FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa, ON: February 5, 2016 — Dignity for All: the campaign to end poverty in Canada, co-led by Canada Without Poverty (CWP) and Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), is pleased that social services ministers from across Canada are meeting to discuss critical social policy issues for the first time in ten years. Dignity for All is encouraging the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos to take this opportunity during his meeting with Provincial-Territorial social service ministers to initiate consultations about the development of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy.
Dignity for All has issued a letter to the Minister regarding this meeting. “Now is an opportune time to begin the discussions with the provinces and territories about a national anti-poverty plan,” stated CPJ Executive Director Joe Gunn. “We reminded the minister that 4.9 million people in Canada living in poverty are struggling each day and have waited far too long for federal action.”
CWP Executive Director Leilani Farha added, “An effective poverty reduction strategy will have human rights as the foundation. Dignity for All has worked for over five years to develop a comprehensive rights-based plan that can act as a guide. With the current absence of a human rights framework in all regional poverty plans, federal leadership in this regard will be imperative.”
More than 700 organizations and over 11,000 individuals, including current cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Trudeau, have endorsed the Dignity for All campaign’s call for a national anti-poverty plan. Dignity for All has urged Minister Duclos to move forward with the Liberal government’s commitment to a national plan, developed from inclusive consultations with civil society, as well as provinces and territories, municipalities, people living in poverty, marginalized group, and Indigenous communities.
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For more information, contact:
Brad Wassink, Citizens for Public Justice, at brad@cpj.ca or 613-232-0275 x. 225.
James Armbruster, Canada Without Poverty, at james@cwp-csp.ca or 613-986-7761.
