April, 2008

• CPJ’s pre-budget brief to the Standing Committee on Finance
• Time for a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy: Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Consultations
• Lacking Responsible Leadership: Budget 2008 and Government Values
• Using Policies to Fight Poverty
• The Path from Poverty?
• Mapping Out a Poverty Reduction Strategy
• Figh Read more »

Read the CPJ Backgrounder on poverty reduction strategy.

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All. Read more »

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All.

Ireland

Ireland is an example of a country that has been highly successful: in fact, it has even exceeded some of its targets. Based on widespread consultations, including input from people living in poverty, Ireland launched its national anti-poverty strategy in 1997. The government developed and implemented national action plans against poverty with specific poverty reduction targets and indicators to monitor progress. Read more »

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All.

What kinds of areas should Canada’s poverty reduction strategy include?

It is important that the federal government commit to a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy. That framework provides vision and accountability for the commitment. Within that framework, there are a variety of policy areas and targeted strategies the federal government could include. Read more »

Spend time with people experiencing poverty. Share their journey, be a friend, listen to their stories.

Learn more. Ask questions. Read about ongoing developments.

Share what you’ve learned with others. Consider holding an event in your community, church or school to educate others about the stark reality of poverty in Canada today. Have conversations around the watercooler at work or the kitchen table at home. Advocacy starts by changing the context in which issues get addressed.

Advocate on behalf of the poor. Become an engaged citizen. Develop an ongoing relationship with your elected representatives. Share information with them. Monitor what they do and what they say about poverty. Periodically remind them of how important you think their action on poverty is. Read more »

Other poverty reduction strategy campaigns

25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction

Anglican-Lutheran Action on Poverty and Homelessness

Campaign 2000: End child and family poverty in Canada

Make Poverty History

Resources on housing, income inequality and poverty issues

A Call for Action - Declare Housing not War

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: The Growing Gap

Canadian Council on Social Development

Centre for Social Justice

National Anti-Poverty Organization Read more »

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All.

What is a poverty reduction strategy?

Poverty reduction strategies have been used successfully in other countries to combat poverty. In 2007, the National Council of Welfare released Solving Poverty: Four Cornerstones of a Workable National Strategy for Canada, a report that identified key components of successful anti-poverty strategies. Read more »

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All.

For Christians, reducing poverty is an important part of the biblical call to do justice. The Bible speaks often of God’s concern for the poor and oppressed and God’s vision of a society without poverty. Poverty undermines the dignity of human beings created in the image of God. This is a significant challenge to Christians to engage in working for a society that reflects God’s vision: a society in which all people can flourish and fulfill their callings, contributing to the common good. Read more »

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All. Read more »

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All.

In 1989, the House of Commons passed a unanimous resolution calling for child poverty to be eliminated in Canada by the year 2000. As we approach the twentieth anniversary of that momentous occasion, not much has changed in Canada. Read more »

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All.

1 in 10 Canadians live in poverty. For these Canadians, poverty is about more than lack of income – it is also lack of access to well-being. These Canadians do not have a sustainable livelihood, and they are prevented from fully participating in community life. Poverty has a heavy price for individuals and their families and communities. It also exacts a heavy toll on Canadian society.

More importantly, poverty undermines the dignity of humans created in the image of God. This is a significant public justice concern. We can also do something about it. Read more »

• The Anglican Church of Canada
• Canadian Council of Churches
• Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice and Hunger Action
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
• Federation of Sisters of St. Read more »

CPJ’s Envisioning Canada Without Poverty campaign has ended. We thank CPJ members and supporters for contacting their MPs and sharing the important message that poverty must be addressed. Thanks to you, the campaign was a success. For new opportunities to get involved in the fight against poverty, check out CPJ’s new campaign: Dignity for All.

Organizing a group to write letters is a great way for your faith community to combine education with action. Not only does it mean more letters and more impact, it can be more fun! Here are a few tips for putting together a successful letter writing event. Read more »

Citizens for Public Justice is calling citizens to action on poverty. Help create change for the 3.4 million Canadians who live in poverty by envisioning Canada without poverty. Read more »

The reflections on the connections between faith and poverty in the previous section each come with questions for further exploration or small group discussion.

In addition, you might want to check out some of the following resources: Read more »

We had learned to love Frank with his generous smile and free spirit. Totally uninhibited, he readily engaged anyone in animated conversations. “We’re friends” he would say to those he met. Yet he was a troubled single man with some psychological problems. Occasionally, he arrived at our inner city community centre and church wearing inappropriate clothing and carrying a large, purple purse. He never seemed to have any money and lived in various places: on the streets, in his own rented room, in a shelter, or with his sister, who was also on disability. Sometimes when he came to worship at the church I mumbled a quick prayer: “God, please don’t let him disrupt the service again.” Read more »

Sociological studies are demonstrating that societies with wider gaps between rich and poor experience higher levels of violence, poorer health for all, lower levels of trust and community participation as well as higher levels of racism and sexism.1 Patterns such as these can open our eyes to the ways that we’ve structured society so that it benefits the rich by giving privileged access to limited social goods, and marginalizes the poor by denying access. Patterns such as these reveal that poverty is a type of violence. Read more »

Introduction

Jesus inaugurated his ministry with a sermon announcing good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed, and the coming of the year of the Lord's favour (Luke 4:16-30). His startling claim that "today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" led some of his home town listeners to try to kill him! What does Jesus' claim lead Christians to do here and now in the third millennium? How does Jesus' death on the cross influence our hearing of this passage? Will we proclaim good news to the poor in our time and place? Read more »

If Canada were to select an official national scripture, I would nominate Psalm 72.

Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley read Psalm 72 during his morning devotions as the fathers of Confederation met in 1864 to decide upon a name for our nation. Based on that Psalm, Tilley proposed that our nation be called “the Dominion of Canada”. Canadian leaders later chose the phrase “from sea to sea,” again from Psalm 72, and by proclamation of King George V in 1921, those words became part of our official coat of arms.

But that’s not why I would select it. The reason I would nominate Psalm 72 is that this is a good Psalm for a nation -- it speaks of justice, and it speaks particularly directly to those of us who have the nerve to call ourselves leaders in the land, whether political, religious, social or moral. Read more »