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October 2017
Read the letter

CPJ wrote to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, to express our support for. proposed changes to interest charges on travel loans offered to refugees. The new policy changes outlined that no interest charges would apply to future loans and any outstanding loans would not accrue additional interest. We also repeated our recommendation for the federal government to cover costs for resettled refugee travel to Canada.

The Huffington Post

What does poverty look like in Canada in 2017?

Ask yourself what images immediately come to mind when you consider who is poor in Canada today. Perhaps for many of us, the urban poor, sleeping homeless on the streets of major cities, come immediately to mind. But if you take a few minutes to read the Poverty Trends 2017 report, you may find a few surprises.

The Tyee

Canada is continuing to leave people with disabilities in poverty, says a report released Thursday by Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ). The faith-based organization’s annual report on poverty trends shows people with disabilities are more likely to be living in poverty than other Canadians.

More working adults are joining the ranks of the impoverished, the report found.

Do Justice

In today’s political and social climate, differences are often viewed as risks. Those that seek asylum become security threats warranting suspicion. People who speak a different language, or come from a different country, are seen as “other”. In the process, values like hospitality and kindness can be choked out, as concerns over the integrity of borders or scarce employment take centre stage. We can be tempted to feel that diversity compromises our safety or in some way impedes our ability to thrive.

Prairie Messenger

It’s sad that Christians quoting “the poor you will always have with you” rarely follow it with the intended injunction, “therefore, you shall open wide your hand to the needy and to the poor.” By separating these phrases, we may prevent ourselves from hearing and acting on the best sense of the intended teaching of Jesus. By acting today, and on Oct. 17, we can help the gospel message come alive in our hearts and communities.

Catholic Register

After a surge of asylum seekers over the summer, Canada’s refugee policies will be the top concern for many faith-based groups when Parliament resumes Sept. 18.

For Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), a Christian social justice think tank, care for refugees is among their top priorities said CPJ executive director Joe Gunn. “This is an area where what happens in the United States is really going to throw Canada for a loop,” Gunn said. He noted the U.S. bishops oppose sending tens of thousands of young people back to Mexico.

The Catholic Register

Now that Canadians have had nine months to tell Ottawa what they want to see in a national poverty reduction strategy, people like Mary Boyd are hoping to increase pressure on the Liberal government to fulfill its 2015 campaign promise to set targets and measure progress on poverty nationwide.

By Mishka Lysack on August 23, 2017

From the Catalyst, Summer 2017

Greening alone is not enough to solve the big problems of climate change, air and water pollution, ocean acidification, and species extinction. The problems lie with how we have organized our economy and designed our buildings and cities, hardwiring our problems into structures that are difficult to change.

Policy Options

Budget 2018 should focus on personal well-being, social cohesion and a healthy environment, and not just on productivity. 

Productivity and competitiveness matter. They are important economic indicators and key to the success of private sector business. But they make up only a portion of who we are as citizens. And focusing the budget discussion narrowly on productivity reduces Canadians to our economic “value” as workers.

Energy poverty in Canada is not new. I can recall stories from my relatives about winters in their childhood, waking up to thick frost on the inside of their windows and heating bricks in wood stoves to keep their beds warm. That was a while ago, though not that long.

While sufficient and reliable energy use is more common in Canada now, not everyone can access or afford the energy that many of us take for granted.