Living wage

Last week we prepared two brochures for a group of Canadian high school students who were interested in contacting and writing letters to their Members of Parliament about supporting various justice initiatives. Based on legislation currently before the House of Commons, we decided to send them information on poverty elimination and housing.

Check out these brochures below! Read more »

This week, ACORN Ottawa (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) launched their 2010 Platform for the upcoming municipal election. I joined ACORN members and supporters as they gathered at the Dorothy O’Connell Monument to Anti-poverty Activism at Ottawa City Hall and announced their policy priorities for the election. With the election coming up on October 25, 2010 supporters hope to get the message out to candidates across the city – poverty matters. Read more »

A common criticism of social advocates of income assistance programs like social assistance, disability supports, and child tax benefits is that they are insufficient compared to the costs of living. Instead of helping people out of poverty and difficult situations, such support systems often keep people in poverty because they do not measure up to housing prices, the cost of food, and other costs of living.

Many social advocates and organizations have been calling for an overhaul in these systems to make them more effective, taking into account things like the cost of living, help people get out of poverty, and build sustainable change. The Social Assistance Review Advisory Council called for a review of all major income assistance programs in Ontario, including Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support, all provincial child tax benefits, unemployment assistance programs and other social supports. Read more »

Recently I participated in a telephone conference call with Tamarack on Nova Scotia’s poverty reduction strategy, Preventing Poverty, Promoting Prosperity. This is the third learning tele-conference in Tamarack’s series on provincial poverty reduction strategies.

Participants included Brenda Murray, director of Policy, Planning and Research with the Department of Community Services, Dr. Ulrich vom Hagen, Coordinator of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, and Tamarack’s Mark Cabaj. The discussion covered the roots and formation of the plan, the goals and targets, as well as implementation strategies. Read more »

As promised, here are the slides from my presentation at the BIEN conference on Montreal. Read more »

On Friday, Statistics Canada announced that 108,700 jobs were created in April 2010. Newspapers were almost breathless in their rush to declare this as good news for the economy and a sure sign that our recovery is stronger than anyone anticipated, complete with the requisite quotes about stimulus being unnecessary and speculation about interest rate hikes.

What I didn’t see, however, was any coverage that went beyond the headline. Yes, 108,700 new jobs are good news. But Friday’s report also contained some troubling details. Read more »

UPDATE:

The Senate report, In from the Margins, passed in the Senate last week! This means that the government has to respond within 150 days to the over 70 recommendations made by the Subcommittee on Cities.

But it is still important to contact our Members of Parliament and Senators about the importance of taking strong action to eliminate poverty in Canada, for the sake of dignity for all Canadians, and for the sake of our economy. See the Parliamentary website for a list of current MPs, and please continue to use the Talking Points below to get the message through to your MP. Read more »

This week Joe, Karri and I attended the Parliament Hill launch of “Poor No More,” the documentary film hosted by Canadian television and film star, Mary Walsh. The film is aimed at exposing the challenges of the working poor in Canada and offering viable government solutions.

A common misconception among Canadians is that if people would just get a job and work hard, they won’t be living in poverty. But this is not the case. As the film illustrates, many low income Canadians are working for companies that pay very low wages, often keeping employees’ hour just below the full-time threshold, even after years of service to the company, where they receive little or no benefits, such as health and dental coverage, and sick or vacation days. Read more »