Darlene O’Leary, socio-economic policy analyst with the Ottawa-based advocacy group Citizens for Public Justice, agrees with the human-rights approach. She notes that federal initiatives such as investments in housing, the Canada Workers Benefit, and the Child Tax Benefit are having a positive effect on lived poverty.
The Canadian Council of Churches (CCC); Citizens for Public Justice; and KAIROS, an ecological justice and human rights mission, created the production jointly. “We received submissions from over 15 churches and organizations with close to 20 voices,” said KAIROS executive director Jennifer Henry in a letter of thanks to participants.
Two holidays fall on April 22 this year – Easter and Earth Day. While 2.2 billion Christians joyfully celebrate the resurrection of Christ, an estimated billion people will mark Earth Day in what has become the most widely celebrated secular holiday in the world. Earth Day began in 1970 as a counter-cultural, advocacy-oriented day focussed...
Now in its third year, Give it Up for the Earth! is centred on a pledge to individual climate action, and a call for more far-reaching national climate policy. Christians across Canada collect postcards and signatures as a demonstration of support for increased federal government action. In the Christian season of Lent, “people give up...
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...
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...
Darlene O’Leary, socio-economic policy analyst for Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), agrees that the current MBM provides somewhat of a distorted look at poverty in Canada. “The data is encouraging — however, it’s incomplete,” she told Global Citizen.
Too many people still live below the poverty line, said Darlene O’Leary, social policy analyst with Citizens for Public Justice. “There are still millions living in poverty,” said O’Leary, and the idea that we need to wait until 2030 to see dramatic results (a 50-per-cent reduction in poverty as per goals of the federal government’s poverty-reduction strategy released...
How to start making change: An introduction to lobbying for the causes you care about. Ottawa public policy organization Citizens for Public Justice says that letters and emails count the same, but that phone calls can be more influential.
Lenten discipline is not only for individuals; some parishes practice it as a community as well. In 2018, 11 Anglican churches in Canada, for example, took part in “Give it up for the Earth!”, a campaign that encourages participants to take measures reducing their contribution to climate change, and to call for changes to government policy, according...
