Reflections on November 24

I was born in 1989. That same year there was a unanimous resolution passed in parliament to end child poverty by the time I turned eleven. I am now 20 years old and little advancement has been made on this critical issue. I was fortunate enough not to be born into poverty but if I had been I would have spent my entire life not only waiting, but desperately needing the government to act on its promise.

I am currently studying social work at Carleton University, where I have spent a lot of time learning about social issues, like poverty and inequality, in Canada. I have learnt how the Canadian welfare system sustains poverty and that the poor face an abundance of structural barriers that inhibit them from gaining financial security. I learnt that poverty doesn’t just pertain to the homeless on the street but that there are hundreds of thousands of invisible poor Canadians living on social assistance and working in minimum wage jobs but never making ends meet. I learnt that poor children belong to poor families, and as a result of their situation often suffer from poor health. And I’ve learnt about the inequality in Canada, that the rich continue to get richer while the poor get poorer.

Over the last few months while working at a local food centre in Ottawa I have seen first hand the struggles people living in poverty and on low-income encounter. This experience has put a face to the issues I’ve been learning about at school.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend events on Parliament Hill that marked 20 years since the well-known resolution. MPs, Senators, community activists, and youth came together for a light breakfast and the release of the Campaign 2000 report card on child poverty. What I discovered, is that the politicians of our country know the reality of these issues. All the facts and theories that I’d been learning at school were once again reiterated. I heard it from the Hon. Ed Broadbent who announced that over the last 20 years since he introduced the resolution, the poor and middle class in Canada have remained in about the same situation while the rich have gotten wealthier. I heard about the barriers people in poverty face from a young woman with lived experience of poverty from the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa. And I heard the cry of the community for the federal government to take leadership on this issue, to create a plan and take action in coordination with the provinces and territories to eliminate poverty.

Campaign 2000 has been mentioned many times in my classes. I knew about the unanimous resolution and the government’s failure to follow through and take action. I also knew that the campaign produced an annual report card assessing whether any progress had been made so as to hold the government accountable. What I didn’t realize is that this year is the first in 20 years that a motion was passed to recommit the government to developing a plan to eliminate poverty.

The first time the government resolved to end child poverty in Canada I was only a baby. Growing up I did not have the right to vote or the ability to hold the government accountable for the promises they made to my generation. Twenty years later the government has recommitted itself to eliminating poverty, as an adult I, along with every other Canadian citizen have the power to hold the government accountable. We need a plan, we need action and this time we need results!

The Dignity for All campaign is calling for action from the federal government. To support the campaign and to hold the government accountable to its recommitment to eliminate poverty, sign on at dignityforall.ca.