Deborah Mebude

An election forum on immigration drew a large crowd to the downtown Kelowna library on Saturday. The event was co-hosted by Amnesty International, KAIROS and Citizens for Public Justice.

An event during the election campaign can be a great way to discuss important issues with candidates and educate members of your community. You can structure the meeting in various ways, including a roundtable discussion, a town hall meeting or a debate.

Canadian voters will select a new government in a few months, joining nearly 2 billion citizens around the world participating in elections this year. Appeals to the “everyday” citizen have been widespread, as candidates around the world have attempted to present themselves as the sole representative of the disenfranchised.

Canadian voters will select a new government in a few months, joining nearly 2 billion citizens around the world participating in elections this year.

Amid this historic moment in time, appeals to the “everyday” citizen have been widespread, as candidates around the world have attempted to present themselves as the sole representative of the disenfranchised.

But when political leaders claim to be “for the people,” research shows that there can be legitimate reasons for voters to be concerned about the state of democracy.

The idea of basic income has been presented as a means of securing people’s livelihood in the face of job losses by the thousands. What a basic income may look like is open to a wide array of possibilities.

According to a provincial break-down by Citizens for Public Justice, Manitoba has the highest poverty rate in Canada, with one-in-five currently living below the poverty line. That translates to 25% of children living in poverty and it’s forced 115,000 Manitobans to rely on the province’s Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) programs.

Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) also objects to the government’s new strategy because it “would further limit the welcoming nature they claim Canada is proud of.” “The use of language that suggests potential claimants are not genuine in their reasons for seeking asylum or that they pose a threat of exploitation to our system is…

CPJ On the Hill In November and December, CPJ attended the House of Commons’ All Party Anti-Poverty Caucus (APAPC) meetings on the topics of child poverty and poverty among newcomers in Canada. In December, CPJ’s joint travel loan petition was presented in the House of Commons by NDP MP Jenny Kwan. The petition, was created…

By Tima Kurdi Simon & Schuster, 2018   Review by Deborah Mebude   The Boy on the Beach is an intimate retelling of a family’s tragedy, one that woke up the world to the Syrian refugee crisis. Author and Syrian-Canadian Tima Kurdi brings to life the story of her nephew Alan Kurdi, the two-year-old boy…

Last week, New Zealand experienced a horrific terrorist attack targeting two mosques during Friday prayers. I, like many others, watched local news coverage of the massacre unfold on social media, distraught that others were watching these murders on a live stream. Emotions of anger, sadness, despair, and helplessness, all ran through my head. Sadly, however, the one feeling I never…

The simple fact is that Canada needs a pharmacare plan. This would not only improve the health of those within the country and uphold their right to health, but it would also make more fiscal sense.

After 10 years at the helm of Citizens for Public Justice, Joe Gunn, 64, is leaving Feb. 11 to head up the new Oblate Centre at Saint Paul University in Ottawa.