Policy Statements: Poverty in Canada

CPJ advocates for a holistic, rights-based suite of federal policy recommendations to alleviate and eradicate poverty in Canada. Our policies are developed in consultation and collaboration with a variety of partners, including those with lived experience of poverty and other forms of expertise in poverty-related issues and human rights.

Targets & Accountability: CPJ calls on the federal government to fulfill their legal obligation to protect people’s rights to an adequate standard of living and end poverty in Canada by 2030. This requires specific targets for communities experiencing systemic oppression; the collection of disaggregated data and meaningful consultation to understand the impact of federal policies on poverty and inequity in Canada; and the prioritization of funding towards measures that increase well-being and reduce poverty.
Housing & Homelessness: CPJ calls for increased investments and regulatory changes to make the right to housing a reality for all. This includes the creation of adequately resourced, distinctions-based strategies for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in both rural and urban communities.
Healthcare: CPJ supports the creation of a single-payer, universally accessible, publicly-funded pharmacare program. We further support the inclusion of dental care and mental health supports in the public system. CPJ calls for equitable access to all health services (including measures outlined in the Spirit Bear plan).
Income Security: CPJ supports the creation of a basic income guarantee, supplemented with targeted benefits to address specific communities. Current income assistance programs in every province and territory are inadequate and leave too many people falling through the cracks.
Food Security: CPJ recognizes hunger as a symptom of a much larger problem: poverty. In addition to supporting the creation of a School Food Program for Canada and the development of more sustainable food systems, CPJ recognizes the right to food and the right to Indigenous food sovereignty. Our solutions focus on addressing low income and the right to food.
Jobs & Employment: CPJ calls on the federal government to set national standards to a living wage and ensure workers have access to job securities including occupational benefits, labour standard protections, and opportunities for post-secondary education and training. We have further joined the call for full and permanent immigrant status for all migrants, refugees, students, and undocumented people to ensure their fair treatment and compensation.
Early Childhood Education & Care: CPJ supports the creation of a high quality, universal, publicly funded program of early education and care. Canada’s childcare strategy must be developed in partnership with the provinces/territories and Indigenous governments and communities, so that all children and families can have access to affordable high quality early childhood education and child care
Fair taxation: CPJ calls for progressive changes to the federal tax system to expand eligibility and access to benefits and to ensure corporations and those in the highest tax brackets pay their fair share. We support a federal carbon tax and call for these funds to be used to alleviate the burden of this greater cost of living for those living in poverty.

For CPJ's latest budget recommendations, check out the Federal Budgets section of our website.

Faith leaders speak out for fairness and decent work

By Citizens for Public Justice | October 3, 2016

October 2016
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Joe Gunn, CPJ’s executive director, has signed on to the Faith Leaders’ Statement for fairness and decent work. He joins 22 Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jewish faith leaders from across Ontario. Read their call for an increased minimum wage and improved working conditions.

Delivering the Promise of Justice

By Citizens for Public Justice | August 10, 2016

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Consultations

August 2016
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CPJ believes that the Government of Canada must act on its commitments and develop policy that is grounded in the common good. We encourage the government to take a holistic perspective in the preparation of Budget 2017 – one that addresses the needs of the most vulnerable in Canadian society and contributes to the well-being of both people and the planet.

Statement from CPJ on TRC Calls to Action

By Citizens for Public Justice | March 29, 2016

March 2016
Read the Statement
In June of 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released 94 Calls to Action to guide us towards a repaired relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and a more just and equitable future. CPJ has released a statement in response to the TRC’s Call to Action #48 and has also endorsed the KAIROS Education for Reconciliation campaign in support of the TRC’s Call to Action #62.i.

Making Real Change for the Common Good

By Citizens for Public Justice | February 22, 2016

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Consultations

February 2016
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CPJ believes that the federal government has a moral commitment to develop policy that is grounded in the common good, giving priority to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in Canadian society and for ensuring that Canada contributes to the well-being of people and the planet.

Working Income Tax Benefit: A Pathway out of Poverty

By Citizens for Public Justice | August 21, 2014

Enhancing the WITB would remove some significant disincentives to paid work in the formal economy, ease pressure on social assistance, and lift working adults out of poverty.

Budget 2013: Fulfilling our Collective Responsibility

By Citizens for Public Justice | August 22, 2013

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Consultations

August 2013

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While CPJ has publicly raised questions about the integrity of the pre-budget consultation process, we believe that now, more than ever, the voice of public justice needs to be heard in Ottawa, and that continued engagement with our elected officials is a far better choice than disengagement or apathy.

Loving our neighbours: Brief on Income Inequality

By Citizens for Public Justice | April 17, 2013

Reducing inequality by lifting Canadians out of poverty

Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance Study of Income Inequality in Canada

April 2013

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The Finance Committee has finally started its study of income inequality. Prior to these hearings, CPJ submitted a brief to the committee entitled ‘Loving our neighbours.’ We shared with the committee that Canadian churches and faith communities are concerned about income inequality and believe that all spheres of society, including the federal government, have a role to play in ensuring everyone has access to a life of dignity, well-being, and opportunity.

Promoting the Common Good: 2012 pre-budget submission

By Citizens for Public Justice | August 15, 2012

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Consultations

August 2012
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Economic recovery is important, but it needs to include all Canadians. Three years after the 2008-09 recession, many people, including youth, new immigrants, Aboriginal people, single-parent families, and people with disabilities are being left behind.

Budget 2012: Building a Sustainable Recovery for All

By Citizens for Public Justice | September 12, 2011

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget Consultations

August 2011
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Too many Canadians are still waiting to experience recovery and risk being permanently left behind. CPJ believes that the best way of achieving a sustainable economic recovery is to ensure that all Canadians are able to participate in the economy.

Implementing the UN DRIP

By Jenny Prosser | August 28, 2011

In November 2010, the Canadian government finally gave its formal endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. And while Aboriginal groups and civil society greeted this move with enthusiasm, all were careful to say that the endorsement was not an end in and of itself, but rather a starting point. For the endorsement to have any meaning at all it must be implemented.

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