November, 2008

While we’re finishing up our response to the Fiscal and Economic Statement yesterday, and wondering who our government will be next week, an announcement was made with little fanfare of the new immigration criteria.

New legislation was adopted this spring that allows the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to prioritize certain immigrants for entry into Canada. The move was a departure from the previous system, where selection criteria were set by regulation and every visa application had to be reviewed by immigration officers. Read more »

704 414 Canadians turn to food banks in an average month to help them get by. This number is in Hunger Count 2008, released by Food Banks Canada (formerly the Canadian Association of Food Banks) today.

Since 1997, the number of food bank users in Canada has not dipped below 700 000. What will happen now, in a period of economic downturn?

Echoing Campaign 2000’s report card, released last Friday, the report notes that over one-third of those who depend on food banks are children. Half of the families with children that use food banks are two parent families. Read more »

This morning, Campaign 2000 released its 2008 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada. The report card revealed that the child poverty rate in our country is almost the same as it was nineteen years ago when Parliament passed a unanimous resolution to end child poverty by the year 2000. Read more »

On Wednesday night, Mariel, Suzanne and I attended an evening organized by Oxfam Canada on “Women’s Leadership: From Participation to Real Power.” Four speakers shared different perspectives on how we can move from women’s presence in places of leadership and power to the genuine sharing of power. The issue is extremely important, as Oxfam’s Robert Fox reminded us, because ending poverty and injustice around the world requires ending inequality between men and women. Read more »

The Ontario Association of Food Banks released a fascinating report today on the real costs of poverty to Ontario. The study, the first of its kind for Ontario, pegged the cost of poverty in Ontario at a minimum of $32 billion, and possibly as high as $38 billion per year. That is equivalent to more than 5% of Ontario’s GDP. Read more »

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report yesterday that calculates a living wage in Toronto to be roughly double the current Ontario minimum wage.

Minimum wage in Ontario is $8.25 an hour, scheduled to increase to $10.25 in 2010. Read more »

We don't have kings anymore, but Psalm 72 works as a prayer for our present parliamentary government. As Parliament resumes today, and the Speech from the Throne is read tomorrow, it is a good time to pray for our rulers and for public justice. Read more »

With Parliament set to resume, Campaign 2000 released an Open Letter to Prime Minister Harper pressing him "to keep the interests of children and their families at the forefront of the [House] agenda."

Campaign 2000 is a cross-Canada public education movement to build Canadian awareness and support for the 1989 all-party House of Commons resolution to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000. Citizens for Public Justice is a member of Campaign 2000. Read more »

Last Thursday, November 14, Anglican Archbishop Fred Hiltz and Evangelical Lutheran National Bishop Susan Johnson wrote a letter to Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley reminding her of the federal government’s commitment to affordable housing and homelessness programs in Canada. Read more »

With world leaders gathering to meet this weekend at the G20 Summit in Washington D.C., the agenda has already been shaped by the recent financial crisis that has plunged much of the developed world into a recession. At the heart of the debate is the role that government should play in the regulation of financial markets. Read more »

Direct spending on health care is not the only way to promote health. Health is not only determined by how someone is cared for when they are sick, but by many social, economic and environmental conditions that shape our daily lives. Poverty and income inequality have long been linked to higher rates of illness and mortality. Read more »

Last November, I attended a conference on Women-Friendly Democracy, held in honour of my former professor and research adviser, Dr. Jill Vickers. Isabella Bakker, of York University, gave a presentation on the fiscalization of social policy that seems even more important this year than last, with the looming economic crisis. Read more »

Having begun my internship almost ten weeks ago, I thought it would be a good time to take a little break from my daily activities of policy research on public justice issues to reflect on my experience as a CPJ intern so far. Read more »

There is news this morning that rather than awaiting recession, the countries of the developed world are already in recession. Fear is pervasive, as hopeful reports of expected recovery are continuously dashed. What sense are we to make of this crisis?

Bob Goudzwaard, CPJ member and friend, has a post on the Empire Remixed blog looking at the nature of this crisis and what it reveals. Read more »

Glen Pearson, Member of Parliament for London North Centre, has a post on his blog The Parallel Parliament reflecting on Barack Obama’s election. Pearson argues that Canada doesn’t so much need a transformational figure like Barack Obama, but someone who can rise above partisan and regional conflicts to call us back to our shared values. Former MP Bill Blaikie, who retired from federal politics, also reflected on the nature of Canadian Parliament, in the Canadian Parliamentary Review. Blaikie, who is ordained in the United Church of Canada, notes “What is needed and what is missing, I would argue, is a sense of forgiveness.” Read more »

As Karri noted on this blog, when the new cabinet was appointed, Diane Finley replaced Monte Solberg as the Minister for HRSDC.

But a change in ministers is not all that occurred: the government also changed the title of Minister Finley from Human Resources and Social Development to Human Resources and Skills Development. Read more »

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States last Tuesday was a historical event, and has in many ways ushered in a new era of relations between Canada and the U.S. This was evident only the day after the election, when Ottawa announced its intention to seek a climate-change pact with our American neighbours. Read more »