Ola! July 2009

Welcome

Welcome to this special summer edition of Ola! We’re taking a break from our usual update, which we’ll return to in August.

As part of our summer work, we’re building support for the new Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada. Read more below, and consider becoming part of our monthly Pillar Program, which provides ongoing funding for the campaign.

Dear Friend,

A life free from the chains and pains of poverty. Greater equality among citizens. Dependable and genuine social security through hard economic times.

Such are the aspirations today of millions of Canadians – the unemployed, the homeless and the disenfranchised; the working poor, the hungry and the socially assisted; the Aboriginal, the immigrant and the person of colour; the person with disability, the parent and the pensioner.

In support of these aspirations, Citizens for Public Justice, with our campaign partner Canada Without Poverty, is mobilizing the multi-year, multi-partner, non-partisan campaign Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada.

This campaign’s vision is to make a poverty-free Canada a reality. The conviction behind this campaign is that Canadians can respect and defend the right of every person to dignity and security.

The desperation and hardship experienced by growing millions of Canadians compel us to make this effort and to continue until economic security and dignity for all is established.

Dignity for All Pillar Program

To ensure the financial resources necessary to press our case effectively in Ottawa, we are launching the Dignity for All Pillar Program, allowing our supporters to donate monthly and become the pillars that hold up the work of Dignity for All. If the Dignity for All Campaign were to secure 500 supporters to donate $20 every month, it would provide a base of funding to maintain and increase our activities and advocacy.

There is much work to be done in the months ahead. We need your support to build awareness and support for the Dignity for All campaign. The help we receive, from you and others like you, will make it happen.

Please give what you can financially, and if possible, contribute time and energy as well. Sign up to support the campaign at www.dignityforall.ca, and share the news of this inspiring campaign and CPJ’s work with others whom you know support your concerns.

With your help, we have a chance.

Read our full appeal and learn more about the campaign.

The pillars

The Dignity for All Pillar Program is inspired by the detailed description of the foundational support and stability the pillars provided for Temple of the Lord, built by King Solomon.

Boaz and Jachin, two copper pillars, stood in the porch of Solomon's Temple, the first Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 7:15, 1 Kings 7:21; 2 Kings 11:14; 23:3).

Boaz ("fleetness, strength") stood on the left and Jachin ("founding") stood on the right.

From all of us at CPJ, enjoy these summer months. Be sure to check out the video of our CPJ Member launch of the Dignity for All Campaign, which happened in Calgary in late May!