Dignity for All special Ola!

Welcome to Ola!

Welcome to this special Ola! Today we’re announcing the launch of Dignity for All: the Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada. Join us in celebrating this exciting initiative!

The Dignity for All Campaign seeks to encourage the government to take action on poverty by creating a poverty elimination strategy, with the goal of eradicating poverty in Canada by 2020.

Mobilized by Citizens for Public Justice and Canada Without Poverty (CWP), the campaign was launched in Calgary at the Canadian Social Forum on May 22. Read more about the campaign below, and show your support for Dignity for All!

Official campaign launch – May 22

Nitsiikaomai'tsii'pa aahkaohkanaini'yimmotsiiyio'si.
I believe in dignity for all.
Je crois à la dignité pour toutes et tous.
NOW is the time to end poverty in Canada.

This is the message that was shared – in Blackfoot, English, French, and Mandarin – with a gathering of close to 500 participants at the Canadian Social Forum last Friday as they officially announced Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada on Friday, May 22.

CPJ’s Karri Munn-Venn and Canada Without Poverty’s Rob Rainer were joined on stage by Blackfoot Elder Marvin Fox, CWP Board Member Debbie Frost, Claude Champagne of the Centre St-Pierre, and Nicky Liao from the Alberta Network of Immigrant Women. Together, they presented the Dignity for All call to action.

Inspired by tremendous stories of courage and the rich and collaborative discussions held at the Canadian Social Forum, Rob and Karri presented the vision of the Dignity for All Campaign.

“All of us assembled here know that poverty in Canada is unacceptable and that at its root this is an issue of fundamental human rights,” said Rob.

“We know that together we can create change,” added Karri. “Our strong, collective voice will ensure we’re creating a Canada where all can live with dignity and well-being.”

Through this campaign, we are not only calling for concrete and sustained action by the federal government to combat the structural causes of poverty in Canada. We intend to help shape the very substance of this action. We applaud the important work of individuals and organizations at the local, regional, and provincial levels. We also congratulate the important initiatives in the fight for action on poverty in Canada that have preceded and inspired this campaign.

The campaign is calling for: (1) a federal plan for poverty elimination that complements provincial and territorial plans; (2) a federal anti-poverty Act that ensures enduring federal commitment and accountability for results; and (3) sufficient federal investment in social security for all Canadians.

MP Michael Savage signing campaign postcard	Senator Hugh Segal signing onto the Dignity for All Campaign	MP Tony Martin signing campaign postcard

Dignity for All seeks to mobilize Canadians across the country to send the message to Ottawa that federal action is needed to address poverty in Canada. By supporting Dignity for All, you help strengthen our collective voice and build a better Canada.

To see more photos from the campaign launch go to CPJ's flickr photostream.

Support Now!

Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada is a pan-Canadian initiative and we want you to be a part of it.

Over 350 individuals and organizations signed-on to support Dignity for All in its first week! You can join these hundreds of Canadians by signing on at www.dignityforall.ca, or sign one of our postcards and send it back to us. Need a postcard? Email Karri at karri *at* cpj.ca for copies.

What next? After you sign on, be sure to spread the word about the campaign to your family and friends. Forward on this Ola!, or contact Karri for postcards to hand out in your community.

As a Dignity for All supporter, you can also receive regular campaign updates and find out about how to take action in your community, write your MP and engage with people across the country who share this vision of a poverty-free Canada.

Sign on now at dignityforall.ca! Together, we will let Ottawa know that now is the time to end poverty in Canada.

Dignity for All: what is it about?

Everyone has a right to live life with dignity. Yet millions of Canadians currently live in poverty. People are mobilizing. Cities, provinces and territories are taking note and taking action. It is time for the federal government to step up and do its part.

The Dignity for All Campaign calls for vigorous and sustained action by the federal government to combat the structural causes of poverty in Canada. We want:

• A federal plan for poverty elimination that complements provincial and territorial plans.
• A federal anti-poverty Act that ensures enduring federal commitment and accountability for results.
• Sufficient federal investment in social security for all Canadians.

Together, we can eliminate poverty in Canada! Read more…

Dignity for All: The Campaign for Poverty-Free Canada is an emerging partnership of what can be hundreds of organizations and individuals from across the country. Inaugural partners include: ACORN Canada, Campaign 2000, Canada Without Poverty, the Canadian Association of Social Workers, the Canadian Cooperative Association, the Canadian Council on Social Development, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, Citizens for Public Justice, Make Poverty History, and the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry. We are also in consultation with the Collective for a Poverty-Free Quebec.

CPJ and Dignity for All: A faithful response

Our work at CPJ is a faithful response to God’s call for love, justice and stewardship. We believe that every human being is created in the image of God. Our love for God therefore leads us to love our neighbour and to care about their well-being. At the core of our faith, then, is a respect for the innate dignity of every human being.

Poverty acts like a social cancer, undermining the well-being of individuals and societies, preventing human flourishing and causing social exclusion. Love for our neighbour and respect for their dignity calls us to work to eliminate poverty. In doing so, we are faithful to God’s vision of Jubilee – a society with no poverty.

The Jubilee principles (laid out in Deuteronomy) are still relevant today. They suggest that it is not enough to provide charity to those living in poverty. Instead, we must create public practices and policies that ensure people have the means to exercise a sustainable livelihood that provides a livable income. They require that we make sure everyone has access to an adequate income and the resources necessary for well-being even when we cannot secure all we need through paid work. They also indicate that we must exercise care in the use of natural resources and the impact of our actions on the environment, that we must respect the world of which we are a part.

CPJ’s vision of public justice emphasizes that everyone is gifted by God with rights and responsibilities. The rights to flourish, to respond faithfully to God’s calling, and to participate in society belong to every person. But it is also our responsibility to work to ensure that everyone else’s rights are respected. Therefore we all have a personal responsibility to become engaged in the fight against poverty in all of our various roles: as church members, family members, workers, business owners, union members, community members, volunteers and citizens.

In addition to all of that, public justice also means that the role of government is to create policies, programs and structures that reduce poverty and that equitably distribute resources in society so that all people and all parts of society can flourish and fulfill their callings, contributing to the common good.

Through the Dignity for All Campaign, we are reminding Canadians that love for our neighbours makes it a problem that so many in our midst struggle with poverty and its negative effects, and are calling citizens and governments to fulfill their public justice role.

CPJ members celebrate campaign

During their in-person board meeting in early May, the CPJ board of directors got a sneak peek at the campaign call to action. Excited by this initiative, all board members signed onto the campaign then and there, becoming some of the first Canadians to do so!

 
Then, on Thursday, May 21, the evening before the official launch of Dignity for All, CPJ hosted a campaign launch for CPJ members in Calgary. Invitations were extended to local members to come and learn about the new campaign and discuss the need for action on poverty in Canada.

The event was held at the Kahanoff Centre in downtown Calgary, and was attended by almost twenty local area members, many of whom are long-time CPJ supporters. CPJ member Wendell Koning and board member Jake Kuiken were both on hand to assist in hosting the event.

Wendell offered some introductory remarks and welcomed CPJ staff members Chandra Pasma, Karri Munn-Venn and Mariel Angus to Calgary. Local Calgary Buffalo MLA Kent Hehr then gave a reflection about his experiences as a politician in Alberta.

Socio-economic policy analyst Karri Munn-Venn spoke about the Dignity for All Campaign, focusing on the disgraceful prevalence of poverty in Canada and the need for a federal role in poverty elimination. She provided an outline of the campaign and the objectives it aims to achieve.

CPJ board member Jake Kuiken closed the evening with some reflections on poverty in Calgary and the importance of respecting human dignity and well-being in the struggle to end poverty in Canada.

The event provided a great opportunity for CPJ staff to introduce the Dignity for All campaign and to meet and dialogue with Calgary-area members about our work on poverty.

Upcoming events – we need your help!

Last week’s announcement of the Dignity for All Campaign in Calgary, and the corresponding launch of the www.dignityforall.ca website, was an important moment for this exciting new collaboration. In the coming months, we will be spreading the word about Dignity for All and we need your help.

Would you like to serve as a campaign liaison for your church or community? Are you interested in hosting a Dignity for All workshop at your school or workplace? Would you like to organize a prayer service or collection for Dignity for All? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, or if you have ideas of your own as to how you’d like to contribute to the campaign, please contact Karri Munn-Venn at karri *at* cpj.ca.

Join us – now is the time to end poverty in Canada.

P.S. Please forward this on to your friends, family and community! We’re building momentum, and the campaign is growing. Show your support and share with others. We’ll return to our regular scheduled Ola! in June.