Keep true to Boxing Day intentions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/12/2016 (3233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In recent years, Boxing Day has grown to encompass an entire week of activity. Maybe we should expand it even more; well into January, in fact, if not the entire year, if only to embrace its original intention.

Boxing Day’s origins are tied in with an English tradition of the well-off boxing up their Christmas leftovers and giving them to the less wealthy on Dec. 26. (The actual practice may have been spontaneously generous or politely extortionate, depending on its observance.)

In Canada, while still a statutory holiday for federally regulated workers and banks, Boxing Day has become synonymous with sales on everything imaginable. You can decry the commercialism, or perhaps reflect that at this time of year many of us appreciate being able to get something at a discount.

But for those less fortunate, consider that much of the attention on how they will make ends meet, get enough food and clothing and have something to give their families (if observing Christmas), falls in the weeks leading up to the holiday. After Dec. 25, those difficulties are still there. Remember that in January, when holiday credit card bills arrive, there are many who will still need help from food banks.

In the new year, the weather is no less cold, and shelters and soup kitchens still need support. If you don’t have the money, you can give your time. Many Manitobans already do, of course — a 2015 Statistics Canada study found the volunteer rate in Manitoba was 52 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 44 per cent and the second-highest in the country. But rather than pat ourselves on the back, we should also ask what we could do more of, or differently.

Because the reality for many is sobering. According to the Child and Family Report Card released in November, Manitoba has the highest child-poverty rate of any province in Canada at 29 per cent (only the territory of Nunavut’s was higher).

The systemic factors contributing to poverty need to be addressed. As has been discussed in these pages, unlike some Canadian cities, Winnipeg does not have a comprehensive plan to reduce or eliminate poverty. We should have one. Individuals should be free to give of themselves to those less fortunate as they are able, but having an overall plan that combines private, public and individual support to tackle an enduring problem for too many in our society would make those efforts more effective.

So, as colourful as the notion of a Dickensian repackaging of food and drink being given by the wealthy to the less-so on the day after Christmas may be, it’s not enough to address the real gaps in our society.

Helping others is not something needed only at specific times of the year. We should all do our part to ensure that when the holiday season is over, those whose need is highlighted this month aren’t forgotten in the next.