conversations.

Relationships & Connections: Building Cross-Sector Collaboration: HRPR built dense networks of relationships across historically siloed sectors.

Multi-Sectoral Partnerships

The Roundtable brought together the City of Hamilton (government), nonprofit organizations, businesses (Hamilton Chamber of Commerce), faith communities (Anglican Diocese of Niagara), and educational institutions (McMaster University, Toronto Metropolitan University). These partnerships broke down silos and created conditions for actors to align their efforts.

Partnership with the Hamilton Spectator: The Hamilton Spectator newspaper emerged as an unexpected but powerful ally in shaping the public narrative on poverty. In 2005, the newspaper launched The Poverty Project, a multi-year editorial commitment to explore the causes, impacts, and lived realities of low income in the city, anchored in its belief that stories unexamined remain unseen and unresolved. As part of that project, the Spectator made a striking editorial choice to strip its front page of all regular news for a Saturday edition in 2006 and dedicate the space entirely to the theme of poverty, underscoring how pervasive and urgent the issue was for Hamiltonians across the city. That bold gesture amplified HRPR’s collaborative work, helped shift community conversation from abstraction to empathy and action, and anchored the media’s role as a civic partner in poverty reduction. The paper’s sustained reporting, including later series such as Code Red, continued to deepen public engagement with structural inequities and complemented the Roundtable’s efforts to move beyond statistics toward community-wide understanding and solutions.

Tamarack Connection: Partnerships with Tamarack Institute, McConnell Foundation, The Caledon Institute, Maytree, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the Social Planning and Research Council ensured that "Hamilton's experiences fed into broader provincial and national conversations". These relationships amplified local learning and connected Hamilton to a movement larger than itself. Hamilton’s progress and leadership stories were shared across Canada and with global partners.

Living Wage Networks: The Ontario Living Wage Network, co-founded by HRPR, connected 30 Ontario communities in collaborative wage advocacy, multiplying impact through relationship and shared learning.

Resource Flows

Directing Investment and Support: HRPR influenced how money, people, and attention flowed toward poverty reduction.

City Investment: The City of Hamilton committed an unprecedented $50 million toward poverty reduction over ten years (approximately 2010–2020), developing a cross-sector strategy with community partners to leverage existing partnerships toward broad collective impact.

Foundation Support: The Hamilton Community Foundation's sponsorship of HRPR (from 2006 to 2023) provided financial stability and legitimacy.

Government Funding: Through effective advocacy, HRPR influenced federal and provincial governments to direct investments in poverty reduction strategies, child benefits, and educational resources that flowed from policy influence.

Philanthropic Networks: Access to Tamarack's networks connected HRPR to additional funders and supporters, multiplying available resources.

Practices

Changing How Organizations Operate: HRPR influenced concrete practices across sectors.

Social Inclusion Policy Implementation: Organizations participating in HRPR adopted new practices ensuring accessibility to meetings, compensating people with lived experience, and creating feedback mechanisms for people impacted by poverty to shape service design.

Speak Now Training: Schools, businesses, and community groups adopted the practice of hosting speakers with lived experience, shifting how they engage the public on poverty.

Living Wage Employment: Certified Living Wage employers changed hiring and compensation practices, paying above minimum wage and committing to annual recalculation of living wage thresholds.

Payday Lending Regulation Compliance: Businesses operating in Hamilton had to comply with the 2018 bylaw regulating payday lenders, changing lending practices.

Policies

Shifting Formal Rules and Laws: HRPR's policy influence spanned multiple levels of government.

Provincial: HRPR's 2007 proposal for an Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy became reality in 2009, shaping provincial discourse.

Municipal:

Affordable Transit Pass (2008)
National Child Benefit clawback return to families (2009)
Community Start-Up Benefit transition to municipal housing stability supports (2012–2014), influenced by HRPR advocacy to maintain access for low-income residents
$50 million municipal investment in CityHousing Hamilton repairs (2014), influenced by HRPR housing advocacy
Payday lending regulation bylaw (2018)
Commitment to living wage for municipal employees (ongoing)
Community Safety and Well-Being Plan development and poverty reduction integration

National: Through parliamentary briefs and submissions, HRPR influenced Canada's poverty reduction strategy and discourse around basic income, visible at the federal level.

Mental Models and Advancing Leadership

Shifting Mental Models Through Evidence and Narrative

A foundational insight underpinning HRPR's approach is that sustainable systems change requires shifting the deeply held beliefs and assumptions that maintain the status quo.

From "Poverty is Personal Failure" to “Poverty is Structural": Early in HRPR's history, public discourse treated poverty as resulting from individual failings, including lack of work ethic, poor choices, and addiction. Through data presentation (SPRC reports showing 1.8 million Ontarians living in poverty), narrative (Speak Now stories), and consistent messaging, HRPR reframed poverty as structural. When the Code Red series revealed 21-year life expectancy gaps between neighbourhoods, it made the structural nature of health disparities visceral. When surveys showed that 79% of social assistance recipients found employment services inadequate, it shifted blame from individuals to systems.
From "Living Wage is Utopian" to "Living Wage is Business Logic": In 2011, employers resisted living wage calculations as impractical. Yet Tom Cooper and other HRPR leaders worked with sympathetic business voices (like future Member of Parliament Matthew Green, who committed to paying a living wage at his gym) to demonstrate that paying living wages reduces turnover and increases productivity. By 2024, when the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce officially adopted a living wage policy, the mental model shift was complete - living wage was now viewed as smart business, not charity.
From "Basic Income is Radical" to "Basic Income is Serious Policy": When HRPR began advocating for basic income in the early 2010s, it was considered fringe. Yet through rigorous engagement in the Ontario pilot (2017–2018), documentation of positive impacts, and international advocacy, HRPR normalized basic income as a serious policy worthy of debate. Tom Cooper's work positioning Hamilton as the hub of the Canadian Basic Income movement, even after the pilot's cancellation, has kept the idea alive at national tables. Also, in October 2020, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce teamed up with the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce to push basic income into the Canadian business mainstream. At the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Virtual AGM, Hamilton advanced a policy resolution, co-sponsored by Thunder Bay, calling on the federal government to launch a basic income pilot project and to rigorously assess its costs, benefits, risks, and outcomes as a potential national approach to income support. The resolution was adopted by CCC delegates, making it an official CCC policy position that the national chamber could take to Ottawa as part of its advocacy agenda.

Developing Diverse Leadership

HRPR intentionally cultivated leadership across sectors and experiences.

Lived Experience Leadership Development: Through Speak Now and Living Proof training programs, HRPR provided skill development for people with lived experience to become public voices. This democratized expertise—recognizing that lived experience, combined with training and support, creates legitimate and powerful advocates.
Sector-Specific Champions: The Roundtable’s strength came from a broad constellation of sector‑specific champions, each bringing unique assets to the work. Business leaders such as Mark Chamberlain, a respected tech entrepreneur, and Howard Elliott and Dana Robbins from The Hamilton Spectator helped articulate the business case for poverty reduction. Philanthropic and non‑profit leaders—including Carolyn Milne at the Hamilton Community Foundation, Liz Weaver in her early leadership role, and later contributors such as Celeste Licorish, Laura Cattari, and Jennifer Chivers—added strategic insight, operational capacity, and deep community connections. Academics like Gary Warner provided research legitimacy, while faith leaders from the Anglican Diocese of Niagara contributed moral authority. Civil‑society advocates such as Deirdre Pike brought grassroots credibility and on‑the‑ground experience. Over time, directors and staff—including during Tom Cooper’s 15‑year tenure—helped carry this work forward and amplify Hamilton’s voice nationally, always as part of a wider team effort. This distributed leadership model ensured the work never rested on any single individual or sector; instead, it reflected the collective strength of a community where each leader leveraged their networks, expertise, and influence to drive whole‑community change.

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Advancing Priority Domains of Work

Income Security

A core focus across HRPR's history has been ensuring adequate income—whether through living wages, basic income, or reformed social assistance.

Finding: Social assistance rates in Ontario have stagnated relative to rising costs. Ontario Works rates have been frozen at inadequate levels since 2018, leaving recipients to survive on incomes far below the MBM. In a 2025 policy brief, ‘People Not Pillars’, responding to the update of the Ontario Poverty Strategy, recommends raising Ontario Works to adequate levels and indexing annually.

Impact: Through consistent advocacy, HRPR has kept income adequacy on policy agendas, influencing discussions at provincial and federal levels.

Housing and Affordability

In Hamilton, 45% of all renters are living in unaffordable housing, paying more than 30% of their income on shelter. HRPR has worked to address this structural problem.

Finding: The City of Hamilton's 2024 Point-in-Time Count of Homelessness revealed that 22% of respondents indicated income as the reason they lost housing, while 48% cited high rents or low income as barriers to finding housing.

HRPR Response: The Roundtable has advocated for expanded and universal, portable rent supplements (inspired by Manitoba's Rent Assist model) and worked with SPRC on comprehensive housing reform research.

Employment Quality and Advancement

Ontario’s employment services have failed to consistently move social assistance recipients into stable, skilled, well-paid work. A 2025 survey by McMaster and Toronto Metropolitan University found 79% of participants viewed employment training options as inadequate.

HRPR Recommendation: People Not Pillars calls for creating an “Employment Ontario” focused on skilled jobs with longevity, addressing the persistent cycle where 50% of clients return to social assistance within two years of exiting.

Mental Health and Support Services

Community consultations in November 2025 revealed desperate gaps in mental health services. As one participant stated: "Mental health services supports are horrible. You don't need to wait three years. Need help then. We just don't have it, plain and simple" (People Not Pillars, 2025).

HRPR Response: The 2025 policy brief calls for fully funded, mandated provisioning of mental health services, childcare, telephone and internet, and transportation supports across all regions and municipalities.

Protection from Predatory Lending

The 2018 payday lending bylaw was a landmark achievement. Yet predatory lending persists in other forms - high-interest credit, debt traps. HRPR continues to advocate for access to low-cost emergency loans through banks and credit unions.

Local Factors for Success

What enabled HRPR's sustained impact? Several local factors proved critical:

Political Will and Alignment

Hamilton's municipal government demonstrated sustained commitment to poverty reduction. The initial co-convening by the City and Hamilton Community Foundation, followed by Council's commitment of $50 million, reflected political recognition that poverty reduction was essential to civic health.

Diverse and Credible Leadership

The Roundtable benefited from leaders spanning sectors who brought both legitimacy and passion. Paul Johnson's collaborative philosophy, Liz Weaver's policy acumen, Tom Cooper's national voice, and Jennifer Chivers' administrative consistency provided continuity.

Research Partnerships

The Social Planning and Research Council provided rigorous data. Reports like Dont Stop Now! (2019) and The Faces of Poverty in Hamilton (2025) supplied evidence that advocacy could reference, creating a feedback loop between research and advocacy.

Tamarack's Enabling Role

As discussed, Tamarack provided frameworks, networks, peer learning, and methodological guidance that amplified local efforts.

Participation of People with Lived Experience

The insistence on embedding lived experience leadership transformed the organization. When people directly impacted by poverty shape strategy and represent the Roundtable publicly, credibility, authenticity, and accountability increase.

Long-Term Commitment

HRPR's sustained operation over twenty years (despite leadership transitions and political changes) demonstrated institutional commitment. Short-term funding cycles would have made this impossible.

Tamarack's Contribution and National Context

Tamarack's Specific Contributions

Tamarack Institute's support operated at multiple levels:

Methodological Framework: Tamarack championed the collective impact approach and, later, the Water of Systems Change framework. These frameworks gave HRPR language and structure to understand and articulate its work - moving beyond intuitive collaboration to intentional systems change strategy.
Living Wage Framework: When HRPR partners sought to calculate the city's living wage in 2011, Tamarack developed the living wage framework for Canada that served as the calculation's foundation. This knowledge transfer ensured methodological rigour and enabled replication across communities.
Peer Networks: Through Vibrant Communities Canada, Tamarack connected Hamilton to a network of cities - Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saint John, St. John's, and others, all advancing poverty reduction. These connections created opportunities for learning, shared problem-solving, and mutual accountability.
Leadership Development and Amplification: Tamarack brought Tom Cooper to national convenings, amplifying his voice and positioning Hamilton as a hub for the Canadian Basic Income movement. When Tamarack was supporting Eastern Canadian communities interested in basic income, the organization brought Tom in to share Hamilton's learnings, a powerful form of peer teaching.
Knowledge Integration: Tamarack helped translate Hamilton's practical experience into generalizable knowledge - producing case studies, practice guides (like Engaging People with Lived/Living Experience of Poverty), and research that other communities could adapt.
International Connections: Through Tamarack networks and directly, HRPR gained access to international practitioners - connections to the Living Wage Foundation in the UK and other global networks that guided the movement forward.

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Hamilton's National Influence

By the early 2020s, Hamilton had become a reference point for national poverty reduction work:

The 2017 "Leadership in Poverty Reduction Award" from Vibrant Communities Canada recognized HRPR's stellar leadership.
Speak Now Hamilton's model influenced speaker bureaus in other communities.
Hamilton's living wage advocacy contributed to the normalization of the living wage in Canadian discourse.
Hamilton's Basic Income Pilot participation—and HRPR's subsequent advocacy—kept basic income alive nationally despite the pilot's cancellation.
The payday lending bylaw sparked similar regulation in other Ontario municipalities.
HRPR's UN submissions contributed to Canada's international human rights accountability.

Lessons Learned

Systems Change Requires Long Time Horizons

HRPR's major achievements, living wage normalization, basic income pilot participation, and payday lending regulation took 10–15 years of consistent advocacy. Policy change is rarely rapid; sustainable transformation requires patience, persistence, and institutional memory.

Embedding Lived Experience Changes Organizations

The decision to make social inclusion policy foundational, ensuring people with lived experience held decision-making power, proved transformative. This practice distinguished HRPR from organizations that consulted with marginalized communities without sharing power. It also improved decision quality, as those most impacted by poverty shaped the strategy.

Collaboration Across Sectors Multiplies Impact

HRPR's power is derived not from any single organization but from the alignment of government, business, nonprofits, faith, academia, and citizens. Businesses adopted a living wage, the government created affordable transit passes, and non-profits provided services informed by the Roundtable strategy. This multiplier effect could not have occurred without cross-sector collaboration.

Narrative and Testimony Shift Mental Models

While data and policy briefs are necessary, they are insufficient. HRPR's insight, making storytelling central to advocacy through Speak Now and Living Proof, recognized that people change their beliefs through narrative and encounter with humans, not through statistics alone.

National Networks Amplify Local Work

Without Tamarack and other networks, HRPR's work would have remained local. Networks that amplify local voices, create peer learning, and position communities as leaders multiply impact and create conditions for innovation to spread.

Flexibility and Adaptation Are Essential

HRPR adapted as circumstances changed from a focus on living wage in 2011, to basic income in 2015–2018, to employment services reform and mental health in 2025. Rigid adherence to original strategies would have been counterproductive; flexibility kept work relevant and responsive.

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Ripples of Impact Beyond Hamilton

HRPR's influence extended far beyond the city:

Ontario Living Wage Network - Co-founded by HRPR, the Ontario Living Wage Network now includes 30 communities. By establishing and sharing a methodology, HRPR enabled the living wage movement to scale. As of 2025, a living wage is increasingly normalized across Ontario.
Basic Income Discourse - Though Ontario's pilot ended in 2018, HRPR's advocacy through the Living Proof Speakers Bureau, documentary work, and Tom Cooper's national platform kept basic income alive in Canadian discourse. The 2024 Basic Income Guarantee Forum in Ottawa, which HRPR helped co-coordinate, demonstrated ongoing national interest.
Payday Lending Regulation - Hamilton's 2018 payday lending bylaw inspired similar regulations across Ontario municipalities. HRPR demonstrated that predatory lending, once accepted as inevitable, could be regulated and reduced.
Models of Lived Experience Leadership - HRPR's Social Inclusion Policy and Speak Now/Living Proof bureaus have been studied and adapted by other poverty reduction initiatives across Canada. The Tamarack guide, Engaging People with Lived/Living Experience of Poverty, codified and shared these practices nationally.
Research and Evidence - SPRC reports emanating from Hamilton, Dont Stop Now! The Faces of Poverty in Hamilton, and others, contributed to the national understanding of poverty trends and policy effectiveness.
International Advocacy - Through UN submissions, Hamilton residents influenced Canada's human rights reviews and contributed to global conversations about poverty, rights, and dignity.

Next Steps and Future Directions

Continuing Challenges

Despite progress, significant challenges persist:

Food Insecurity: 20% of Hamiltonians lived in food-insecure households in 2023, a troubling indicator despite declining overall poverty rates.
Housing Crisis: Affordable housing waiting lists extend 3+ years; 45% of renters live in unaffordable housing.
Social Assistance Rates: Ontario Works and ODSP remain frozen at inadequate levels, consigning recipients to deep poverty.
Employment Quality: Despite job availability, much employment is precarious, low-wage, and without benefits.

HRPR's Evolving Strategy

In its third decade, HRPR is transitioning its governance structure and deepening work on interconnected issues:

Systems Integration: Moving beyond siloed advocacy to address how housing, employment, health, and income systems interact to keep people in poverty.
Power and Equity: Deepening attention to how racism, gender, disability, and immigration status compound poverty's impacts.
Community Leadership Transition: Supporting new cohorts of lived-experience leaders to sustain advocacy beyond founding cohorts.
Data and Storytelling: Continuing to integrate rigorous data with powerful narrative.

Policy Recommendations: People Not Pillars

HRPR's 2025 policy brief, People Not Pillars (submitted to Ontario's poverty reduction strategy renewal), synthesizes two decades of learning. Core recommendations include:

Income Security: Set social assistance rates to a livable amount, indexed annually.
Housing: Expand universal, portable rent supplements (Manitoba model) and commit to affordable housing investment.
Employment: Create "Employment Ontario" focused on skilled jobs with longevity and career pathways.
Supports and Services: Fully fund mental health services, childcare, telephone/internet, and transportation equally across regions.
Financial Resilience: Stack all benefits and credits until the poverty line; raise earnings exemption limits; reduce administrative burden.

Conclusion

Over twenty years, the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction has demonstrated that sustained, collaborative, systems-level change is possible. Launched amid Hamilton's second-highest provincial poverty rate (21.9% in 1996), HRPR has helped drive poverty down to approximately 9.9% by 2023, a decline of over 54%. This transformation was not the result of a single intervention or policy change. Rather, HRPR worked intentionally across the Water of Systems Change, shifting mental models about poverty's causes and solutions, redistributing power to include people with lived experience as decision-makers, building cross-sector relationships and collaborations, redirecting resource flows toward poverty reduction, changing practices in employment and lending, and advancing policies at municipal, provincial, and national levels. Critical to this success was a partnership with Tamarack Institute, which provided frameworks, networks, peer learning, and methodological guidance that amplified local efforts and contributed to scaling innovations nationally.

Yet significant challenges remain. Food insecurity, inadequate housing, frozen social assistance rates, and precarious employment continue to trap people in poverty. The fact that individuals in receipt of provincial social assistance live in "deep poverty," surviving on incomes one-third below the MBM threshold, underscores the urgency of ongoing reform. As HRPR enters its next phase, its challenge is to build on twenty years of accomplishment while deepening systems change, addressing the interconnections between housing, employment, health, and income that keep people poor; centring the voices of those most impacted; and maintaining commitment to long-term transformation despite political cycles and funding pressures.

HRPR's legacy is not merely the policies changed or the rates reduced, though these matter profoundly. Its legacy is demonstrating that when communities — government, business, nonprofits, faith, academia, and people with lived experience — pull together with shared commitment to justice over charity, to systems change over band-aids, to the long view over quick fixes, sustainable transformation becomes possible. In Hamilton, two decades of collaborative effort have proven that another approach is achievable — one where everyone has the resources and opportunity to thrive.

Author

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