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Poverty

The persistence of poverty in Canada challenges our core belief in Canada as a caring nation. Millions of people are homeless or barely able to afford rent. Social assistance and Employment Insurance (EI) are inadequate to prevent people from living in poverty. Even those working full-time for minimum wage live in poverty.

While Canada has managed to cut seniors’ poverty rates in half, too many others continue to struggle to meet their basic needs. What will it take for Canada to eliminate poverty and address its deep root causes in this country?

Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada is a national campaign that calls for vigorous and sustained action by the federal government to combat the structural causes of poverty in Canada. Dignity for All was co-founded by CPJ and Canada Without Poverty in May 2009 and we want you to be a part of it!

The Dignity for All campaign is mobilizing individuals, organizations, churches, and community groups across the country for federal action to address poverty. We need your support. To learn more about Dignity for All and to lend your support, please visit www.dignityforall.ca.

CPJ is actively engaged in exploring the underlying causes of poverty and developing concrete proposals for change. We are also contributing members of Campaign 2000, Make Poverty History, and BIEN Canada.

Whither Decency and Generosity? Budget 2010 falls short by staying the course.

Family time?The recession has had a tremendous impact on Canadians. Job losses and a faltering safety net have added hundreds of thousands of people to the population of Canadians living in poverty. Economic stimulus and deficit spending are most certainly required to confront this vulnerability. Measures to create and sustain jobs and to build a strong and healthy country are needed. But this cannot be done at the expense of those on the margins, excluded from mainstream society. Read more »

Faster, Higher, Stronger – A Gold Medal Speech From the Throne?

Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada; source: The Office of the Secretary to the Governor GeneralThe Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver have grabbed headlines around the world. Canada’s attempt to go faster, higher and stronger (as the Olympic motto proclaims) aspires to bring home more medals than ever before - to be the best in the world.

But just a few days after the Games end, on March 3rd, Parliament will begin a new session with a Speech From the Throne, in which the government lays out an inspiring agenda for the future. What would need to be said to have Canada become the best for the world? Read more »

The Dish on Dignity: Breaking down barriers and building understanding

Dean Allison, MPThe Dish on Dignity was a fantastic success. By enabling connections and breaking down barriers between parliamentarians and Canadians living in poverty, it provided an important moment for all involved to better understand the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and to rally around a common cause. Read more »

Senate Report Offers Valuable Contribution

In from the Margins - coverIn From the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness, a comprehensive report by the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Cities, was released in December 2009. The proposals it contains could influence the lives of Canadians for generations.

Many of the Report’s 74 recommendations respond directly to proposals from CPJ and calls from people living in poverty, service providers, and other social justice organizations. It also aligns closely with the Dignity for All campaign but lacks strong and explicit support for a poverty eradication strategy. Read more »

20 Days: 20 Questions for Parliament

QuestionsThe Prime Minister sent our MPs home to recalibrate the government agenda. The break was 20 workdays, he said.

If you could set the agenda for 2010 during this pause, what would your list of the 20 most important policy concerns include?

CPJ has come up with a list of 20 key policy questions, one for each day. We believe these issues should be debated by MPs, the voice of the people, to set directions for Canada. Read more »

Towards a Just and Sustainable Society

The beginning of a new year brings many questions. Still, we are energized by the potential of what lies ahead, spurred on by the focus of a new strategic plan, and strengthened by the support of longstanding and new members alike.

God has called us, redeemed us, and transformed us to be agents of change. “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10). We will therefore offer a faithful response to God’s call for love, justice and stewardship. Read more »

The season of hope

Baby JesusThe hope of Christmas extends beyond our homes and workplaces and into all aspects of our world. The good news Christ ushered in nearly two thousand years ago is a message of hope. Christmas is not simply that Christ has come, but that in that small baby lying humbly in a manger, we can hope. Despite all that is falling apart in our lives, our communities, and the world around us, we can hope for something different. Read more »

An opportunity for fresh action on human rights

Human Rights DayHuman rights are often defined in terms of political and civil liberties. However, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed 61 years ago this December, also includes economic and social rights. As the world attempts to recover from the impacts of a global economic crisis, the need for protection of such rights is greater than ever. Such need has prompted individuals and organizations in Canada and abroad to pressure governments to get involved, creating opportunities for fresh action in the promotion of human rights. Read more »

CPJ on Goldhawk Live

CPJ's policy analyst Karri Munn-Venn will appear on Goldhawk Live with Dale Goldhawk on the Cable Public Affairs Channel on Sunday November 29 at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

The question that callers will be asked to answer is "Are our leaders doing enough to reduce child poverty?" Read more »

Broken Promises – Broken Canadian Families

Canadians are just beginning to prepare themselves for the season of Christmas. For Christians it is the moment when God took human form and renewed the hope of salvation for the world. Believers recount this story of an infant deity born into poverty so bleak that his first hours were spent in a barn “because there was no room for them in the inn.”

One month before Christmas 2009, Canadians were informed that almost one in every ten kids still lives in poverty in this, one of the richest countries on the face of the earth. On November 24th 1989 the Parliament of Canada unanimously voted to end child poverty by the year 2000. Today, after twenty years, this promise remains broken. Read more »

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