CPJ Staff Meet with MP Paul Dewar

This past Tuesday March 3, I had the opportunity to meet with Paul Dewar, the NDP Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre, to discuss CPJ’s recent work on advocating for poverty reduction in Canada. On Tuesday afternoon, Executive Director Joe Gunn and I walked the few chilly blocks from the CPJ office to meet with Dewar on Parliament Hill.

Dewar has been a supporter of CPJ’s work since we moved to Ottawa in July of 2007 and has attended a number of our events, including the Feeding Change Dinner in November of 2007. He was also a guest speaker at our Annual General Meeting last year.
The meeting was an opportunity to share with Dewar some of the work CPJ has recently done, and learn about his own recent initiatives as a Member of Parliament.

We spoke of our shared disappointment in the 2009 federal budget, particularly for its lack of long-term vision and failure to adequately address the needs of the most vulnerable Canadians.

We also shared information with Dewar on the upcoming Dignity for All Campaign, which aims to eliminate poverty in Canada by the year 2020. In our discussion on the need to address poverty in Canada, Dewar emphasized the importance of collaboration between citizens, civil society and all levels of government to find innovative approaches to create social change.

We also spoke with him about the Faith and Social Justice Caucus, an initiative within the New Democratic Party that began in 2006. It brings together NDP members for whom passion for social justice is rooted in faith. We discussed the possibility of collaboration between the Caucus and CPJ in the future.

Dewar also shared some of his recent work on international issues as International Affairs Critic for the NDP. He emphasized that, while Canada has a role to play in the promotion of international justice, we must not forget about the work that needs to be done within our own borders to ensure the rights and well-being of all Canadians.

Tuesday was my first chance to meet with a federal Member of Parliament as a CPJ intern – and, as I also live in Dewar’s riding – to meet my own representative.

Even living in Ottawa, I find it easy to feel disconnected to what is happening daily on Parliament Hill. I found the meeting was a good opportunity to bridge that gap and connect with a representative that shares CPJ’s concerns about poverty and injustice in Canada.