National anti-poverty campaign hopes for a comprehensive plan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa, ON: February 13, 2017 — Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) is encouraged by the announcement today from Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development, Jean-Yves Duclos to move ahead with Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.
Today, Duclos announced two initiatives that will inform the development the strategy: a nation-wide public consultation process and nominations for a ministerial advisory committee on poverty.
“We are very happy to see the launch of the consultations, and we hope that the process allows for strong engagement by the public,” states Darlene O’Leary, Socio-economic Policy Analyst with CPJ.
“We have been calling on the Minister to ensure that the consultations engage widely with a range of stakeholders, most importantly people with a lived experience of poverty,” O’Leary said. “It’s important, as well, that the process plans to engage with Indigenous organizations, which is something the Dignity for All campaign has emphasized.”
Since 2009 CPJ, along with campaign partner Canada Without Poverty, has co-lead Dignity for All: the campaign for a poverty-free Canada. The campaign is supported by over 10,000 individuals and 600 local and national organizations.
Dignity for All has developed a model National Anti-Poverty Plan for Canada that outlines recommendations in six policy areas: income security, housing and homelessness, health, food security, employment, and early childhood education and care.
The consultation process will include an online component, where members of the public can submit recommendations for what they want to see in the national strategy. It will also include in-person engagement options, such as town hall meetings and roundtable discussions. These can be organized by interested groups, or by Members of Parliament.
The consultations will run until June and will inform the development of the national strategy.
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For more information, contact Brad Wassink at ac.jpc@darb or 613-232-0275 x. 225.
Photo Credit: Flickr/UNU-WIDER
