Well-being

Last week CPJ submitted our pre-budget recommendations to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance for Budget 2011. Every year this committee invites Canadians to raise concerns and offer suggestions for the drafting of the next federal budget.

Our recommendations come at a time of economic recovery after the recent recession, when the government is facing challenges concerning how to invest Canadian revenues for the best possible outcome. CPJ recognizes that these decisions are not always easy. But in order to promote the well-being of all Canadians, the budget must be made up of responsible and caring investments.

Read the full submission below Read more »

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 »

During my time at Regent College in July, I was able to see many of the sites around Vancouver. This included spending a little time in the eastside of the city. Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood is known across Canada for its extreme poverty, homelessness and an open drug culture. Read more »

This week I’m just coming back to work after a couple weeks of vacation in Vancouver. It was a different kind of vacation because I decided to audit a two week theology class at Regent College, on the campus of the University of British Columbia.

Regent has a great reputation for integrating faith with all aspects of life, including public life and work, which I’ve talked about a lot, but also in all our daily activities, in some ways that did not really occur to me before. Read more »

Last week I participated in a tele-learning seminar hosted by Tamarack on the Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy, Breaking the Cycle. This is the fourth in a nation-wide series on provincial poverty reduction strategies.

Ontario’s strategy is unique in the sense that its specific goals and targets are focused on one particular area- to reduce child poverty by 25% in 5 years. As a result much of the plan’s focus is on child-tax benefits, child care, early childhood education, and training for children and youth. Education and support for children is seen as a key element to breaking the cycle of poverty. Read more »

Manitoba had one of the smallest increases in unemployment during the recession. But the recession nonetheless had a significant impact, increasing poverty and economic insecurity for Manitoba families. While job loss was low, Employment Insurance coverage was also low, leading to a surprisingly large increase in social assistance cases. Food bank use and bankruptcies also rose during the recession, as the cost of living increased sharply in 2009. 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 »