A parliamentary committee report calling for a federal poverty reduction plan is being praised by anti-poverty groups as a long-awaited spur to government to take action.
“Federal poverty reduction plan: Working in partnership towards reducing poverty in Canada” was released yesterday by House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA).
The report recommends:
Raising the Canada Child Tax Benefit and supplement to $5000 within 5 years;
A long-term national housing and homelessness strategy;
Measures to help the most vulnerable -- refundable Disability Tax Credit, ease EI qualifications; increase adult literacy; increase and index GIS for seniors, implement early learning and child care strategy; and
Major help for Aboriginal People for housing, education and social services; elimination of the two per cent cap on federal funding;
Today a nation-wide coalition of over 430 anti-poverty organizations gathered under the umbrella name of Dignity for All issued a press release welcoming the report and declaring: “It is imperative that the government response be substantive.”
The government has 120 days to respond to the report.
“Depending on the measure used between three to five million Canadians live in poverty. The situation is appalling,” said Geraldine King, of the Gull Bay First Nation and president of coalition member Canada Without Poverty. “While it is particularly acute among Aboriginal Canadians and people with disabilities, they are not alone. Millions of people in Canada are trapped in low-paying jobs without benefits. Reducing, and eventually eliminating poverty, will require much more than job creation.”
Citizens for Public Justice policy analyst and Dignity for All Coordinator Karri Munn-Venn urged quick action on some of the report’s recommendations.
“We are encouraged,” she said in the release, “not only by the content of the report, but by the collaborative approach of parliamentarians that defined much of the work that went into its completion. Now, the consensus among MPs involved in this study must be leveraged into immediate action.”
The committee report, three years in the making, finds the “rates of family and child poverty are unacceptably high taking into account Canada's high quality of living standard.”
The report is a challenge to all federal political parties, said Dennis Howlett, Coordinator of Make Poverty History. “A potential spring election makes it equally important that all of the parties provide a clear statement on how they intend to act on recommendations -- particularly if they form the next government.”
David Beers is editor of The Tyee.
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morechatter
1 year ago
Federal Poverty Reduction Plan
Is that where government ensures those who are down and out are out for good?
Because my intuition tells me it is the last thing you can expect from the Conservatives as Welfare Reform is more the future than helping the down and out.
The Feds will take many steps backwards to bring those stricken by poverty to a miserable end rather than help a Canadian out in a wealthy nation like Canada what is that all about?
jim1966
1 year ago
A Small Step Forward
Hopefully the people that need help will actually get it. I don't mind spending some of my tax dollars on programs that help meet people's needs, provided that said programs are actually effective and help people. No one likes asking anyone for help or money etc. However considering the actual state of poverty in Canada, social program reform is long overdue. (Just take a look at the BC Liberals and their attitude towards this issue). Let's hope for all of our sakes that this plan is really on the government's agenda and not just a "Christmas Wish".
Sask Resident
1 year ago
Moving Help?
I don't see anything in the recommendations about assisting people to move to where the jobs are. Most of western Canada is short of skilled people while other regions have high unemployment rates with people that cannot afford to move. Most aboriginal poverty is due to their location and lack of training. Nunavut just finished training some local people for the local mining industry that is having trouble finding employees.
The best way to help people is to provide them with a job, especially one that will lead to other positions.
morechatter
1 year ago
moving help
I was thinking of the trains and the bums who would hop a ride looking for work in the Great Depression another Bear Market like the one in BC.
There sure are plenty of transit cops hanging around making sure those without jobs aren't catching a ride and those with jobs that don't pay enough.
It works out the same.