Canadian Social Research Links

National and International
Anti-Poverty Strategies
and
Poverty Reduction

Sites de recherche sociale au Canada

Les stratégies antipauvreté nationales
et la réduction de la pauvreté
au Canada et ailleurs dans le monde

See also:
Provincial and Territorial Information
(This link takes you to a separate page of links)
Voir également:
Renseignements provinciaux et territoriaux
(page distincte)
Updated January 11, 2012
Page révisée le 11 janvier 2012

[ Go to Canadian Social Research Links Home Page ]




National and International Anti-Poverty Strategies
and Poverty Reduction

On this page, you'll find links to information from the Canadian national/federal perspective as well as selected related international links.

--------------------------------------
For links to information from
the Canadian provinces and territories,
see Provincial and Territorial Information
(This link takes you to a separate Canadian Social Research Links page)
--------------------------------------

Jump directly to specific sections of this page of links:
* national antipoverty / poverty reduction news
(reverse chron. order)
* the federal government's role in poverty reduction
* international poverty reduction links

* 38 transcripts from the 2009 presentations to "HUMA" --- the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Poverty in Canada
- incl. links to : * History of poverty in Canada * Measures of poverty in Canada * Low income groups in Canada * Effects of poverty in Canada * Assistance for poor people in Canada (Government transfers and intervention - Non-governmental assistance) * more...

Poverty reduction
Poverty reduction (or poverty alleviation) is any process which seeks to reduce the level of poverty in a community, or amongst a group of people or countries. Poverty reduction programs may be aimed at economic or non-economic poverty...


 



* Links to Anti-Poverty/Poverty Blogs - links to over three dozen blogs from BC, from Toronto, from Fredericton, from Montreal, etc.
* News - Anti-poverty & poverty related news stories, current events, reports & press releases
* Online resources - Links to government websites, policies, acts, regulations & many other useful websites organized by issue (same as above) and by location (links to provincial/territorial resources, U.S. and other international links)
Source:
PovNet
PovNet is an online resource for advocates, people on welfare, and community groups and individuals involved in anti-poverty work.
[ About PovNet ]




New links are added below in reverse chronological order, pretty much.
NOTE : The links immediately below are for Canada only.
For other countries, jump directly to the international links section of this page
(further down on the page you're now reading)

Child-friendly public policies good for economy, says study
http://goo.gl/tt37c
By Derek Abma
January 10, 2012
If governments want to put the economy at the top of their agendas, actions that focus on improving the well-being of children and youth should be prioritized, according to a report released Tuesday.
The Canadian Paediatric Society said in this report that child care, mental health and poverty are some of the key areas related to kids for which there are clear economic benefits to be had by taking action.
Source:
Montreal Gazette
http://www.montrealgazette.com/

From the
Canadian Paediatric Society:

Are governments doing enough to protect kids?
No. Canada can do better, say paediatricans

http://www.cps.ca/english/Media/NewsReleases/2012/DoBetter.htm
News Release
January 10, 2012
OTTAWA—Canada’s provincial and territorial governments could be doing more to protect and promote the health and well-being of Canada’s children and youth, according to a report released today by the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS). The fourth edition of Are We Doing Enough? A status report on Canadian public policy and child and youth health examines how effectively governments use legislation and programming in areas such as injury prevention, disease prevention and health promotion. It also assesses the federal government in key areas.

The CPS report:

Are We Doing Enough? A status report on
Canadian public policy and child and youth health
(PDF - 432K, 40 pages)
2012 (Fourth Edition)
http://www.cps.ca/english/Advocacy/StatusReport2012.pdf
January 2012
Are We Doing Enough? assesses public policy in four major areas:
• Disease prevention • Health promotion • Injury prevention • Best interests of children and youth
Children’s opportunities for health, emotional well-being and life success are determined in large part by their early development. A deprived environment can leave a child with life-long deficits, while high-quality early learning and care help to stimulate cognitive and social development. [report, p. 3]
(...)
The CPS calls upon ...the federal government to show leadership with a national strategy [to alleviate poverty]. A number of evidence-based solutions are available, including income support measures, education and job training, and quality child care programs. The CPS believes that ending child and youth poverty should receive
the same focus as stimulating economic growth. Public accountability is imperative for tracking progress on this critical health issue. [report, p. 26]
NOTE : See pages 26-27 for the CPS perspective on provincial and territorial governments' poverty alleviation plans and a quick chart showing how well each jurisdiction is doing compared with the CPS recommended actions in the area of child poverty reduction.

Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS)
http://www.cps.ca/english/index.htm
The Canadian Paediatric Society is the national association of paediatricians, committed to working together to advance the health of children and youth by nurturing excellence in health care, advocacy, education, research and support of its membership.

 

ADDED TO THIS PAGE
JANUARY 3, 2012:

Campaign 2000 E-Bulletin - Winter 2011
http://goo.gl/9ATSk
December 2011
Campaign 2000’s year-end overview of the state of poverty reduction in Canada

Working for a national plan to make Canada poverty-free
* Scanning the federal scene
* Updates from provinces

Recommended reading!

Source:
Campaign 2000 E-Bulletin

[Subscription and archives page]:
http://www.campaign2000.ca/whatsnew/enews.html
The E-Bulletin provides updates on activities to reduce and end child and family poverty across Canada with news and views, political analysis, commentary on government action or inaction, and links to the latest research and reports.

Source:
Campaign 2000
Campaign 2000 is a cross-Canada public education movement to build Canadian awareness and support for the 1989 all-party House of Commons resolution to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.
[ Campaign 2000 Partners - national AND provincial/territorial organizations, incl. links to their websites ]
[ Links to national child and family poverty report cards for earlier years - back to 2000 ]

 

Don’t equate declarations with success in fighting poverty
http://goo.gl/9bNj9
By Kate Heartfield
December 15, 2011
In 2000, the member states of the United Nations declared, “We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.” To that end, they agreed to the Millennium Development Goals — a set of eight goals and 21 targets dealing with health, education, hunger, gender equality and environmental sustainability.
So did the MDGs work?
(...) a new working paper from the Center for Global Development points out that assessing the usefulness of the MDGs is not as simple as asking whether we’re going to meet the targets.
Source:
Ottawa Citizen

The working paper from
the Center for Global Development:

More Money or More Development:
What Have the MDGs Achieved? - Working Paper 278
(PDF - 1.7MB, 45 pages)
http://www.cgdev.org/files/1425806_file_Kenny_Sumner_MDGs_FINAL.pdf
December 12, 2011
By Charles Kenny and Andy Sumner
This paper reflects on the global goal setting experience of the MDGs and what might be done differently if there is new round of MDGs after 2015.
---
Excerpt from the abstract:
What have the MDGs achieved? And what might their achievements mean for any second generation of MDGs or MDGs 2.0? We argue that the MDGs may have played a role in increasing aid and that development policies beyond aid quantity have seen some limited improvement in rich countries (the evidence on policy change in poor countries is weaker).

Source:
Center for Global Development
http://www.cgdev.org
The Center for Global Development works to reduce global poverty and inequality through rigorous research and active engagement with the policy community to make the world a more prosperous, just, and safe place for us all.

More publications from the Center for Global Development:
http://www.cgdev.org/section/publications

 

From the
Center for Global Development:

Commitment to Development Index 2011 (PDF, 207K, 6 pages)
http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1425586/
David Roodman
November 1, 2011
The Commitment to Development Index ranks 22 of the world’s richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the 5.5 billion people living in poorer nations. Moving beyond standard comparisons of foreign aid volumes, the CDI quantifies a range of rich-country policies that affect poor people in developing countries.
Policies:
* Quantity and quality of aid * Openness to exports * Investment policies * Migration policies * Environmental policies * Security policies * Support for new technologies

2011 Commitment to Development Index
http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/cdi/
Which wealthy nations are helping poor ones most? Rich and poor are linked in many ways. Each year, the CDI scores wealthy governments on helping poor countries via seven linkages: aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security, and technology.
To see how well countries are living up to their potential to help, scoring adjusts for size. So small countries can beat big ones. Scores are scaled so 5 is average.

Source:
Center for Global Development

 

WE ARE THE 10% :
Poverty in Canada
A Special Edition of The Current
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/12/02/a-special-edition-on-poverty-in-canada/
December 2, 2011
... a glimpse into what it means to one of the ten percent of Canadians who live without.
Click the link above for links to audio podcasts for each of the three parts of the radio show:
Pt 1: Personal stories on being poor in Canada
Pt 2: Child Poverty
Pt 3: Paying more being poor

---

A phone-in edition on being poor in Canada
http://goo.gl/CKvjH
December 8, 2011
Last Friday we heard about how poverty can isolate and silence a person. But after last Friday's special, many people found their voice. The emails, the voice messages, the heartfelt reaction overwhelmed us all. So today we dedicated the program to a special call-In edition to hear what it is like to be poor in Canada. West Coast poet Lorna was our guest host for a program concentrating on the ten-percent - at least 10% of Canadians are poor.

* Fast facts on poverty in Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/books/2011/12/08/fast-facts-about-poverty-in-canada/index.html

* Part 1 : The 10% have their say - Mail/Response to Friday
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/interview-panel/2011/12/08/the-10-have-their-say---mailresponse-to-friday/index.html

* Part 2 : The 10% have their say: Phone Calls Part 1
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/interview-panel/2011/12/08/the-10-have-their-say-phone-calls-pt-2/index.html

* Part 3 : The 10% have their say: Phone Calls Part 2
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/interview-panel/2011/12/08/the-10-have-their-say-phone-calls-pt-2/index.html

---

Meet Canadians living in poverty (Audio podcasts)
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/12/08/canadians-living-in-poverty
December 8, 2011
Read a short blurb about each of these organizations:
- Ma's Soup Kitchen in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
- My Sister's Place in London, Ontario
- The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto, Ontario
- Christmas Cheer Board in Winnipeg, Manitoba
- The Smile People Dental Health Clinic in Salmon Arm, B.C.

...then click the "Listen" button to hear compelling stories from some of the people who depend on their services.
Each of the stories is under two minutes.

Source:
The Current
with Anna Maria Tremonti
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/

[ CBC Radio:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ ]

 

Charting Prosperity:
Practical Ideas for a Stronger Canada
(PDF - 1.1MB, 96 pages)
Policy Insights 2011
April 2011
In this annual publication, Maytree presents more than 50 recommendations intended to contribute to Canada’s prosperity while protecting the country’s most vulnerable.
The recommendations make up the three important “I”s of public policy: ideas, instruments, and investments. They each identify a powerful idea to improve the life of Canadians, the instruments which will be effective in creating that improvement, and the investments that must be made to operationalize the instruments.

The ideas are organized in following thematic areas:
*
Income support and social security
* Inclusion and protection
* Democracy and participation
* Immigrant and refugee selection
* Diversity and integration

NOTE: Each of the above links opens a new page with related recommendations, webinars, publications and websites.

Maytree
Established in 1982, Maytree is a private foundation that promotes equity and prosperity through its policy insights, grants and programs. The foundation has gained international recognition for its expertise in developing, testing and implementing programs and policy solutions related to immigration, integration and diversity.

---

Related links:

Al Etmanski
Al Etmanski is an author, advocate and social entrepreneur specializing in innovative solutions to social challenges. He is president and co-founder of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), assisting families across Canada and globally to address the financial and social well-being of their relatives with disabilities, particularly after their parents die. He proposed and led the successful campaign to establish the world’s first savings plan (Registered Disability Savings Plan) for people with disabilities.

Al Etmanski's Poverty Series
The above Policy Insights 2011 is one of 12 resources in this series on the subject of poverty from a number of sources; links to the 11 others appear below.

(1) Fighting The Crime of Poverty: The Life Work of Dr. Fred MacKinnon

(2) Eliminating Poverty: Senator Hugh Segal and Finance Minister Flaherty

(3) A Canadian Town Where No One Was Poor

(4) Canadians With Severe Disabilities - A Basic Income Plan

(5) A Saharan Food Desert: John Stapleton's Poverty Fighting Research

(6) The Homeless Hub

(7) The Dignity Project of the Salvation Army

(8) Patsy George: A Happy Social Worker Has No Analysis

(9) Herb Barbolet: Eating for a Living

(10) Paul Born's Convening: A Prologue to Trust

(11) Jean Swanson: Standing Up to Poor Bashing

 

From the
National Council of Welfare:

The Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty - report home page
September 28, 2011
The report shows the high dollar cost we are currently paying for the consequences of poverty. It examines why investments to end poverty make better economic sense, and it shows how ending poverty would save money and improve wellbeing for everyone. It concludes with recommendations for the way forward.

The report:


The Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty
* HTML version
* PDF version
(3.6MB, 116 pages)
Table of contents:

PART ONE – SENSE
1. Costs, benefits and the difference between spending and investing
2. The economy and poverty
3. Society and poverty
4. Social and economic relationships
PART TWO – DOLLARS
5. Comprehensive cost/benefit calculations
6. Specific cost/benefit examples
PART THREE – DOLLARS AND SENSE
7. Governance and public policy
8. Canadian policy in practice
PART FOUR – SENSIBLE INVESTMENT
9. Taking action: Council recommendations

Related materials:

The Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty: In Brief
*
HTML version
* PDF version
(488K, 8 pages)

The Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty : Comprehensive Bibilography
Recommended resource --- almost 300 links!

* HTML version
* PDF version (271K, 48 pages)
Table of contents:
Section 1 : Canadian Studies
1.1 General
1.2 Policies and Programs
1.3 Housing
1.4 Early Education Programs
1.5 Education
1.6 Health
Section 2 : American Studies
Section 3 : International Studies
Section 4 : Newspaper Articles

National Council of Welfare Press release - includes findings

Source:
National Council of Welfare
The National Council of Welfare is an advisory group to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. The mandate of the Council is to advise the Minister regarding any matter relating to social development that the Minister may refer to the Council for its consideration or that the Council considers appropriate.


Version française:

Le sens des sous pour résoudre la pauvreté
* Format HTML
* Format PDF
(4.8MB, 132 pages)
Table des matières:
PARTIE UN - SENS
1. Coûts, avantages et la différence entre une dépense et un investissement
2. L’économie et la pauvreté
3. La société et la pauvreté
4. Relations sociales et économiques
PARTIE DEUX - SOUS
5. Calculs exhaustifs des coûts/avantages
6. Exemples de coûts/avantages
PARTIE TROIS - LE SENS DES SOUS
7. Gouvernance et politiques gouvernementales
8. Les politiques canadiennes mises en pratique
PARTIE QUATRE - INVESTISSEMENT JUDICIEUX
9. passer à l’action : Recommandations du conseil

Liens connexes:

Le sens des sous pour résoudre la pauvreté : Résumé
* Format HTML
* Format PDF
(393K, 8 pages)

Le sens des sous pour résoudre la pauvreté : Bibliographie exhaustive
Ressource recommandée --- près de 300 liens!
* Format HTML
* Format PDF
(393K, 8 pages)
Table des matières:
Section 1 : Études canadiennes
1.1 Généralités
1.2 Politiques et programmes
1.3 Logement
1.4 Programmes d'éducation de la petite enfance
1.5 Éducation
1.6 Santé
Section 2 : États-Unis
Section 3 : Autre pays
Section 4 : Articles de journaux

Source:
Conseil national du bien-être social
Le Conseil national du bien-être social conseille le/la ministre des Ressources humaines et du Développement des compétences. Le mandat du Conseil est de conseiller le/la ministre sur les questions en matière de développement social que le/la ministre soumet à son examen ou que le Conseil juge opportun d'aborder.

 

Selected media coverage:

Canada urged to spend smarter to cut poverty
September 28, 2011
By Laurie Monsebraaten
It would have taken $12.6 billion to give the 3.5 million Canadians living in poverty enough income to live above the poverty line in 2007. And yet Canadians spent at least double that amount treating the consequences of poverty that year, says the National Council of Welfare. Clearly, this spending pattern doesn’t make good economic or social sense, the council says in its report “The Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty,” being released Wednesday.
Source:
Toronto Star

---

Canadians cover $24-billion a year in poverty costs: report
Poverty costs Canadian taxpayers more than $24-billion a year,
according to a report from the National Council of Welfare

By Jordan Press
September 28, 2011
OTTAWA — The federal government should make a billion-dollar investment to eradicate the root causes of poverty, or face billions more in ongoing expenses, a new report says. Poverty costs taxpayers more than $24-billion a year, said the report, which was released Wednesday from a federal government advisory board, the National Council of Welfare. (...) A large cash investment today would reduce poverty costs to taxpayers in the ensuing years, the council says. (...) Governments should focus public spending on prevention programs such as income supplements and affordable housing, which are cheaper than reactionary measures such as emergency shelters, the council says.
Source:
National Post

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Google.ca Search Result:
"Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty"
* Web pages (765 results)
* News coverage (40 results)
* Blog posts (18 results)
NOTE : The number of results shown above was on September 29;
clicking each of the three links will refresh each search to the present,
so you'll likely see a different number of results.

 

Free Trade and military spending results in worsening poverty in Canada
July 22, 2011
Because of Free Trade, government in Canada is abandoning vital public policies, i.e. "rent control" and budgetary expenditures in areas of vital social responsibility. Poverty has also worsened in Canada, as the Harper has escalated military expenditures to more than $20 billion dollars to support, in part, the development of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Harper government is abandoning the vitality of our national identity as a socially progressive society with a relatively low poverty rate, in favour of an American model of expenditures associated with that country's greed-driven political-military-industrial complex.
Source:
The Canadian
The Canadian is an editorially independent and not-for-profit national newspaper. We are committed to affirming a sovereign Canada, by defending the national public interest via a critical approach to mass-media coverage.

 

“An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada” re-introduced into Parliament
June 22, 2011 by megan
Following in the footsteps of her NDP predecessors, yesterday MP Jean Crowder(also the critic for human resources and skills development) re-introduced An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada (PDF - 133K, 19 pages. Originally introduced into the House in June last year by former NDP colleague Tony Martin, this Bill would pave the way for a mandated federal poverty strategy, as well as important supports and tools needed to adequately address poverty in this country. Seconded by Burnaby-New Westminster MP Peter Julian, this private members Bill is now known as Bill C-233, but contains the same comprehensive plan, and articulate language used in the first iteration.

See our previous blog on the
original Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada
for more details

Canada Without Poverty applauds the re-introduction of this Bill and encourages all Members of Parliament to support its passage into law.

Source:
Canada Without Poverty

 

Tough on poverty, tough on crime?
By Chandra Pasma
May 27, 2011
Earlier this year, Senator Hugh Segal published a great op-ed in the Toronto Star calling for those concerned about crime to get tough on poverty. “Less than 10 per cent of Canadians live beneath the poverty line but almost 100 per cent of our prison inmates come from that 10 per cent. There is no political ideology, on the right or left, that would make the case that people living in poverty belong in jail,” the Senator argued. “To be tough on crime means we must first be tough on the causes of poverty,” he concludes.
Segal argues for a Guaranteed Annual Income, also known as a Guaranteed Livable Income, noting that it would take only $12,000-$20,000 annually to bring a person above the poverty line but we spend $147,000 a year per federal prisoner.
Source:
Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ)
Mission : to promote public justice in Canada by shaping key public policy debates through research and analysis, publishing and public dialogue. CPJ encourages citizens, leaders in society and governments to support policies and practices which reflect God’s call for love, justice and stewardship.
[ More info about CPJ ]

Exit Interview: NDP Tony Martin
May 20, 2011
By Meagan Fitzpatrick
Twenty years in politics came to an end for Tony Martin on May 2 when he was defeated in the northern Ontario riding of Sault Ste. Marie. He had been an MP for the NDP since 2004 and before that was a member of the provincial government, serving under Bob Rae when he was NDP premier in Ontario. Martin is passionate about poverty -- eradicating it, that is -- and it's been a focus of his time in public office. In Ottawa, he dedicated a lot of his time to that work on committees and on a private member's bill that would create a national strategy to eliminate poverty and an Office of the Poverty Elimination Commissioner.
Source:
CBC

COMMENT: (by Gilles)
It was truly a pleasure and an honour for me to meet Tony on a couple of occasions and to promote his work in my site and newsletter.
Bill C-545 may have died on the order paper, Tony, but your dedication to the cause of poverty eradication has left a profound mark on all of us who work in support of social justice in Canada. I wish you well in the next chapter of your remarkable life...
[...and I pray that the NDP surge can produce someone who can grow into those large shoes of yours.]

Federal election 2011:

From the
Childcare Resource and Research Unit
:

Addressing child and family poverty in Canada: Where do the parties stand?
29 Apr 11
- Campaign 2000 assesses the federal parties' records and promises on child poverty.

---

From
Make Poverty History Canada
:

All parties except Conservatives support Make Poverty History goals
http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/story/all-parties-except-conservatives-support-make-poverty-history-goals

North Rejects Conservative Agenda: Fighter Jets, Prisons, Corporate Tax Breaks
February 14, 2011
OTTAWA –Sault MP Tony Martin said today people in his riding “who work hard and watch their money” do not want their government buying $35 million fighter jets, building more prisons or offering corporations more tax breaks.
Source:
Tony Martin, NDP

See also:

* Canada Without Poverty
* Dignity for All Campaign
* Make Poverty History
*
Bill C-545 (An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada), introduced in the House on June 17, 2010 by Tony Martin, MP (NDP)
*
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Dignity for All Campaign
Mobilization Update: February 10, 2011

(1) The Dignity for All Campaign [ La campagne Dignité pour touTEs ] has three goals:
* a federal plan for poverty elimination that complements provincial and territorial plans;
* a federal anti-poverty Act that ensures enduring federal commitment and accountability for results; and
* sufficient federal investment in social security for all Canadians.

2) As of February 10th, 488 groups have endorsed the campaign (list attached). Thank you all!
Please help the milestone of 500 groups be surpassed soon, by asking representatives of other groups you know to sign on via the on-line endorsement portal:
[ English ] [ Français ].

3) As of February 10th, 108 federal parliamentarians plus Green Party Leader Elizabeth May have endorsed the campaign (list attached). This list includes 89 Members of Parliament (representation from all parties in the House, and including NDP Leader Jack Layton) and 19 Senators (representation from Conservative and Liberal parties). Thank you all! Please encourage your fellow parliamentarians who have not yet endorsed the campaign to do so, via the on-line endorsement portal.

4) Re: Dignity for All campaign goal #1 (federal plan for poverty elimination):

(a) A Dignity Campaign policy summit (March 3-4, Ottawa) will focus on federal housing policy and on early childhood education and care. Thanks to the Atkinson Charitable Foundation and Canadian Union of Public Employees for financial support for this event, the first in a series of summits to explore optimum federal policy with respect to a number of thematic concerns.

(b) The federal government has until March 17 to formally respond to the November 2010 HUMA Committee report [ English] [ Français ] on the federal role on poverty. Campaign representatives will be ready to publicly comment on the government’s response, anticipated to be similar to the weak response given to the 2009 Senate Subcommittee on Cities report on the federal role on poverty.

(c) You and/or your group can support the HUMA report by contacting the Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and asking her to adopt the report’s recommendations. Find out more by visiting Make Poverty History’s on-line Support the Report action page [ English ] [ Français ].

5) Re: goal #2 (federal Act):

Bill C-545 (An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada), introduced in the House on June 17, 2010 by Tony Martin, MP (NDP) with support from Mike Savage, MP (Liberal) and Yves Lessard, MP (Bloc Québécois) marks a significant step towards fulfilling the second goal of the Dignity Campaign. Were it to pass into law, it would mandate a federal plan to eliminate poverty, ensure critical mechanisms for accountability for progress, and achieve several other notable things. Help spread word across Canada about this landmark proposed law.

6) Re: goal #3 (sufficient federal investment in social security for all Canadians):

a) Under international law to which Canada is signatory, every Canadian (more broadly, every person) has the right to “social security”, i.e., programs “providing social protection, or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others” (source). Through the Dignity Campaign and related efforts, a coherent articulation can emerge of how social security can be attained and ensured across generations.

b) At the federal level, the next big test of Canada’s direction towards or away from social security will be the forthcoming federal budget, anticipated to be brought down in the second half of March – and possibly triggering the next federal election should the budget be defeated. Prior to this, keep watch for the release, by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, of the Alternative Federal Budget which will include careful analysis and well-considered recommendations specific to poverty and related concerns.

c) Also keep watch for forthcoming information, analysis and hopefully public debate concerning the renewal, by March 31, 2014, of the Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer. The substance of this renewal could have major implications for future social security. Click here for one recent in-depth analysis of this issue by Scott Clark and Peter Devries, two former senior officials at Finance Canada.

7) Continued thanks to all those investing time, energy and resources into building Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada. Success is within our reach.

Rob Rainer
Executive Director / Directeur executif
CANADA WITHOUT POVERTY / CANADA SANS PAUVRETÉ
Working in alliance with the
CWP Advocacy Network

Travaillant en alliance avec le Réseau de revendication CSP

Vibrant Communities
Vibrant Communities is a community-driven effort to reduce poverty in Canada by creating partnerships that make use of our most valuable assets – people, organizations, businesses and governments.Vibrant Communities links communities from all across Canada, British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador, in a collective effort to test the most effective ways to reduce poverty at the grassroots level.
[ more about Vibrant Communities ]

Vibrant Communities Across Canada:
Click the above link and then select one of the communities for information on its approach to poverty reduction, an update on how poverty reduction is proceeding, contact info and links to key related documents.
Participating Communities:
* Abbotsford * Calgary * Edmonton * Hamilton * Montreal * Saint John * St. John's * Surrey * Trois-Rivières * Victoria * Waterloo * Winnipeg

Source:
Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement:
Tamarack exists to build vibrant and engaged communities in Canada. Our work will result in more collaborative approaches and less poverty.

Poverty - The 1% Solution
Posted by Andrew Jackson
January 11, 2011
Statistics Canada provides free of charge a very rich set of data on income issues (see the StatCan link below), including low income (aka poverty) in 20/20 format. Here you can find data on the incidence of low income by four different measures; by family type; and by quite detailed geography. (You have to play around with the active dimension to get at all of the data. Clicking “show all” will indicate the total menu under a dimension.) The data include statistics on the depth of low income ie the degree to which the incomes of a particular group in low income fall short of the relevant poverty line. One measure provided is the shortfall of incomes of those in low income compared to the total income of the whole group.
One rather striking triple factoid is this.
In 2008, the incidence of low income for all persons in Canada measured by the LICO After Tax measure was 9.4%, and the average gap or income shortfall relative to the LICO AT line was 33%. That gap in turn is equivalent to 1% of the after tax income of all Canadians. In short, we could eliminate poverty by shifting just 1% of our collective income to the almost one in ten Canadians living in low income. Now just why is that so difficult to do? (By the way, the 1% figure is the same if you prefer the Market Basket Measure of low income to the LICO line.)
Source:
Relentlessly Progressive Economics Blog
[ Progressive Economics Forum ]
Economic policy-making and economics instruction in Canada have both increasingly come to reflect a conservative, free-market perspective. There is an urgent need to promote an alternative, progressive economics community in Canada.Over 125 progressive economists—working in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizations—have joined forces to make our collective, critical perspective heard. We have formed the Progressive Economics Forum. [ About PEF ]

Andrew Jackson is National Director of Social and Economic Policy with the Canadian Labour Congress.
[ More postings by Andrew Jackson ]

From Statistics Canada:

Data tables : Series 800 – Low income (for the year 2008)*
- incl. links to tables showing:
* Low income cut-offs before and after tax for rural and urban areas, by family size, 2008 constant dollars
* Persons in low income
* Persons in low income families, by age and sex of major income earner
* Persons in low income, by economic family type
* Transitions of persons into and out of low income, by selected characteristics
* Persistence of low income, by selected characteristics
* Low income measures by income source and household size, 2008 constant dollars, annual
* Market Basket Measure Thresholds (2008 base) for reference family, by Market Basket Measure region and component, 2008 constant dollars, annual

* COMMENT for the nice folks at StatCan:

HEY - WASSUP with the proprietary browser??
If I click on the above "Data tables" link above and then select a particular table, a new window opens with a link to a file that ends in ".ivt", along with the following note from StatCan:

To access the Beyond 20/20 (IVT) version, you need the Beyond 20/20 Table Browser, which may be downloaded below. To install this product, run «ProBrowser.exe». [The link is to "Beyond 20/20 Browser for Windows operating systems" (18.9 mb)]

C'mon, really?
#1. The Beyond 20/20 (IVT) version is the *only* version that appears to be available on the site. Most people have Excel or a similar spreadsheet program on their computer, and everyone has a PDF reader. Forcing people to download and install yet another tool to access this information is an impediment to accessibility for many, in my view.
#2. Most institutional networks (e.g., university, government, large NGOs) prevent downloading and installing programs unless one has "admin" privileges. For regular users, this means asking the tech support people to do the downloading and installation (in their own time and at their own pace) or going without.
#3. Most home networks, as a general rule, allow anyone to download and install programs. However, this doesn't mean that people working at home are willing - or able - to download
and install programs. StatCan's link to the program states that the program is almost 19 MB in size - that's enormous for someone still using dialup connection or a slower broadband connection. And there's a link to the Windows version only - but nothing for Mac users or Linux users or anyone except Windows users.


Update - January 17:
In defense of the StatCan proprietary browser, a Canadian Social Research Newsletter subscriber who is an economist notes that Excel wouldn't let you use the 20/20 browser's features, which offer "the ability to change variables in the viewing screen". I'm pleased that the economists, statisticians and others whose bread and butter is the numbers game have a new tool/toy in their arsenal, but, in the words of one social researcher with extensive stats experience : "You shouldn't have to download special software if all you want are the latest numbers to update a spreadsheet."
This doesn't have to be an "either-or" situation. StatCan offers multiple formats of many of its products --- perhaps it could offer a version of its data tables that wouldn't require downloading and installing extra software...

NOTE : The source for Series 800 - Low income is the Data Tables from Income in Canada 2008.
The above comment re. the need for proprietary software to open the low income data tables applies to all tables in Series 100 to 900 (below)

---

Source:
Data Tables
[Click this link to access any of the series below.]
Series 100 - Earnings
Series 200 - Market income
Series 300 - Government transfers
Series 400 - Total income
Series 500 - Income tax
Series 600 - After-tax income
Series 700 - Tables with multiple income concepts
Series 800 - Low income
Series 900 - Background tables
Source:
Income in Canada 2008 - Posted June 2010

Canada Without poverty
Fall 2010 Newsletter

November 17, 2010
[ PDF version - small file]
Canada Without Poverty and the CWP Advocacy Network have prepared their Fall 2010 Poverty & Parliament Newsletter.
Highlights include:
* Review of “The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger” by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
* Expansion of Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada to include Make Poverty History
* Updates on Bill C-304 [small PDF file], which calls for a national housing strategy, and Bill C-545, An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada
* A look at recent actions & events: Poverty & Punchlines, and the Red Tent Campaign
Source:
Canada Without Poverty (CWP)
Canada Without Poverty is a federally incorporated, non-partisan, not-for-profit and charitable organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty in Canada.(...) One of the special characteristics of Canada Without Poverty is that, since our inception in 1971, we have always been governed by people with direct, personal experience of living in poverty, whether in childhood or as adults. This lived experience informs and helps to guide our work. (...) Acting from the belief that poverty is a violation of human rights and that poverty elimination is a human rights obligation, our work includes raising awareness about poverty, participating in research to generate new knowledge about poverty, and striving to influence public policy to prevent and alleviate poverty.

CWP Advocacy Network
The CWP Advocacy Network is a new national non-profit but non-charitable organization. It exists to directly lobby politicians and other public policy makers, at all levels of government in Canada, for policies and legislation that help prevent, alleviate and eliminate poverty in Canada.

Dignity for All - Support the campaign for a poverty-free Canada
Dignity for All is a multi-year, multi-partner, non-partisan campaign. This campaign’s vision is to make a poverty-free and more socially secure and cohesive Canada a reality by 2020. The conviction behind this campaign is that Canadians must respect and defend the right of every person to dignity and security.

2010 Report Cards on Child and Family Poverty in Canada and [selected] provinces
November 24, 2010
Campaign 2000
[NOTA : Le lien vers la version française se trouve à la suite des liens vers l'anglais.]

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The National child poverty report for 2010:

2010 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada: 1989 – 2010
Reduced Poverty for All
(PDF - 389K, 12 pages)
The 2010 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada, Reduced Poverty = Better Health for All, looks at the nation’s most recent child and family poverty rate compared to 21 years ago, when Parliament unanimously resolved to end child poverty by 2000, and finds that 610,000 children (2008 LICO after-tax) and their families lived in poverty even before the recession hit. The child poverty rate of 9.1 per cent is slightly less than when it was 11.9 per cent in 1989. Lessons from past recessions tell us that poverty will rise before the recovery is complete.
See also:
[ Press release - November 24, 2010 (PDF - 52K, 2 pages) ]

The report card’s key findings show Canada has a long way to go to prevent and reduce poverty:

• One in 10 children still lives in poverty in Canada. It’s worse for children living in First Nations communities: one in four grow up in poverty;
• Employment is not always an assured pathway out of poverty: 1 in 3 low-income children lives in families where at least one parent works full-time year round and almost 400,000 adult full-time workers earn less than $10 per hour.
• Child poverty is persistent across Canada: rates of child and family poverty (LICO before-tax) are in the double digits in all provinces.
• The gap between rich and poor has widened: On average, for every dollar the families in the poorest 10 per cent had, families in the richest 10 per cent had almost 13 times as much ($12.66) in 2008.

Source:
Campaign 2000
Campaign 2000 is a cross-Canada public education movement to build Canadian awareness and support for the 1989 all-party House of Commons resolution to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.
[ Campaign 2000 Partners - national AND provincial/territorial organizations, incl. links to their websites ]
[ Links to national child and family poverty report cards for earlier years - back to 2000 ]

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Version française:
Rapport 2010 sur la pauvreté des enfants et des familles au Canada: 1989 – 2010
Moins de pauvreté = meilleure santé pour tous et toutes
(PDF - 326Ko., 12 pages) ]

Source:
Campagne 2000
Campagne 2000 est un réseau pancanadien, non partisan et non gouvernemental de plus de cent vingt organismes nationaux, provinciaux, territoriaux et communautaires qui ont pris l’engagement de « promouvoir et d’assurer la mise en œuvre complète de la résolution du 24 novembre 1989 de la Chambre des communes ».
Voir également:
[ Communiqué de presse - 24 novembre - (petit fichier PDF, 2 pages) ]

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NOTE:
This is one of a series of reports all released under the Campaign 2000 banner on November 24 (2010), the anniversary of the 1989 unanimous House of Commons resolution to end child poverty by the year 2000. For links to the complete collection of federal and provincial reports and (selected) related media coverage, go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm

Related links:

Number of seniors living in poverty soars nearly 25%
By Joe Friesen
November 24, 2010
The number of seniors living in poverty spiked at the beginning of the financial meltdown, reversing a decades-long trend and threatening one of Canada’s most important social policy successes. The number of seniors living below the low-income cutoff, Statistics Canada’s basic measure of poverty, jumped nearly 25 per cent between 2007 and 2008, to 250,000 from 204,000, according to figures released on Wednesday by Campaign 2000. It’s the largest increase among any group, and as the first cohort of baby boomers turns 65 next year, could place increased pressure on families supporting elderly parents.
[ 79 comments ]
Source:
Globe and Mail

Links to 38 transcripts
from the 2009 presentations to HUMA:

Meetings of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills
and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities ("HUMA")

(40th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION)
(These sessions took place between February and June 2009)

The link above takes you to a Canadian Social Research Links page containing links to over three dozen meetings of the "HUMA" Committee along with a table of contents for all 38 transcripts for 2009 in the context of the Parliamentary study of the "Federal Contribution to Reducing Poverty in Canada". The 2009 HUMA Committee Meetings page from the Parliamentary Website doesn't include a guide or a table of contents, so it's not easy to find your way around. The HUMA meeting transcripts range from 25 to 50 pages if printed, and they all contain valuable information on poverty reduction and social programs in Canada. The new HUMA Links page also contains some links to the 2008 HUMA transcripts as well as information about how the HUMA Committee work fits in with other current and recent Parliamentary studies of poverty.

Source:
Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills
and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

[ Parliament of Canada ]

-------------------------

Two months ago, the Senate of Canada unanimously adopted a report on homelessness and poverty calling for a national poverty on housing, homelessness and poverty. Remember what happened to that one?

Federal gov’t refuses to take action on
Senate housing / homelessness / poverty report

September 27, 2010
By Michael Shapcott
In a formal response released today, the federal government has promised only to take “under advisement” a detailed report adopted unanimously by the Senate of Canada that calls for a comprehensive and co-ordinated national strategy on housing, homelessness and poverty.
NOTE : includes half a dozen links to recent related studies
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog

So, with unanimous support in the Senate for a poverty strategy and an all-party House of Commons Committee report calling for a national poverty strategy, do you think that Stephen Harper will treat this report as dismissively as he did the September Senate report??
Stay tuned.

Right hook weakens Canada
By Frances Russell
November 3, 2010
The more tax fairness erodes in Canada, the more unfair taxation will become. (...) Right-wing populism hurts right-wing populists most. As low- and middle-income earners, they are the most reliant on the services governments, particularly municipal governments, provide -- public transit, parks and recreational facilities, libraries, police, garbage collection, maintenance of municipal infrastructure, housing and front-line social services.
(...)
This summer, Ottawa scored another huge victory in the right-wing war against government. By killing the 2011 long form census, the Harper Conservatives have ensured Canadians will no longer have the reliable data even to know how quickly the gap is growing between rich and poor and how wide it is becoming.
Source:
Winnipeg Free Press

Equality or barbarism?
October 16, 2010
Ed Broadbent (Former leader of the federal New Democratic Party)
Text of the Charles Bronfman Lecture delivered at the University of Ottawa on Oct. 14, 2010
---

Recommended reading!

Excerpts:

(...) For four decades after the war Canadians joined with citizens in other North Atlantic democracies in creating the most productive and equitable societies in history. Although poverty was by no means eliminated, for the large majority this was the Golden Age.
(...) High economic growth rates were accompanied by a wide-ranging set of new social entitlements. Led by social democratic ideology in North America and Britain, as well as by many Christian Democrats in continental Europe, it came to be understood that, left to its own devices, capitalism was not only inherently unstable but would also produce a distribution of goods and services that was profoundly unfair.
(...) What emerged from this thinking was a Canada characterized by a wide range of new social and economic entitlements: government pensions, universal health care, trade union rights, comprehensive unemployment insurance, the expectation that every boy and girl with ability could go to university — and all were paid for by adequate levels of progressive taxation. What were once considered benefits appropriately provided by charitable organizations had become rights guaranteed by the state.
(...)
Long before the crash in the global economy two years ago this month, Canada and many other Western democracies had undergone a significant ideological and material reversal.
(...) Rejecting the traditional Toryism of Bill Davis and of Progressive Conservatives like Robert Stanfield, Mike Harris’s new Conservative government [in Ontario, in 1995] portrayed government itself as an enemy of progress and eviscerated the equality building projects of the welfare state. This ideological approach was brought to federal politics by the right-wing populism of Preston Manning’s Reform party.
(...)
The present Conservative government has simply continued its predecessor’s onslaught on equality. As a consequence of the continuing underfunding of social spending and irresponsible tax cuts disproportionately favouring the rich, for many Canadians it came as no surprise when we were criticized by the United Nations in 2007 for failing to live up to our obligations under the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This was followed in 2008 by an OECD report showing that growth in inequality in Canada is now among the worst in the OECD.
(...)
Given that we now know the positive impact more equality can have on the quality of freely chosen lives for everyone, all democrats should speak out. Instead of worship of the market, we should recognize its benefits but underline its limits. Instead of seeing government as the enemy, we must reclaim its possibilities. And instead of restoring the pre-2008 system, the federal government should join with the majority of provinces and launch the anti-poverty program that both the House of Commons and the Senate have called for. We must reclaim for the 21st century the ancient democratic goal of more equality.
Source:
Toronto Star

Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada

October 14, 2010
A Message from
Rob Rainer, Executive Director
CWP Advocacy Network:


SUBJECT:
Oct 19: Canada Day of Action for a Federal Housing Strategy;
Oct 20 'fireside chat' on a federal housing strategy

1) From the east to west coasts, Red Tents will be popping open on October 19th for the Red Tent Canada Day of Action for a Federal Housing Strategy. This Day of Action takes place one day before scheduled debate, at Third Reading in the House of Commons, of Bill C-304 (An Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians). The Day of Action calls for full parliamentary support of the Bill which, if passed into law, would mandate the federal government to develop a national housing strategy, in consultation with key stakeholders and appropriately rooted in a human rights framework.

The CWP Advocacy Network supports the Red Tents Campaign and, with partners such as Pivot Legal Society, ACORN CANADA , the Ottawa Alliance to End Homelessness and Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain , is co-organizing the Day of Action in Ottawa on October 19th. Solidarity actions are being held in Halifax (Oct 16), London, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria – with Red Tents on hand to demand full parliamentary support (House and Senate) for Bill C-304.

The Day of Action in Ottawa will include a 9:30am press conference on Parliament Hill, followed by a rally on the Hill at 10:00am and additional rally at the Human Rights Monument (Elgin and Lisgar). Volunteers are needed to help with the opening and carrying of 100 Red Tents – for a striking visual representation of the homelessness crisis in Canada, a crisis literally at the doorstep of our parliamentarians. Those in the Ottawa area who can help with the rally – please contact our office (613-789-0115) or info@cwp-csp.ca

2) On October 20, 1:00-2:00pm Eastern, the Population Health Improvement Research Network at the University of Ottawa is holding a cross-Canada “fireside chat” on a federal housing strategy. “Fireside Chats are pan-Canadian discussions via telephone/Internet for population health professionals - and stakeholders.” Wednesday’s chat will feature several housing experts including Michael Shapcott of the Wellesley Institute.
To register, go to http://www.chnet-works.ca/

3) Precarious Housing in Canada (2010) is a powerful, new research and policy report from the Wellesley Institute. Using the most comprehensive and current data, research and analysis, Precarious Housing sets out a pragmatic, five-point plan targeted to the millions of Canadians who are living in substandard, over-crowded and unaffordable homes – plus those who are living without any housing at all. Housing is one of the most important factors for a healthy life.

Source:
CWP Advocacy Network
[ Canada Without Poverty - CWP ]

See also:
Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada

The December 2009 Senate Committee
report and the federal government's [non-] response

(in reverse chronological order)

September 27, 2010
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE FINAL REPORT OF THE STANDING SENATE
COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL AFFAIRS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY’S SUBCOMMITTEE ON CITIES
ENTITLED, IN FROM THE MARGINS: A CALL TO ACTION ON POVERTY, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
(PDF - 133K, 20 pages)
(...) Many of the initiatives that address the economic security and health of Canadians fall under provincial and territorial jurisdiction.
(...) The Government is taking real action to address many of the issues raised in this report. The Government will take the Committee’s recommendations under advisement as it continues to find ways to help Canadians succeed.

------------------------------------

Media coverage:

Harper government gives Senate poverty report short shrift: Critics
By Norma Greenaway
September 29, 2010
OTTAWA — The Harper government has brushed off a major Senate report advocating a sweeping assault on poverty with a 20-page defence of the status quo. Critics say the government response is almost insulting because it doesn't deal directly with any of the more than 70 recommendations, including one calling for a commitment to work with the provinces on a strategy to eradicate poverty.
Source:
The Vancouver Sun

---

Ottawa rejects Senate plan to fight poverty
September 28, 2010
By Laurie Monsebraaten
The Harper government has refused to adopt any of the 74 poverty-fighting recommendations that were part of a sweeping Senate report on homelessness and poverty. Instead, the government’s response Monday night to the Senate’s 300-page report was a 20-page list of Ottawa’s current programs and a commitment to “take the committee’s recommendations under advisement as it continues to find ways to help Canadians succeed.” Liberal Senator Art Eggleton, whose subcommittee on cities authored the report, said he is “disappointed” in the government’s response.Source:
Toronto Star

------------------------------------

From Michael Shapcott of
The Wellesley Institute:

Federal gov’t refuses to take action on
Senate housing / homelessness / poverty report

September 27, 2010

By Michael Shapcott
In a formal response released today, the federal government has promised only to take “under advisement” a detailed report adopted unanimously by the Senate of Canada that calls for a comprehensive and co-ordinated national strategy on housing, homelessness and poverty.
NOTE : includes half a dozen links to recent related studies
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog

------------------------------------

Statement of the Winnipeg Roundtable to the Council of the Federation:
The provincial and territorial road to poverty eradication

4 Aug 2010
Statement from a roundtable of cross-Canada participants calls on the Premiers and federal party leaders to "reflect the inherent decency of most Canadians and start to work on a plan for poverty eradication".

------------------------------------

The December 2009
Senate Committee report:

In From the Margins:
A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness
(PDF - 3.8MB, 290 pages)
The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology
Report of the Subcommittee on Cities
The Honourable Art Eggleton P.C., Chair
The Honourable Hugh Segal, Deputy Chair
December 2009
[ version française (PDF - 4,5Mo., 331 pages) ]

Executive Summary
* Evidence * Poverty * Poverty reduction strategies * Employment Insurance * Training and education * Health * Income transfers through the tax system * Housing and homelessness * Programs targeted to over-represented groups * Rights-based approaches * Common cause * Knowledge exchange

Source:
Subcommittee on Cities
[ Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology ]

Bill C-545, An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada

-----------------------

July 13, 2010
A message from Rob Rainer:

Bill C-545, An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada was introduced at First Reading in the House of Commons on June 16, 2010 by Tony Martin, Member of Parliament (NDP) for Sault Ste. Marie, with welcome non-partisan support from Liberal MP Michael Savage and Bloc Québécois MP Yves Lessard.

From the Bill: “Part 1 of this enactment provides for the establishment of a Government of Canada strategy to eliminate poverty and promote social inclusion. Part 2 of the enactment establishes the Office of the Poverty Elimination Commissioner independent of Government.”

Were Bill C-545 to pass into law in its current or any improved form, it would be a major breakthrough in the decades-long pan-Canadian struggle to reduce and eliminate poverty in Canada. The Bill is consistent with the vision for federal anti-poverty legislation called for by Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada.

The Bill:

BILL C-545
An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada
- full text
Third Session, Fortieth Parliament,
59 Elizabeth II, 2010
HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA
First reading, June 16, 2010
Mr. Martin (Sault Ste. Marie)

Status of Bill C-545 as at March 2011 - First Reading June 16, 2010

The CWP Advocacy Network encourages you to become familiar with Bill C-545 – and for you and/or your organization to ask your Member of Parliament and, indeed, all MPs, to support it when the Bill comes up for Second Reading (no date set for Second Reading, according to "Status of Bill C-545").
[ Find your MP ]

Rob Rainer is Executive Director of:
CWP Advocacy Network --- "an active, vigorous voice on policy and legislation from civil society"
The CWP Advocacy Network is part of:
Canada Without Poverty / Canada sans pauvreté
Canada Without Poverty is a federally incorporated, non-partisan, not-for-profit and charitable organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty in Canada.

-------------------------------------

Related links from
Citizens for Public Justice:

Centre for Public Justice lauds
new bill calling for poverty elimination strategy

June 16, 2010
Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) praised a new private member’s bill tabled in the House of Commons today calling for a federal poverty elimination strategy. The bill was tabled by Tony Martin of the New Democratic Party and seconded by Mike Savage of the Liberal Party and Yves Lessard of the Bloc Québécois. (...) CPJ has called for a poverty elimination strategy for several years, most recently expressing its support through the Dignity for All campaign which CPJ co-founded with Canada Without Poverty. Thousands of Canadians and hundreds of organizations have publicly expressed their support for the campaign and its goal of a federal poverty elimination strategy.

Poverty Elimination Act tabled in the House of Commons
By Chandra Pasma
June 16, 2010
(...) Bill C-545 directs the federal government to consultatively develop a federal poverty elimination strategy, creates a new, independent Poverty Commissioner to monitor progress of the strategy, and provides a stronger advisory role for the , to be renamed the National Council of Poverty and Social Inclusion.

Source:
Citizens for Public Justice
Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) is a national organization of members inspired by faith to act for justice in Canadian public policy.

Also from
Citizens for Public Justice:

Recession and recovery: Where are we now?
By Chandra Pasma
July 13, 2010
Now that we’ve passed the halfway point of the year, it’s a good time to check out some of the trends reported on in Bearing the Brunt (May 2010), CPJ’s study of the recession and poverty. How is that recovery coming along? Statistics reveal a mixed bag – some improving trends, and some discouraging ones. Overall, the picture is less robust than headlines about economic recovery would suggest. GDP may be growing steadily, but recovery has yet to trickle down to those who suffered most from the recession – the poor, economically vulnerable and unemployed.

Recommended reading!!
1. Read Bearing the Brunt (if you haven't already...)
2. Read Recession and recovery for an update covering the past year in the following areas:
*
Unemployment
* Employment Insurance
* Social Assistance
* Employment
* Income
* Cost of Living
* Housing
* Debt and Bankruptcy
* Food Bank Use
* Poverty Trends During the Recession

Source:
Citizens for Public Justice

Canadian municipalities want action against poverty
Municipal social services are overwhelmed by demand and a new model of funding must be found.
June 2, 2010
Toronto --- The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is calling on politicians in Ottawa to pass anti-poverty legislation to deal with serious problems faced by municipalities across the country. A motion put forward from Calgary and approved at the recent FCM meeting said social services have been overwhelmed by demand and only Ottawa is in a position to deal with the issue. The Calgary motion called on the federal government to re-assert its role in ensuring income security for all Canadians. By endorsing this motion, FCM joined more than 330 organizations, as well as 57 MPs and 12 senators to date, in supporting a national campaign called Dignity for All.

The campaign is led by two national organizations - Canada Without Poverty (CWP) and Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ). It is asking the federal government to immediately develop a national anti-poverty plan and legislation to provide adequate income security for all Canadians

Source:
National Union of Public and General Employees
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is a family of 11 component unions. Taken together we are one of the largest unions in Canada. Most of our 340,000 members work to deliver public services of every kind to the citizens of their home provinces

Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has been the national voice of municipal government since 1901. With more than 1,775 members, FCM represents the interests of municipalities on policy and program matters that fall within federal jurisdiction. Members include Canada's largest cities, small urban and rural communities, and 18 provincial and territorial municipal associations

FCM's 73rd Annual Conference and Municipal Expo
May 28-31, 2010
Sheraton Centre, Toronto

Conference program

Conference webcasts
- includes the following webcasts:
:: Opening Ceremony and Plenary
:: The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
:: Know your rights-of-way
:: Michael Ignatieff, M.P., leader, Liberal Party of Canada
:: Paul Martin and John Godfrey
:: Closing Ceremony and Rebuilding Haiti: The role of local government co-operation in post-disaster reconstruction

Related link from FCM:

Forum Magazine - Canada´s national municipal affairs magazine
Forum is the flagship publication of the FCM, delivering timely, insightful information on a range of municipal issues.
NOTE: This magazine is available by subscription, although it's not entirely clear whether private citizens can subscribe.
There's a link to the current issue of Forum magazine whose content likely changes as each of the magazine's five issues per year is released.
Timely Tip: if you click the link in the previous line, you'll see that the cover article for the current (Winter 2010) issue is "Action on Housing" --- deals with municipal initiatives "to end homelessness through innovative, affordable housing alternatives."
Excellent article!

That content will change when the next issue of Forum is published, so I'd suggest that if you wish to access this later, you should save the complete magazine by clicking the PDF icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the page and saving the file to your hard drive.

____________________________________

Eye candy alert!
If you or your organization produce an online magazine and are thinking makeover, I seriously suggest that you take a peek at the latest issue of Forum.
Prepare to be impressed - I was.
This is such a realistic presentation that you'd swear you were reading a paper magazine.
(includes page-flipping technology that makes reading even more fun - move your mouse to any corner of the page and flip the page!)
I haven't seen many online resources that can come close to the snazzy (sorry, I'm a child of the fifties...) interface of this product from Zmags.
If you're curious, check out the Zmags site or send an email to someone at the FCM to ask how they like the product and how much it costs, etc.
____________________________________

Related link:

Council's anti-poverty initiative a 'slam dunk'
June 1, 2010
Politicians from cities across Canada have supported Calgary's push for federal anti-poverty legislation.
Alderman Joe Ceci said the city's resolution got "slam-dunk" support in Toronto over the weekend at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' annual convention. The organization will now formally advocate that Ottawa enact a law and dedicate funds toward an attempt to erase poverty in Canada, more than 20 years after Parliament first passed a resolution demanding an end to child poverty by 2000.
Source:
Calgary Herald



The Federal Government's Role
in Poverty Reduction in Canada
_________________________

From the Parliamentary Research Library:
(Government of Canada)

Poverty Reduction in Canada - The Federal Role
By Chantal Collin (Political and Social Affairs Division)
23 October 2007
HTML version
PDF version
(118K, 12 pages)
[ version française ]
Table of Contents:
* Who Is Poor in Canada?
* Calls for a National Anti-Poverty Strategy – What Role Could the Federal Government Play?
* A. Key Features of Poverty Reduction Strategies in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ireland and the United Kingdom
* 1. Social and Economic Links
* 2. Multi-Year Action Plans
* 3. Progress Measurement and Administrative Framework
* B. What Could Be Done?
* 1. Key Challenges
* 2. The Canada Social Transfer: A Need for Principles and Objectives to Guide Social Spending
* 3. Social Union Framework Agreement: A Possible Model?
* 4. Public Accountability and Transparency
* 5. Immediate Action at the Federal Level

_________________________

Exit Interview: NDP Tony Martin
May 20, 2011
By Meagan Fitzpatrick
Twenty years in politics came to an end for Tony Martin on May 2 when he was defeated in the northern Ontario riding of Sault Ste. Marie. He had been an MP for the NDP since 2004 and before that was a member of the provincial government, serving under Bob Rae when he was NDP premier in Ontario. Martin is passionate about poverty -- eradicating it, that is -- and it's been a focus of his time in public office. In Ottawa, he dedicated a lot of his time to that work on committees and on a private member's bill that would create a national strategy to eliminate poverty and an Office of the Poverty Elimination Commissioner.
Source:
CBC

COMMENT: (by Gilles)
It was truly a pleasure and an honour for me to meet Tony on a couple of occasions and to promote his work in my site and newsletter.
Bill C-545 may have died on the order paper, but your dedication to the cause of poverty eradication has left a profound mark on all of us who work in support of social justice in Canada. I wish you well in the next chapter of your remarkable life...
[...and I pray that the NDP surge can produce someone who can grow into those large shoes of yours.]

--------------------------------------------

From the
Toronto Star:

Need help? Don't look to Ottawa
March 15, 2011
By Carol Goar
They call her Diane the Dinosaur. They remember every judgmental remark the human resources minister has made about the poor, the unemployed and parents desperate for child care. But community workers still harboured a slim hope that Diane Finley would show some humanity in her response to the poverty reduction plan produced by Parliament's all-party committee on human resources. (...) When asked by the Liberals how she could ignore the voices of Canada's churches, food banks and child welfare agencies and 3 million Canadians living in poverty, she was indignant. “Our government has taken several steps to reduce poverty in Canada, including introducing and increasing the working income tax benefits and creating jobs. We believe that lower taxes create jobs.” Her attitude wasn't a surprise. This was the minister, after all, who refused to extend employment insurance benefits to laid-off workers during the recession on the grounds that “we do not want to make it lucrative for them to stay home and get paid for it.” (...)
The advice Finley spurned wasn't radical or left-wing. Working in Partnership Towards Reducing Poverty in Canada was drafted by a committee chaired by a Conservative MP. It had six Tory members, two Liberals, two members from the Bloc Québécois and one New Democrat.

Politicians at all levels are taking their cue from the public. Canadians either want them — or allow them — to overlook those tossed aside by market forces. It is easy to condemn Finley. She is brazenly callous and self-righteous about it. But the heart of the problem lies closer to home.

---

Poverty: PM’s policy is to do nothing
Editorial
March 12, 2011
More than 3 million Canadians live in poverty but it’s not a problem that requires urgent federal action or, really, any new action at all. At least that’s the message coming from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government. The latest blueprint to reduce poverty — this time produced by a House of Commons committee — was dismissed outright by Human Resources Minister Diane Finley. According to her, Ottawa is already doing what it takes to fight poverty: growing the economy. The MPs who spent three years studying the matter felt differently. Their report, released late last year, runs to 300 pages. Its 58 recommendations for change include a national housing strategy, increased federal assistance for low-income families and a refundable tax credit for disabled Canadians.

[ Comments (78) ]

---------------------------------------

From
Canada Without Poverty
:

Government ignores HUMA
Committee call for a federal poverty plan

March 11, 2011
Last November a stellar report on poverty in Canada was released by the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee (HUMA). Titled “Federal Poverty Reduction Plan: Working in Partnership Towards Reducing Poverty in Canada“ [see link below], the 300-page report highlighted 57 recommendations that would have helped to tackle obstacles to eliminating poverty such as adequate housing, Aboriginal education, childcare and early learning, and literacy. These critical needs have all been ignored by a government who has consistently pushed poverty under the rug.

Last Friday, an official response was released from the federal government [see link below] which avoided any comments on recommendations made in the HUMA report, and made no commitment to look into a poverty reduction plan. The response lamely reiterated federal investments in key areas such as housing, social assistance, and childcare, but provided no context to their numbers and maintained a belief in jobs as the answer to poverty.

---

From the
House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and
Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities ("HUMA"):

The HUMA report:

Federal Poverty Reduction Plan:
Working in Partnership Towards Reducing Poverty in Canada
(PDF - 1.7MB, 316 pages)
Seventh Report of the House of Commons
Standing Committee on Human Resources,
Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
Chair: Candice Hoeppner, MP
November 17, 2010

Table of contents:
Defining and Measuring Poverty in Canada
Chapter 1 - Poverty in Canada
* Recent Trends
* Vulnerable Populations
* Relationship Between Poverty and Physical and Mental Health
* Food Security
* Poverty, Housing and Homelessness
* Socio-Economic Costs of Poverty
Chapter 2 - Poverty Reduction Strategies in Canada and Other Countries
* Poverty Reduction Strategies in Canada’s Provinces and Territories
* Poverty Reduction Strategies in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland
Chapter 3 - The Federal Contribution to Reducing Poverty in Canada
* What Should the Federal Government’s Role be in Reducing Poverty in Canada? Canadians Answer the Question
* Improving Coordination and Integration of Poverty Reduction Efforts Across Canada—a Federal Action Plan to Reduce Poverty in Canada
* Developing a Framework for a Federal Action Plan to Reduce Poverty and Measuring Results
* Building Community Partnerships
Chapter 4 - Assisting Children, Families and Vulnerable Populations
* Benefits and Programs for Children and Families
* Benefits for Persons with Disabilities
* Skills Development and Employment Measures
* Senior Citizens
* Poverty among Aboriginal People
* Other Programs
Chapter 5 - Housing and Homelessness Initiatives
* A Place to Call Home
* Federal Housing Programs
Chapter 6 - Education and Training and Employment-Related Measures
* Education and Training
Making Work Pay
Employment Insurance Benefits and Other Employment-Related Support
Conclusion
List of Recommendations

-------------------------------------------------

Highlights of key recommendations:
(Excerpts from the above report)
3.1.1 --- that the federal government immediately commit to a federal action plan to reduce poverty in Canada
3.2.1 --- that First Ministers start negotiations regarding the creation of a new federal transfer (e.g., a federal poverty reduction fund) to support provincial and territorial poverty reduction initiatives.
3.4.2 --- that the federal government review the spending priorities under the Social Development Partnerships Program and expand the client groups served under this program.
4.1.1 --- that the federal government incrementally increase the annual amount of the Canada Child Tax Benefit, including both the base benefit and the National Child Benefit Supplement, to a minimum of $5,000 per child within five years’ time.
4.2.6 --- that the federal government amend the Income Tax Act to make the Disability Tax Credit a refundable credit and ensure that new federal benefits for persons with disabilities are not clawed back from those receiving social assistance payments.
4.3.1 --- that the federal government enhance the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) under the Old Age Security Program (higher benefits, higher basic exemption for employment income, better outreach to potential GIS beneficiaries)
4.5.1 --- that the federal government increase the goods and services tax credit by more than the scheduled increases tied to the Consumer Price Index.
5.2.1 --- that the federal government commit to preserving Canada’s existing affordable housing stock by increasing current levels of spending on affordable housing
5.2.3 --- that the federal government ensure that the measures announced in Budget 2009 for the construction of social housing units for low-income seniors, people with disabilities, Aboriginal people, and areas of the North are promptly delivered.
6.1.3 --- that the federal government take steps to substantially increase adult literacy levels
6.1.8 that the federal government encourage training for persons with mental health problems
6.2.4 --- that the federal government move quickly to modernize Part III of the Canada Labour Code. (re. changes in work time and work arrangements).
6.3.1 --- that the federal government immediately adjust and index the income threshold used to determine eligibility for the Family Supplement benefit under the Employment Insurance program.
6.3.3 --- that the federal government implement more income support and active labour market measures to assist displaced older workers, especially low-income workers between the ages of 60 and 64, who face the prospect of persistent unemployment.

Source:
House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and
Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

[ Parliament of Canada ]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Government response:

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE
ON HUMAN RESOURCES, SKILLS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE
STATUS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, ENTITLED FEDERAL POVERTY
REDUCTION PLAN: WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TOWARDS REDUCING POVERTY IN CANADA

HTML version
PDF version
(PDF - 116K, 22 pages)
(Presented to the House on March 4, 2011)
Covering letter (small PDF file) dated March 7, 2011
"The Government of Canada shares HUMA’s objective of tackling poverty in Canada, and is addressing many of the challenges raised in Federal Poverty Reduction Plan: Working in Partnership Towards Reducing Poverty in Canada. (...) The Government will take the Committee’s recommendations under advisement* as it continues to find ways to help Canadian men and women succeed, and continue to evaluate the effectiveness of its programs with a focus on results for Canadians. The Government is constantly making improvements and adjustments to ensure that our investments are making a positive difference in the lives of Canadians and their families."
[Excerpt from the Conclusion of the govt. response]
[ * "under advisement" = "It'll be a cold day in Hell..." ]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related links:

Poverty strategy: Tories display apathy on issue
November 21, 2010
After three years of study, a House of Commons committee has put forward [see the link to the report below] solid recommendations to combat the scourge of poverty suffered by more than 3 million Canadians.
The federal government has 120 days to respond to the report, which calls on Ottawa to create a national poverty reduction plan, a long-term housing strategy, and boost income supports and tax credits for low-income Canadians. Unfortunately, by filing a supplementary report, the Conservative committee members have already signalled that the government has little interest in tackling poverty. In their supplementary filing, the Conservative MPs said they “strongly support the intent of the report” but expressed concerns over costs. “Canadians need to comprehend what impact implementing the report’s recommendations will have on their pocketbooks and their ability to provide for their families,” they said.
[ 45 comments ]
Source:
Toronto Star

----------------------

Federal government report calls for immediate action on poverty
November 18, 2010
(...)Following numerous efforts by anti-poverty groups, including Canada Without Poverty and Dignity for All: the campaign for a poverty-free Canada which is co-lead by Citizens for Public Justice and Make Poverty History, the report echoes the need for leadership on poverty at the federal level and offers strong recommendations.
These include:
* A new federal transfer fund to support provincial poverty reduction initiatives
* Raising the Canada Child Tax Benefit to $5,000 within 5 years (currently $3,436)
* A national strategy for housing and homelessness
* Measures to help the most vulnerable, including a refundable Disability Tax Credit, improved Employment Insurance; improvements to the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors; and a national child care program
* Funding for Aboriginal needs such as housing, education and social services
(...)
Canada Without Poverty applauds the comprehensive elements of the report, and the recognition it brings to the severity of the poverty issue in Canada.
Source:
Canada Without Poverty
Canada Without Poverty is a federally incorporated, non-partisan, not-for-profit and charitable organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty in Canada

----------------------

Tories join call to fight poverty
Conservative MPs endorse aggressive all-party initiative
By Norma Greenaway
November 18, 2010
Conservative MPs have given a qualified nod of approval to a groundbreaking all-party report that calls on the Harper government to pursue an aggressive strategy to reduce poverty. The report, introduced Wednesday in the House of Commons, calls for pumping more money into affordable housing across the country, as well as increased supports to parents, seniors, people with disabilities and jobless and older workers.
The Commons committee on human resources released the report after almost three years of cross-country hearings.
Source:
Ottawa Citizen

----------------------

Ottawa needs plan to fight poverty
By Laurie Monsebraaten
November 17, 2010
Ottawa needs a comprehensive plan and dedicated funding to ease the plight of 3.1 million Canadians living in poverty, including more than 600,000 children and 700,000 working poor households, says a landmark parliamentary report. The 300-page report, tabled in the House of Commons Wednesday, calls on Ottawa to start work immediately on a federal poverty reduction plan in consultation with provinces, municipalities and Aboriginal governments.
Source:
Toronto Star

----------------------

Dignity for All Campaign Applauds Report
Calling for Federal Poverty Reduction Plan

Government Urged to Respond Favourably
to Committee Recommendations
November 18, 2010
Dignity for All: the Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada – a coalition of over 430 organizations from across the country – applauds the report from the Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee which calls for the federal government to immediately commit to a federal action plan to reduce poverty in Canada. The report, Federal Poverty Reduction Plan: Working in Partnership Towards Reducing Poverty in Canada, is the result of an extensive three-year study on the federal role in addressing poverty.

Key components of a poverty reduction plan the committee recommends the federal government take action on include:

* Raising the Canada Child Tax Benefit and supplement to $5000 within 5 years;
* A long-term national housing and homelessness strategy;
* Measures to help the most vulnerable – a refundable Disability Tax Credit, easing EI qualifications; increasing adult literacy; increasing and indexing GIS for seniors, implementing an early learning and child care strategy; and
* Major help for Aboriginal People for housing, education and social services; including elimination of the two per cent cap on federal funding.

Related links:

Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada is a national coalition of over 430 organizations and 7000 individuals co-convened by Canada Without Poverty, Citizens for Public Justice, and Make Poverty History. Together, we are calling for vigorous and sustained action by the federal government to combat the structural causes of poverty in Canada.

Canada Without Poverty is a federally incorporated, non-partisan, not-for-profit and charitable organization with a mission to eliminate poverty in Canada by promoting income and social security for all Canadians, and by promoting poverty eradication as a human rights obligation. Canada Without Poverty was founded in 1971 as the National Anti-Poverty Organization.

Citizens for Public Justice is a national organization of members inspired by faith to act for justice in Canada by shaping key public policy debates through research and analysis, publishing and public dialogue. Since 1963, CPJ has encouraged citizens, leaders in society and governments to support policies and practices which reflect God’s call for love, justice and stewardship.

The Canadian Make Poverty History campaign was launched in February 2005 with the support of a wide cross-section of public interest and faith groups, trade unions, students, academics and literary, artistic and sports leaders. Make Poverty History is part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) a global campaign pressing for action on global poverty issues.

Related links:
- the two links below will take you further down on the page you're now reading.

* 2009 Senate Subcommittee on Cities report on the federal role on poverty
*
Bill C-545, An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada (2010)
* 2009 United Nations Universal Periodic Review of Canada

Meetings of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills
and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities ("HUMA")

(40th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION)
(These sessions took place between February and June 2009)

The link above takes you to a Canadian Social Research Links page containing links to over three dozen meetings of the "HUMA" Committee along with a table of contents for all 38 transcripts for 2009 in the context of the Parliamentary study of the "Federal Contribution to Reducing Poverty in Canada". The 2009 HUMA Committee Meetings page from the Parliamentary Website doesn't include a guide or a table of contents, so it's not easy to find your way around. The HUMA meeting transcripts range from 25 to 50 pages if printed, and they all contain valuable information on poverty reduction and social programs in Canada. My new page also contains some links to the 2008 HUMA transcripts as well as information about how the HUMA Committee work fits in with other current and recent Parliamentary studies of poverty.

Source:
Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills
and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

[ Parliament of Canada ]

The federal contribution to reducing poverty in Canada:
EVIDENCE - Meeting No. 23 of the
Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
(39th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION)
April 10, 2008

Recommended reading --- this transcript is over 40 printed pages of valuable information concerning the federal contribution to reducing poverty in Canada, including an extended discussion of the relative merits of the low-income measures in use in Canada (LICOs, LIMs and MBMs ) and elsewhere in the world.

Witnesses:

Frank Fedyk (Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Research, Department of Human Resources and Social Development)
Sylvie Michaud (Director, Income Statistics Division, Statistics Canada)
Garnett Picot (Director General, Socio-Economic and Business Analysis Branch, Statistics Canada)
Sheila Regehr (Director, National Council of Welfare)
Doug Murphy (Assistant Director, Economic Security Policy, Department of Human Resources and Social Development)
Shawn Tupper (Director General, Social Policy Development, Department of Human Resources and Social Development)

Source:
House of Commons Standing Committee on
Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA)

[ Parliament of Canada website ]

< Begin researcher rant #1 of 2011. >

Special Message to whoever is responsible for the Parliamentary website, on behalf of anyone who has ever cited a URL in his/her research, or maintained a web directory (like Canadian Social Research Links):

Please offer permanent URLs for your site content.
[Redirects would be nice, too, instead of dead-end error pages that offer no options and no way out...]

The Committees section of the Parliamentary website is already a nightmare to navigate without having the URLs to all site content changing after the beginning of the next session. Changing URLs to site content after each session of Parliament means that the original link is dead for any student or researcher and for anyone who updates link directories (like me.).

....and that makes us utter one of these ===> [ *&@%)$?* ]

A large number of universities and other organizations use database engines in their web presentation, and many of those offer stable (permanent) URLs specifically so their visitors can bookmark a particular report or other item. Surely, the federal government could explore the possibility of including stable URLs for researchers who wish to link to a particular file without having to worry that the URL will have changed by the next time they try to access the item...

Here's another example of how frustrating the Parliamentary website hyperlinking system is:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/huma.htm#2008

< /End researcher rant #1 of 2011. >

BTW...
If you're a researcher who is frustrated with reports that vanish from government websites when they roll out their latest common look and feel standards and change all their URLs, you may find the Government of Canada Web Archive a useful resource. This archive allows you to dig for content from old versions of federal govt. websites --- but only back to December 2005 when the service started. It's a Canadian government version of The Wayback Machine (Internet Archive).
[ Read a review that I did about both of the
archiving services mentioned in the previous paragraph.
]

BTW II...
Social Research Tip:
The 2009 Meetings of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities ("HUMA") offer a goldmine of information about how well we were doing in 2009 as a country from a number of angles. In those meeting transcripts, you'll find evidence in the form of written submissions and presentations by representatives from dozens and dozens of non-governmental organizations, unions, social advocacy groups, etc.
Each presentation/submission offers a snapshot of the prevalence and impact of poverty on various groups and on Canadian society in general.


Canada and the United Nations

United Nations Working Group
on the Universal Periodic Review of Canada:

In March of 2009, the United Nations Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Canada released a 24-page report containing 68 recommendations on a wide range of topics related to human rights. In June, the Canadian government released its response to those recommendations, rejecting 14 of them --- notably the development of a national strategy to eliminate poverty.

----------------

From the
Heritage Canada Human Rights Program:

Canada's Universal Periodic Review
Canada’s review before the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group session took place on February 3, 2009. A total of 45 states intervened during the three-hour interactive dialogue. These states made recommendations to Canada in a 24-page report in March 2009

The Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Canada (PDF - 97K, 24 pages)
March 3, 2009
- includes a list of the 68 recommendations Canada received from other States.

Response of Canada to the Recommendations
June 5, 2009
Canada welcomes and has given careful consideration to the 68 recommendations made during its Universal Periodic Review.

--------------------
Related link:
2009 Universal Periodic Review
Annotated Table of recommendations for Canada
(Word file - 94KB)
June 7, 2009
- 14-page section-by-section checklist for all 68 recommendations, including the g
overnment's response for each rejected recommendation in the marginal comments for that section. You must be using a reasonably recent version of Microsoft Word (or the FREE Word Viewer) to view the marginal comments.
Source:
Rob Rainer
Executive Director / Directeur executif
CANADA WITHOUT POVERTY / CANADA SANS PAUVRETÉ
-----------------------

National Report of Canada under the Universal Periodic Review
Submitted in December 2008
- contains information on the promotion and protection of human rights in Canada, including achievements, best practices, and challenges. In addition, the report includes initiatives to address challenges and improve the human rights situation on the ground.

Source:
Canadian Heritage

---------------------------------------

Canada to UN: We'll decide what rights we will choose to observe...
June 8, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Canada has signed a significant number of international human rights treaties that are legally binding in international law, but the federal government believes that it can pick and choose among its obligations - according to the official document tabled at the United Nations' Rights Council in Geneva today. The good news is that the federal government has accepted its responsibility to take a stronger role in ensuring all Canadians are adequately housed, but the federal government says that companion initiatives to address deep and persistent poverty and income inequality are mostly the responsibility of provinces and territories (and not the national government)...
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

***

Canada to reject 14 of 68 international human rights
recommendations including the development of a national strategy to eliminate poverty
June 6, 2009
By Rob Rainer
On Friday June 5, 2009 the Government of Canada made public Canada’s response to the 68 human rights-related recommendations made to Canada by the UN Human Rights Council, per the 2009 Universal Periodic Review.
This response will be communicated by the government before the Council on Tuesday June 9.

To aid your understanding of the UPR recommendations to Canada and Canada's response, and for ready reference, please see the links below from Heritage Canada's Human Rights Program website.

Of the 68 recommendations, Canada is accepting 39, rejecting 14 and partially accepting 15. Canada is rejecting some recommendations that, were they to be accepted, would mean Canada would join and/or ratify several international human rights treaties. The rejected recommendations also include a number specific to economic and social rights, including:

#1 (Ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)
#10 (Recognize the justiciability of social, economic and cultural rights, in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; ensure legal enforcement of economic, social and cultural rights in domestic courts; grant the same importance to and treat equally civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, in its legislation at all levels); and
#17 (Develop a national strategy to eliminate poverty)

On #17, that Canada is rejecting the call for a national strategy to eliminate poverty undermines the recent or current efforts of the House of Commons' HUMA Committee and various Senate committees and sub-committees to help determine the appropriate role of the federal government in combating poverty Canada-wide. It also flies in the face of calls from at least a couple of provinces (e.g., Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario), pursuant to their provincial poverty action strategies, for complementary engagement of the federal government to help ensure progress on poverty.

If you have not already done so, please register your support for the new Dignity for All Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada. Through this campaign civil society will strengthen its press for enduring federal commitment for a pan-Canadian approach to combating poverty, in which the federal government exercises the leadership it ought to exercise. Such leadership includes convening a process by which a pan-Canadian strategy to eliminate poverty, that complements and supports provincial and territorial strategies, will be realized, with a strong foundation in Canada’s international and domestic human rights commitments.

Rob Rainer
Executive Director / Directeur exécutif
CANADA WITHOUT POVERTY / CANADA SANS PAUVRETÉ
Founded in 1971, Canada Without Poverty (officially the National Anti-Poverty Organization) is an incorporated, not-for-profit, non-partisan, member-based organization dedicated to the eradication of poverty in Canada. We believe this ideal can be realized by 2020, if not sooner, especially in a country as wealthy as Canada

---------------------------------------

The Federal Role in Poverty Reduction in Canada
Ottawa Poverty Reduction Network Meeting
June 22, 2009
My speaking notes
(Gilles Séguin)
* What the federal does well and not-so-well in the area of poverty reduction.
* Why  was the federal government wrong when it told the United Nations that poverty reduction is a provincial responsibility?
* What is the federal government's role in Ontario's poverty reduction strategy?
* What are the Four cornerstones of a workable national poverty reduction strategy for Canada

************************************

My Two Cents' Worth...
[By Gilles]

Over the years, Canada has signed a significant number of international human rights treaties that are legally binding in international law, but the Harper Government's position on that is "Hey - just because some old dudes got together back in the 1950s and made some international human rights commitments doesn't mean that we in 2009 should feel bound by those commitments." A position like that undermines Canada's credibility in the international community, because it makes other world govts wonder what*other* international covenants and agreements Canada might welch on in so many other areas.

BOTTOM LINE:
Canada *must* be accountable for its international commitments in human rights.
Our international reputation depends on it.

The Harper statement that provinces are responsible for initiatives to address poverty and income inequality may be true under the Canadian Constitution, but the feds have used their own constitutional spending power over the years both to create many national social programs - Old Age Security, the National Child Benefit, etc. - and to influence provincial programs to move in certain desired directions. The relevant example in this respect is the Canada Assistance Plan, the federal-provincial-territorial cost-sharing program that enabled the federal government to share 50% of provincial-territorial welfare costs. [ More information about the Canada Assistance Plan ]

The federal government sends billions of dollars each year to provinces and territories in a lump sum known as the Canada Social Transfer or CST, as its contribution to provincial costs related to social assistance or welfare. However, the lump sum also covers post-secondary education, social services, and early learning and childcare, and the provinces are free to re-allocate amounts among those components as they see fit. The result is NO accountability by provincial governments to the people of Canada (i.e., Parliament) with respect to federal dollars for welfare programs.

The federal govt must establish a national standard of accountability by prov. govts for the money it spends on provincial welfare programs, and the best way is to create a dedicated federal fund specifically earmarked for provincial welfare. There *was* such a national standard in place from 1967 until 1996: it was called the Canada Assistance Plan.

There was a big squabble some years back as the federal and provincial governments couldn't agree on the amounts that each level of govt was spending on health care. That's because, in 1996, Ottawa had replaced the Canada Assistance Plan and its detailed reporting requirements - including an annual report to the people of Canada in the House of Commons - with the Canada Health and Social Transfer, a block transfer that included the federal contribution to welfare AND Medicare AND post-secondary education.

The federal govt's solution was to hive off the Canada Health Act into a separate fund called the Canada Health Transfer, which required the provinces to report separately on their health care costs. As for welfare, it was folded in with post-secondary education and social services under the Canada Social Transfer in 2004, where it remains today. It's truly mystifying to me why the federal govt, which likes to get its share of the credit for its share of spending on social programs, doesn't just create a new Canada-Assistance-Plan-like mechanism to allow for public disclosure of exactly how much each province is spending on its welfare programs.
[Or maybe that would look too much like "federal involvement in a field that's under provincial responsibility..."]

From Canada's International Gateway:

Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations
The Mission of Canada is the primary channel for communications between the Canadian government and the United Nations in New York City. The Mission acts as diplomatic representation for the Government of Canada abroad.

Canada's Diplomatic Missions to the United Nations
Canada has seven diplomatic missions accredited to the UN:
[Click the link above to access the links to more info on each of the specific missions listed below.]
* United Nations in New York * Office of the United Nations in Geneva * UNESCO in Paris * International Organisations in Vienna * Office of the United Nations in Nairobi * the FAO in Rome
* the ICAO in Montreal

Canada at the United Nations
Canada has been active at the United Nations since its foundation in 1945 and played a key role in drafting the UN Charter -- an international treaty that sets out basic principles of international relations.

Canada and other international organizations and forums
- incl. links to more info about the following:
* Arctic Council * Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) * Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) * Commonwealth * European Union (EU) * G8 Summits * International Criminal Court * International Indigenous Affair * La Francophonie * North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) * Order of Malta * Organization of the American States (OAS)

-----------------------------------------

The Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system made up
of 47 States responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe. The Council was created by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 with the main purpose of addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.
Source:
United Nations

Bearing the Brunt
May 3, 2010
Bearing the Brunt: How the 2008-2009 Recession Created Poverty for Canadian Families details the rise in poverty and economic insecurity caused by the recession. The report examines key economic trends, comparing them to the baseline of 2007 (the last year for which poverty measures are available) in order to understand the recession’s impact.

The report:

Bearing the Brunt:
How the 2008-2009 Recession
Created Poverty for Canadian Families
(PDF - 1MB, 82 pages)
By Chandra Pasma
May 2010
Recessions create poverty. The 2008-2009 recession was no different as thousands of Canadian families were pushed into poverty. But while we have to wait until 2011 for most standard measures of poverty, there are a number of key economic indicators that already reveal the trends of increased poverty and economic insecurity throughout the recession...

Summary (PDF - 2.9MB, 6 pages)
[ Version française du sommaire:
Elles en payent les frais
(fichier PDF - 2.8Mo, 6 pages) ]

Source:
Citizens for Public Justice
Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) is a national organization of members inspired by faith to act for justice in Canadian public policy.

A land of well-paid workers and willing taxpayers
April 30, 2010
By Carol Goar
The most memorable scene in Poor No More, a documentary that premiered this week in Toronto, takes place on the shop floor of a large truck manufacturer in Sweden.
A female employee, talking while she works, says it’s “okay to pay taxes because our system takes care of all the people.” She explains that if she became sick or had an accident, she would get 80 per cent of her wages. Like all Swedes, she is entitled to subsidized child care, elder care, high-quality health care and 10 days of parental leave a year. A delegation of Canadian visitors — host Mary Walsh and two Canadian workers trapped in insecure, low-wage jobs — listens in disbelief. The trio moves outside to a Stockholm street. “I love paying taxes,” a passerby affirms. It seems as if the Canadians have stepped into fantasyland...
Source:
The Toronto Star

Related link:

Poor No More --- There is a way out
- includes links to:
* About the Film * Poverty Reduction (links and resources - thanks for including my site, BTW!) * Supporters * Take Action * Purchase * Media * Contact

"Poor No More will be the first film to explain the roots of the economic crisis, its impact on Canadians, and what can be done about it. It is designed to build public support for a real reduction in poverty. Poor No More will attract a wide audience and help move this issue from the margins to the mainstream.(...) The film ends on Parliament Hill, with an appeal to 'common people' to take back their country from the rich and powerful and get Canada working for everyone. 'All we need is the will,' Walsh says. It is an unsatisfying conclusion. But the film puts a human face on poverty, raises important questions and offers an alternative to those who think there is no way out."

We can't afford not to take on poverty
By Art Eggleton and Hugh Segal
January 7, 2010
After two years of study and until recently nearly a decade of unprecedented economic growth in Canadian cities, we were hoping to tell Canadians that we are winning the fight against poverty in Canada. Sadly we cannot. Despite the many thoughtful efforts by governments, community groups and the private sector, far too many Canadians continue to live below any measure of a poverty line, live without a home, and struggle to provide the basic necessities for their families. The system that is supposed to help lift people out of poverty is substantially broken, entraps people in poverty and needs a complete overhaul. (...) Poverty expands health-care costs and policing burdens, and diminishes educational outcomes. This in turn depresses productivity, economic expansion and social progress, all of which takes place at huge cost to taxpayers, and the robust potential of our economy.
[
Art Eggleton is chair of the Senate Sub-committee on cities. Hugh Segal is vice-chair. ]
Source:
Ottawa Citizen

In From the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness
News Release
Ottawa (December 8, 2009) – A major Senate report tabled today is declaring that Canada’s system for lifting people out of poverty is substantially broken and must be overhauled. “We began this study by focusing on the most vulnerable city-dwellers in the country, those whose lives are marginalized by poverty, housing challenges and homelessness.” stated Senator Art Eggleton, Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Cities. “As our research evolved, so too did our frustration and concern as we repeatedly heard accounts of policies and programs only making living in poverty more manageable – which essentially entraps people." The recommendations in the report, In From the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness, are the summation of a two-year cross-country study. Committee members heard testimony from more than 170 witnesses, including people living in poverty, several of them homeless, as well as universities, think tanks, provincial and local governments and community organizations.

Complete report:


In From the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness
(PDF - 3.8MB, 290 pages)
The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology
Report of the Subcommittee on Cities
The Honourable Art Eggleton P.C., Chair
The Honourable Hugh Segal, Deputy Chair
December 2009
[ version française (PDF - 4,5Mo., 331 pages) ]

Executive Summary
* Evidence * Poverty * Poverty reduction strategies * Employment Insurance * Training and education * Health * Income transfers through the tax system * Housing and homelessness * Programs targeted to over-represented groups * Rights-based approaches * Common cause * Knowledge exchange

Source:
Subcommittee on Cities
[ Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology ]

Related link from the same group:

Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Issues and Options (PDF - 696K, 96 pages)
June 2008
First Report of the Subcommittee on Cities

Source:
Subcommittee on Cities
[ Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology ]

Related links:

Senators keep poverty in spotlight
By Carol Goar
December 9, 2009
Inspired by the groundbreaking report on poverty tabled by the late Senator David Croll 38 years ago, a committee of seven senators has spent the past two years producing a new blueprint for a new century. Their report, released Tuesday, lacks the passion and clarity of the original. But it is comprehensive, thoughtful and – for its time – courageous. The senators, headed by Liberal Art Eggleton and Conservative Hugh Segal, knew from the outset that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had no interest in a plan to break the poverty cycle. They watched the economy weaken and the deficit balloon. Yet they concluded unanimously: "Eradicating poverty is not only the humane and decent priority of a civilized democracy, but absolutely essential to a productive and expanding economy." Those are bold words in today's Ottawa.
Source:
Toronto Star

---

Canadian Mental Health Association Supports
Senate Report on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness: Report Addresses Mental Health Issues
News Release
(Ottawa) December 9, 2009 - Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), National supports several of the recommendations of “In From The Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness”, Report of the Subcommittee on Cities of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology tabled yesterday in Ottawa. (...) CMHA, National believes that many of the report’s options apply to persons struggling with mental health issues, and recommended several that would benefit persons living with a mental illness. These include recommendations to extend Employment Insurance benefits to 50 weeks, as well as the institution of a national Pharmacare program which would ease the burden of cost for and access to psychoactive medication. Especially pertinent to persons with lived experience of mental illness who are not attached to the labour market are recommendations for the Federal Government to work with provinces to increase provincial assistance rates to after-tax LICO (low income cut-off) levels, as well as investigating opportunities for a basic annual income for Canadians with disabilities.
Source:
Canadian Mental Health Association

Eliminating Poverty in Canada for All

On November 24, Campaign 2000 and seven of its provincial partners marked the 20th anniversary of the unanimous House of Commons’ all-party resolution to end child poverty in Canada with the release of special national and provincial report cards in various cities across the country. (...) Also on Nov. 24, the House of Commons passed a motion of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee (known as the HUMA Committee) "that the Government of Canada (...) develop an immediate plan to eliminate poverty in Canada for all." [ Campaign 2000 ]

Immediately below, you'll find links to the Campaign 2000 national report, to the HUMA motion and to other related resources.
Report cards for individual provinces appear in the provincial section of this page (see the provincial links at the top of the page you're now reading).

---

From Campaign 2000:

Poverty Reduction Key to Canada’s Economic Recovery
News Release
November 24, 2009
OTTAWA – Canada’s economic recovery hinges on federal leadership to pull recession victims out of the poor house and prevent Canadians from plunging into deeper poverty, hunger and homelessness, says Campaign 2000’s new report card on child and family poverty. Keep the Promise: Make Canada Poverty-Free looks at the nation’s most recent child and family after-tax poverty rate compared to 20 years ago, when Parliament unanimously resolved to end child poverty by 2000, and finds today’s after-tax rate is 9.5 per cent, a slight budge from 11.9 per cent in 1989.

Key findings:
* One in 10 children still live in poverty in Canada today. It’s worse for children living in First Nation’s communities: one in four grow up in poverty;
* There are more working poor: 40 per cent of low-income children live in families where at least one parent works full-time year round, up dramatically from 33 per cent in the 1990s;
* Child poverty is persistent across Canada: rates of child and family poverty (LICO before-tax) are in the double digits in most provinces.
* The gap between rich and poor has widened: On average, for every dollar the families in the poorest 10 per cent had, families in the richest 10 per cent had almost 12 times as much ($11.84) in 2007.

-----------------------------
The national report:
-----------------------------

Keep the Promise: Make Canada Poverty-Free (PDF - 488K, 12 pages)
* Oh Canada! Too Many Children in Poverty for Too Long
* Children Live In Poverty Across Canada
* Work Is Not Working for Families
* Some Children and Families are More Vulnerable to Poverty than Others
* The Unique Situation of Aboriginal Children and Families in Poverty
* Early Childhood Education and Care Services: A 20-Year Child Care Roller Coaster Ride
* The Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor
* Canada Lags behind Other Rich Nations
* Affordable Housing
* Post-Secondary Education: A Key Pathway out of Poverty
* Noteworthy Facts on Poverty in Canada
* Ending Child Poverty Will Benefit All of Us
* A Plan to Make Canada Poverty-Free
[TIP: You'll find almost two dozen links to related resources in the "Endnotes" section of the report on pp.10-11]

Version française:
Tenez vos promesses: faites du Canada un pays sans pauvreté
Rapport 2009 sur la pauvreté des enfants et des familles au Canada : 1989 - 2009
(PDF - 504Ko., 12 pages)

Source:
Campaign 2000

------------------
Related links
------------------

From Rob Rainer,
Executive Director of
Canada Without Poverty
:
November 24, 2009

We are pleased to report some good news in the journey to more effectively combat poverty in Canada.
Today, the House of Commons passed the following motion as agreed to by the
House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and
Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities ("HUMA")
:

"That, with November 24th, 2009 marking the 20th anniversary of the 1989 unanimous resolution of this House to eliminate poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000, and not having achieved that goal, be it resolved that the Government of Canada, taking into consideration the Committee’s work in this regard, and respecting provincial and territorial jurisdiction, develop an immediate plan to eliminate poverty in Canada for all."
Source:
Report 6 - Poverty Reduction in Canada
Adopted by the Committee on November 17, 2009;
Presented to the House on November 20, 2009;
Concurred in by the House on November 24, 2009.

---

With the motion now passed, there is Parliament’s commitment to a federal plan for the elimination of poverty. This is a major step towards accomplishing the first of the three goals of Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada. The challenge now is for parliamentarians and civil society – including those with the lived experience of poverty – to work together even more closely to determine the substance and timely delivery as well as the accountability mechanisms of the plan. And, to root the entire effort within a framework of Canada’s commitment to economic and social rights (food, housing, adequate standard of living etc.) such as enshrined within international human rights law to which Canada is signatory.

Today’s welcome motion came about thanks to the leading efforts of Laurel Rothman and her team at Campaign 2000, working with certain members of the HUMA Committee and other civil society groups. Kudos to Campaign 2000 and to the members of the HUMA Committee for today’s result!

Rob Rainer
Canada Without Poverty

---

Promises to end child poverty easier than progress
November 24, 2009
By Laurie Monsebraaten
Erica Vergara was born into a struggling immigrant family three months after federal MPs unanimously resolved to end child poverty by 2000. Today, on the 20th anniversary of that pledge, Vergara, 19, and her 3-year-old daughter Alizah, are the face of federal failure. They are among some 637,000 children – or almost one in 10 Canadian kids – living in poverty. That's down slightly from 11.9 per cent, or 792,000 children who were poor in 1989, says Campaign 2000, a national coalition that has been tracking the lack of progress on the federal promise for years. (...) National programs for child care, affordable housing and employment equity to help level the playing field for immigrants and people of colour who experience high rates of child poverty would make a huge difference for Vergara and other poor families raising children, says Campaign 2000's report. But ultimately, Canada needs a broader poverty reduction strategy.
Source:
Parent Central
[ Toronto Star ]

---

20th anniversary of Canada's broken promise to end child poverty
By Lynne Melcombe
November 24, 2009
Across Canada, individuals and groups are marking today as the 20-year anniversary of a unanimous vote in the House of Commons to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.
Source:
DigitalJournal.com

- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm

From Library of Parliament Research Publications:

Eliminating Poverty Among Working Families: Funding Scenarios
By Emmanuel Preville
Economics Division
15 October 2008
[ PDF version - 110K, 10 pages ]
* Introduction * Increase to Meet the Low Income Cut-off (A. The Principle / B. The Numbers)
* Funding the Initiative * Conclusion
A study shows that once families break free of poverty, they are less likely to return. Therefore, a possible strategy in the fight against poverty in Canada would be to offer temporary support to families that have an employment income but remain below the low income cut-off – a measurement used to define poverty. The federal government would need to bridge the gap between the disposable income of these families and the LICO, which would involve a one-time cost of up to $23.7 billion over three years. Various tax adjustments could absorb the cost, by increasing either personal income tax or the GST. By helping these families emerge from poverty, and with all other things being equal, Canada could significantly reduce its poverty rate. The rate would fall from an estimated 17.6% in 2008 to 10.5% over three years, and Canada would lead the 19 richest countries listed in the UN Human Poverty Index.

Guinness World Book of Records shattered by
citizens across the globe demanding that their leaders end poverty
More than 173 Million People Gather at “Stand Up, Take Action,
End Poverty Now!” events, setting new world record for largest mobilization in history
By Sebastian
October 20, 2009
A Guinness World Record shattered this weekend when 173,045,325 citizens gathered at over 3,000 events in more than 120 countries, demanding that their governments eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!”, now in its fourth year, has been certified by Guinness World Records as the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history, an increase of about 57 million people over last year.
Source:
Stand Up Blog
[ Stand Against Poverty ]

Related links:

Make Poverty History - Canada

United Nations

U.N. Millennium Development Goals

U.N. End Poverty 2015 Millennium Campaign

United Nations calls for action and investment to eradicate global poverty
Conflict, chronic poverty and high food prices threaten children’s well-being in the eastern DRC
17 October 2009 – The United Nations today marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declaring that the fight against a scourge that afflicts over a billion people around the world is at a critical juncture.
Source:
United Nations

Stand Up and Take Action
Last year, more than 116 million Stood Up and Took Action to end poverty and in support of the Millennium Development Goals.
This year, join the growing movement.
Stand with us.

What are you doing for STAND UP?
October 4, 2009
- incl. links to
* Five reasons why we need to Get to the Point
* Organize a Stand Up event in your community
* Stand Up 2009 Resource Toolkit
* Attend a Stand Up
* Let us know you want to be involved
* Sample Media Advisory
* STAND UP Pledge
* more...
Source:
Make Poverty History
The Make Poverty History campaign was launched in Canada in 2005 with the support of a wide cross-section of public interest and faith groups, trade unions, students, academics, literary, artistic and sports leaders. National campaigns are now active in over 100 countries. Make Poverty History is part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP).

---

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs offer us a roadmap to end poverty and its root causes. In September 2000, 189 world leaders adopted the MDGs as part of the Millennium Declaration, agreed to at the United Nations Millennium Summit. (LEARN MORE)
The MDG's set an unprecedented global framework for development that is a crucial step towards ending poverty and inequality by 2015.

The Millennium Development Goals Are:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
Source:
United Nations

Also from the U.N.:

Download the complete
UN Millennium Development Goals 2009 report
(PDF - 8MB, 60 pages)

End Poverty 2015 Millennium Campaign
"We are the generation that can end poverty"
"End poverty by 2015" is the historic promise 189 world leaders made at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Recession Relief Coalition
(Formerly the Recession Relief Fund Coalition)
The Recession Relief Coalition is a broad-based group of organizations and individuals concerned about the impact of the recession on Canada’s most vulnerable and marginalized residents. Over 260 organizations and over 1,100 individuals across Canada have endorsed the coalition’s call on the federal government to create a recession relief fund to prevent cuts to public and private not-for-profit agencies serving vulnerable communities, and to increase funding to support vital social services including homelessness programs and settlement services.
- incl. links to:
* home * actions * indicators * contact * participate * video * gallery * news * archives * blog * submit your story

Endorse the
Recession Relief Coalition Declaration

- read the declaration, then scroll down the page and add your name to the growing list of supporters

May 25, 2009
From the

Canadian Council on Social Development
:

Poverty Reduction Policies and Programs
Social Development Report Series, 2009
Series Editor: Katherine Scott

– identifies current federal, provincial and territorial approaches to poverty reduction.
- 14 authors discuss the ideas, interests and institutions that have shaped the evolution of poverty reduction policies and programs in Canada and the issues for each jurisdiction moving forward.

Required reading for ANYONE interested in Canadian welfare programs!

Poverty Reduction Policies and Programs in Canada (PDF - 341K, 29 pages)
By David I. Hay, Information Partnership
[ version française - PDF ]
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION
POLICY CONTEXT

* Poverty Definition and Measurement
* Poverty Trends in Canada
* Social Policy Development Goals
* Canada as a Social Welfare State
* Social Values in Canada
* Roles and Responsibilities
* Policy Decision-making in Canada and the Poverty Policy Community
NATIONAL ANTI-POVERTY AND INCOME SECURITY POLICIES IN CANADA
* Child and Family Benefits
* Benefits for Seniors
* Employment Benefits
* Other Programs
COMPREHENSIVE ANTI-POVERTY / INCOME SECURITY POLICIES IN CANADA
* What are the essential elements?
* What are the political opportunities and prospects?

NOTE: To access provincial and territorial reports, go back to the top of this page and click on a jurisdiction.
Each CCSD report in this series is in a yellow textbox.

Source:
Canadian Council on Social Development

Also from the CCSD:

--- Poverty Reduction in Canada: Advancing a National Anti-Poverty and Supports Agenda (PDF - 423K, 16 pages)
[posted November 20, 2008]
- presentation by CCSD's Katherine Scott at the CACL 50th Anniversary Conference in November, 2008.

--- Poverty Reduction Initiatives in Canada (447K, 16 pages)
[posted November 20, 2008]

From the Caledon Institute of Social Policy:

The federal role in poverty reduction (PDF - 78K, 19 pages)
Presentation to the Standing Committee on Human Resources,
Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
by Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman
March 10, 2009
"(...)This morning, we will briefly discuss some examples of federal programs that can help reduce poverty, and offer some suggestions for improving their poverty reduction capacity [bolding added]. We distinguish between incremental improvements to existing programs and deeper changes to the architecture of social policy. Although the federal role in poverty reduction takes mainly the form of income security programs, it also has roles to play in financially supporting services provided by provinces and territories."
- incl. proposals to improve/support:
* Seniors’ benefits * Child benefits * Help for the working poor * Employment Insurance
* Disability income * Early learning and child care * Social housing * Social infrastructure * Enabling environment

Related link:

Standing Committee on Human Resources,
Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

(40th Parliament, 2nd Session : January 26, 2009 - Present)

---

Comprehensive Strategies for Deep and Durable Outcomes (PDF - 87K, 20 pages)
By Eric Leviten-Reid
April 2009
This paper is part of Vibrant Communities’ continuing effort to strengthen the knowledge and practice of comprehensive, multisectoral approaches to poverty reduction. It explores the idea of ‘comprehensiveness’ in order to clarify some of the conceptual and practical issues it involves. What are the different ways to pursue comprehensive approaches to poverty reduction? What are the strengths and limitations of such approaches in achieving deep and durable outcomes? More than a discussion paper, this publication helps set the stage for a series of case studies to be undertaken with local partners in Vibrant Communities.

---

Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction: Setting the Table for Change (PDF - 215K, 11 pages)
Liz Weaver and Anne Makhoul
March 2009
The Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction’s work to make a serious dent in poverty began in 2006. Its record of success is now inspiring communities across Ontario to consider similar action. Find out how this organization is influencing policy makers and bringing out the best in its citizens.

---


Poverty Policy
(PDF - 119K, 36 pages)
By Sherri Torjman
October 2008
This paper discusses ten major policy areas that comprise the core of a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy:
* affordable housing * early childhood development * high school completion and improved literacy proficiency * demand-driven customized training * improved minimum wages and enhanced supplementation of low earnings and of income * a restored and improved unemployment insurance system * adequate income and appropriate supports for persons with disabilities * assistance with the creation of assets for low- and modest-income households, support for the social economy * strong social infrastructure * place-based initiatives that fashion integrated approaches to intervention and that create effective responses to tackling poverty through creative combinations of resources and approaches.

Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy

From the Canadian Council on Social Development:

Poverty Reduction in Canada: Advancing a National Anti-Poverty and Supports Agenda (PDF - 423K, 16 pages)
[posted November 20, 2008]
- presentation by CCSD's Katherine Scott at the CACL 50th Anniversary Conference in November, 2008.

Poverty Reduction Initiatives in Canada (447K, 16 pages)
[posted November 20, 2008]
- presentation by Katherine Scott at the CDPAC Poverty and Action in Canada conference, November 2008.

-----------------------------

CCSD Perception Magazine : Poverty issue
[Posted May 13, 2008]
The complete Poverty issue of Perception Magazine is now online, with pieces about national and provincial anti-poverty strategies, an article by Rob Rainer about a poverty-free Canada by the year 2020, a report by John Stapleton about why it's so tough to get ahead, an article on social data by Alanna Petroff, and much more. Plus we asked our readers and they told us what else they're reading these days.

Perception: Volume 29, No. 3 & 4, 2008 (PDF - 2.5MB, 28 pages)
Focus on Poverty :
* Defining the Problem * Working Strategies * Measuring Success
[ version française (PDF - 2,4Mo., 28 pages) ]
Table of Contents:
* Editorial (by Marcel Lauzière)
* Defining and re-defining poverty in Canada
* Towards a National Ideal: Canada Without Poverty by 2020 (by Rob Rainer)
* Four Cornerstones of a Workable National Strategy for Canada (by Sheila Regehr)
* Newfoundland and Labrador's Action Plan to Reduce Poverty (by Minister Shawn Skinner and Aisling Gogan)
* Quebec's Law Against Poverty and Social Exclusion: An Interview with Alain Noel
* "Why is it so tough to get ahead?" (A report by John Stapleton)
* Using social data for success (by Alanna Petroff)
* What's on your bookshelf?
* Resource: New report on economic well-being of children in North America
* Update: Canadian Social Forum
Source:
Canadian Council on Social Development
[ Conseil canadien de développement social ]

The links below were updated August 15, 2010.

National Council of Welfare
The National Council of Welfare (NCW) is an arm's length advisory body to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development on matters of concern to low-income Canadians.

The National Council of Welfare recently re-launched its website with a new domain name and new interactive features. While I was updating my links to the Council's reports, I came across this bibliography on the cost of poverty for Canadian society that they posted to their site early in 2010. I was impressed by the content when I first saw this extensive bibliography this past winter, and I thought it would be a worthy addition to any social researcher's summer reading list.

The Cost of Poverty and the Value of Investment:
Comprehensive Bibliography
(PDF - 280K, 34 pages)
February 2010
- 300+ links divided into three main sections: Canadian studies, American studies and International studies
- six categories: General, Policies and Programs; Housing; Early Education programs; Education; and Health.
- incl. (at the end of the bibliography) a chronology of newspaper articles on the subject.

Top Ten Picks (PDF - 67K, 3 pages)
If you think that 300+ links all at once is daunting, the nice folks at the Council have bundled their top picks from the collection for you.
Start there.

Source:
The Cost of Poverty and the Value of Investment
Can we afford to solve poverty?
Can we afford not to?
Canadians want an end to poverty, but even those most committed to the solutions can still wonder if we can afford to. We know there is a correlation between poverty and other areas of spending like health, education and justice, but just how much is poverty costing us? (...) The National Council of Welfare is seeing a growing number of reports and articles addressing the costs associated with poverty and we’ve set out to find what has been done and what it tells us.
- includes more info about the Council's February 2010 initiative on the cost of poverty and a link to the complete report in PDF format.

Related links:

Solving Poverty: Four cornerstones of a workable national strategy for Canada * (PDF file - 1MB, 29 pages)
Winter 2007
"(...) When the National Council of Welfare started looking into anti-poverty strategies, it became quickly apparent to us that if there is no long-term vision, no plan, no one accountable for carrying out the plan, no resources assigned and no accepted measure of results, we will continue to be mired in poverty for generations.
The four cornerstones:
1) creating a national anti-poverty strategy with targets and timelines;
2) developing a coordinated plan of action;
3) ensuring accountability; and
4) establishing official poverty indicators.
[ Related Press Release - January 25, 2007 ]

-------------------------

Debate in the House of Commons on a national anti-poverty strategy
(Private Member's Bill - Tony Martin, NDP)
February 20, 2007

----------------------------

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The New Poverty Agenda:
Reshaping Policies in the 21st Century

Conference (Kingston)
August 18-20, 2008
Excerpt from the Conference theme:
"The new poverty agenda demands new policy responses. An effective anti-poverty strategy depends on a wide range of instruments: income transfers, tax policy, asset-building strategies, early childhood interventions, education, labour market programs, housing and social services. An effective response also requires a judicious balancing of general programs and targeted initiatives for particular vulnerable groups, such as children in care, recent immigrants, single-parent families, Aboriginal peoples, people with disabilities, and displaced workers."

- click the link above to access all 20+ presentations made at the event.
[The download format is PDF, but the presentations are in Powerpoint format.]

Sessions:
*
The New Poverty Agenda * Income Transfers and Asset Building * The Tax Regime * Early Childhood Initiatives and Education * Addressing Poverty and Other Social Policy Challenges through Social Risk Management: A New Conceptual Framework? * Employment and Training Programs * Integrated Approaches in Communities: Place-based Interventions * Roundtable on the Politics of Poverty: Can Poverty be a Priority?

Sample content:

* Fighting poverty and social exclusion in the European Union (PDF - 1.7MB, 27 pages), by Isabelle Maquet Engsted, European Commission
* Tackling Poverty and Low Income in New Zealand : Approaches and Lessons Learned (PDF - 522K, 20 pages), by Marcel Lauzière, Canadian Council on Social Development
* Low-Income in Canada, 1980 to 2006 (PDF - 162K, 19 pages), by G. Picot and S. Michaud, Statistics Canada

* Income transfers and labor market integration in Québec (PDF - 86K, 22 pages), by Alain Noël, Université de Montréal
* Poverty, poverty dynamics and asset-based welfare (PDF - 908K, 58 pages), by Robert Walker with Mark Tomlinson, Oxford University (U.K)
* Neoliberal Poverty Governance: U.S. Welfare Policy in an Era of Globalization (PDF - 17K, 3 pages), by Sanford F. Schram, Bryn Mawr College (Pennsylvania)

* High marginal effective tax rates, intersecting rules, and how they affect Low income Adults (PDF - 934K, 26 pages), by John Stapleton, Open Policy (Canada)
*** The Story of Ali (PDF - 98K, 3 pages) --- how social programs work against each other...
* Early childhood services and the new poverty agenda (PDF - 706K, 32 pages), by Thomas Coram Research Unit (U.K.)
* The New Poverty Agenda: Place-Based Interventions (PDF - 1.5MB, 14 pages) , by Sherri Torjman, Caledon Institute of Social Policy
* Making Poverty Count in our National Politics (PDF - 120K, 7 pages), by Senator Hugh Segal, Senate of Canada
* The New Poverty Agenda: Reshaping Policies in the 21st Century (PDF - 241K, 2 pages), by Laurel Rothman, Campaign 2000
[ complete list of presentations with links ]

Source:
Queen's School of Policy Studies

NOTE: if you click on the link to the conference home page (The New Poverty Agenda), you'll find links to every presentation, but they're only identified by author rather than title.

From the Parliamentary Research Library:
(Government of Canada)


Poverty Reduction in Canada - The Federal Role

By Chantal Collin (Political and Social Affairs Division)
23 October 2007
HTML version
PDF version
(118K, 12 pages)
[ version française ]
Table of Contents:
* Who Is Poor in Canada?
* Calls for a National Anti-Poverty Strategy – What Role Could the Federal Government Play?
* A. Key Features of Poverty Reduction Strategies in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ireland and the United Kingdom
* 1. Social and Economic Links
* 2. Multi-Year Action Plans
* 3. Progress Measurement and Administrative Framework
* B. What Could Be Done?
* 1. Key Challenges
* 2. The Canada Social Transfer: A Need for Principles and Objectives to Guide Social Spending
* 3. Social Union Framework Agreement: A Possible Model?
* 4. Public Accountability and Transparency
* 5. Immediate Action at the Federal Level


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The simplest poverty reduction strategy : a guaranteed income.

Guaranteed Annual Income: A Supplementary Paper (1994)
Improving Social Security in Canada

- This is one of the supplementary papers produced in the course of the 1994 Social Security Review*.

Excellent overview of GAI , filled with historical information (check out Appendix A...) and a detailed analysis of both the Negative Income Tax (NIT) and the Universal Demogrant (UD).
Highly recommended reading for all social researchers. There's even a four-page chapter on absolute and relative measures of adequacy.
PDF version - 150K, 53 pages
HTML version - 117K, 37 pages
[*See the Canadian Social Research Links CAP/CHST Resources page for more on the 1994 Social Security Review]
------------------------------
For more links to GAI resources, go to the Guaranteed Annual Income Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/gai.htm

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Senate Convenes Roundtable on Guaranteed Income
On 13 June 2008, the Senate Sub-Committee on Cities held a Roundtable on the topic of "Guaranteed Annual Income: Has Its Time Come?"

Transcript of the proceedings of the roundtable (51 printed pages)
June 13, 2008
Highly recommended reading --- valuable insights on guaranteed income from recognized experts in the field of guaranteed annual income, including Derek Hum (father of Mincome Manitoba), Senator Hugh Segal, Sheila Regehr (Director, National Council of Welfare), Rob Rainer (Executive Director, National Anti-Poverty Organization), professors Lars Osberg and Jim Mulvale, Michael Mendelson of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy,
Marie White (Council of Canadians with Disabilities) and many others.

Related links:

Weighing trade-offs on poverty
June 20, 2008
By Carol Goar
OTTAWA–The longing for a simple, affordable plan to reduce poverty runs deep. It has propelled the idea of a guaranteed annual income onto the national agenda no fewer than five times since the 1970s. But no proposal has ever had enough momentum to overcome the political and practical barriers that stand in the way of implementation.Senator Hugh Segal believes Canada is close to the breakthrough point. "Our current programs haven't made a jot of progress (in reducing poverty)," he says. "We've tried everything else. Why don't we try a basic income floor?" Segal, a Conservative, was addressing the Senate committee on cities chaired by Art Eggleton, a Liberal. Despite Ottawa's fiercely partisan climate, the Senate remains an oasis of civil and informed debate.
[ more columns by Carol Goar ]
Source
The Toronto Star

Related link:

Guaranteed annual income:
why Milton Friedman and Bob Stanfield were right
(PDF - 172K, 6 pages)
By Hugh Segal
April 2008
Source:
Policy Options - April 2008 issue (free online magazine)
[
Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) ]

- Go to the Guaranteed Annual Income Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/gai.htm

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Dignity for All - the campaign for a poverty-free Canada
"I believe that freedom from poverty is a human right.
I believe in equality among all people.
I believe we are all entitled to social and economic security.
I believe in dignity for all.
NOW is the time to end poverty in Canada."

The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada was founded by Canada Without Poverty and Citizens for Public Justice. [Canada Without Poverty is the new public name of the National Anti-Poverty Organization.] Visit the site to obtain some background information about the campaign, updates on poverty reduction in Canada and how you can engage and support this effort to secure enduring and meaningful federal leadership for a poverty-free Canada. Inaugural Campaign Committee members include: ACORN Canada, Campaign 2000, Canadian Association of Social Workers, Canadian Cooperative Association, Canadian Council on Social Development, Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Teachers’ Federation, Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, Make Poverty History, and the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry. We are also working in consultation with Collective for a Poverty-Free Quebec.

Now is the time to end poverty in Canada
By Karri Munn-Venn and Rob Rainer
May 18, 2009
The campaign has three goals:
1. A comprehensive, integrated federal plan for poverty elimination.
2. A federal Act to eliminate poverty, promote social inclusion and strengthen social security.
3. Sufficient federal revenue to invest in social security.

Please support the campaign.
Click on the “I support” button on the home page and be a part of Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada.

Because NOW is the time to end poverty in Canada!
[ List of Campaign supporters to date ]

Founders:

Canada Without Poverty
Based in Ottawa and governed by people with experience of living in poverty, Canada Without Poverty works to address the structural causes of and to promote lasting solutions to poverty. We are especially focused on federal, provincial and territorial government policies and legislation (existing and proposed) that may help or harm low-income Canadians.

Citizens for Public Justice
We are a faithful response to God’s call for love, justice and stewardship. We envision a world in which individuals, communities, societal institutions and governments all contribute to and benefit from the common good. Our mission is to promote public justice in Canada by shaping key public policy debates through research and analysis, publishing and public dialogue.
[ Excerpt from Vision and Mission ]

* Links to Anti-Poverty/Poverty Blogs - links to over three dozen blogs from BC, from Toronto, from Fredericton, from Montreal, etc.
* News - Anti-poverty & poverty related news stories, current events, reports & press releases
* Online resources - Links to government websites, policies, acts, regulations & many other useful websites organized by issue (same as above) and by location (links to provincial/territorial resources, U.S. and other international links)
Source:
PovNet
PovNet is an online resource for advocates, people on welfare, and community groups and individuals involved in anti-poverty work.[ About PovNet ]

Make Poverty History (Canada)
Here's what we want in 14 words:
* More and Better Aid
* Trade Justice
* Cancel the Debt
* End Child Poverty in Canada

Campaign 2000
Campaign 2000 is a cross-Canada public education movement to build Canadian awareness and support for the 1989 all-party House of Commons resolution to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.

A poverty reduction strategy for Ontario (PDF file - 396K, 14 pages)
July 2007
Source:
Campaign 2000

Canada Without Poverty (official name : National Antipoverty Organization)
Based in Ottawa and governed by people with experience of living in poverty, Canada Without Poverty works to address the structural causes of and to promote lasting solutions to poverty. We are especially focused on federal, provincial and territorial government policies and legislation (existing and proposed) that may help or harm low-income Canadians.

CWP Advocacy Network
The CWP Advocacy Network is a new national non-profit but non-charitable organization. It exists to directly lobby politicians and other public policy makers, at all levels of government in Canada, for policies and legislation that help prevent, alleviate and eliminate poverty in Canada.

From the website of
Tony Martin, Federal NDP Poverty Critic:

Debate in the House of Commons on a national anti-poverty strategy
(Private Member's Bill - Tony Martin, NDP)
February 20, 2007

Related links:

The federal contribution to reducing poverty in Canada:
Evidence presented at Meetings of the Standing Committee
on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA)

39th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION

- this link takes you to another page of this site to specific evidence presented at six of the HUMA meetings (including a list of witnesses and the topics covered in each meeting)
Source:
Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA)
(Tony Martin is a member of HUMA)
[ Parliament of Canada website ]

Envisioning Canada Without Poverty: A CPJ Call to Action
Momentum for poverty reduction is growing across Canada. As Ontario and Nova Scotia follow in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador's footsteps by committing to poverty reduction strategies, the leadership of the provinces is setting an example for the federal government to follow. We believe that the time has come to increase the pressure on the federal government to develop a federal poverty reduction strategy for Canada.

Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) has recently launched the Envisioning Canada Without Poverty: A CPJ Call to Action campaign. It is aimed at empowering citizens to advocate for a poverty reduction strategy. Our website offers both introductory information and a more detailed examination of poverty and poverty reduction strategies, as well as step by step instructions on writing your MP or arranging a meeting. We are calling for concerned citizens to write or visit your MP to ask for their commitment to working towards a federal poverty reduction strategy announced in Budget 2009.

Federal Liberal Party Antipoverty Plan
+ Caledon Institute of Social Policy Response

Dion Unveils the Liberal Plan to Win the War Against Poverty
November 9, 2007
TORONTO – Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion today unveiled a comprehensive plan to dramatically reduce the number of Canadians living below the poverty line by at least 30 per cent and cut in half the number of children living in poverty in five years. Mr. Dion called it the Liberal 30-50 Plan to Reduce Poverty.
Source:
Liberal Party of Canada

Caledon Response to Liberal Poverty Strategy (PDF file - 264K, 9 pages)
November 2007
The Caledon Institute of Social Policy applauds Liberal leader Stéphane Dion’s November 9, 2007 speech laying out his party’s poverty reduction strategy. It recognizes poverty as a serious national problem that needs political leadership and an explicit focus to achieve clear results.
Caledon offers some additional or alternative proposals, including:
* to properly set and monitor poverty reduction targets, devise a better poverty indicator than the current low income cut-offs
* rather than simply converting the non-refundable child tax credit to a refundable credit, as suggested in the Dion speech, the federal government should abolish the Universal Child Care Benefit and the child tax credit, using the savings to help build a stronger Canada Child Tax Benefit
* immediately bolster the federal Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB), but in future expand it from a federal-only to a joint federal-provincial/territorial undertaking. WITB should be made more flexible to allow each province and territory to adapt the program to its needs and circumstances, and to integrate it with its welfare system
* provide specifics and associated costs on the proposal to increase Guaranteed Income Supplement payments for the lowest income seniors
* base the income test for the clawback of Old Age Security benefits from upper-income senior couples on their combined income rather than on each spouse or partner’s individual income
* to encourage seniors and near-seniors who can and want to continue working to do so, eliminate the ‘employment test’ for receipt of a CPP retirement pension before age 65. Also, allow CPP beneficiaries receiving a retirement pension but still working to continue to contribute to the plan, with the additional earnings taken into account each year in re-calculating their pensions.
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy
The Caledon Institute of Social Policy is a private, nonprofit organization with charitable status. It is supported primarily by the Maytree Foundation, located in Toronto. Caledon is an independent and critical voice that does not depend on government funding and is not affiliated with any political party.

Related link:

Dion's green anti-poverty plan
June 25, 2008
By Carol Goar
When Stéphane Dion announced last November that a Liberal government would cut poverty by 30 per cent – and child poverty by 50 per cent – within five years, his political opponents scoffed. Where would he find the billions of dollars he needed to deliver on his commitment? Now we know the answer – or at least a large part of the answer. Dion's proposed carbon tax, unveiled last week, would allow him to launch the most aggressive anti-poverty program in 40 years.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Brief to the Senate on Urban Child Poverty (2008) (PDF - 187K, 14 pages)
In February 2008, First Call Chair Michael Goldberg presented to the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on the topic of urban child poverty. This briefing is an overview of topics including measuring poverty; child poverty rates; and the interaction between market income, social security benefits, taxation and statutory deductions, and income tested social programs.
Source:
First Call: B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition
First Call is a coalition of individuals and organizations whose purpose is to create greater understanding of and advocacy for legislation, policy, and practice to ensure that all children and youth have the opportunities and resources required to achieve their full potential and to participate in the challenges of creating a better society.

Canada's Coalition to End Global Poverty
[ Canadian Council for International Co-operation ]
The Council is a coalition of Canadian voluntary sector organizations working globally to achieve sustainable human development. The Canadian Council for International Co-operation seeks to end global poverty, and to promote social justice and human dignity for all.

10-Point Agenda
CCIC refuses to accept the belief that poverty is inevitable.
Our 10-point agenda identifies key areas that collectively address the range of factors that create and perpetuate poverty.
1. Promoting Sustainable Development
2. Upholding Human Rights
3. Creating an Equitable Global Economic Order
4. Achieving Gender Equity
5. Improving the Lives of Children
6. Building Peace
7. Promoting Global Food Security
8. Promoting Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility
9. Reinvesting in Canada's Foreign Aid Program
10. Creating New Opportunities for Citizen Participation

[GO BACK TO THE TOP OF THIS PAGE]



Links to international anti-poverty initiatives
- in reverse chronological order

Half in Ten : A Campaign to Cut Poverty in the United States in Half in Ten Years

Half in Ten Campaign Starts the Clock on Cutting Poverty in Half in Ten Years
Releases signature report, “Restoring Shared Prosperity: Strategies to Cut Poverty and Expand Economic Growth”
News Release
October 26, 2011
Washington, D.C. – Today the Half in Ten campaign released a landmark report contrasting the number of struggling families in today’s economy with comprehensive data on the challenges we face in creating enough decent-wage jobs, supplying sufficient affordable housing units, and other foundational supports to ensure pathways out of poverty for millions of Americans.

The report:

Restoring Shared Prosperity:
Strategies to Cut Poverty and Expand Economic Growth
(PDF - 5.6MB, 128 pages)
October 2011
Table of contents:
* Introduction and summary
* Chapter one : Poverty in the United States today
* Chapter two : More good jobs
* Chapter three : Strengthening families and communities
* Chapter four : Family economic security
* Conclusion: A call to action
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Center for American Progress convened a diverse taskforce of national experts to examine the causes and consequences of poverty in the United States and to devise a plan to reduce poverty and promote greater opportunity for all. The result was a landmark report, released in April 2007, “From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half.” The report laid out a series of policy recommendations which if implemented could cut poverty in our nation in half in 10 years.
Source:
Restoring Shared Prosperity: 2010
- report main page, includes an introduction to, and summary of, the report, as well as links (in the left margin of the page) to individual chapters of the report in PDF format.

Top 10 Findings from Half in Ten’s Inaugural (2010)
Report Tracking Our Progress Reducing Poverty
1. Since 1970 real wages have not kept pace with employee productivity.
2. In 2010 people with disabilities had an employment rate of 18.6 percent, which was just one-third that of people with no disabilities (63.5 percent).
3. Between 1979 and 2007 overall direct expenditures by the federal government on education, training, and employment services fell by half, from 8.8 percent of GDP to 4.3 percent.
4. The transportation sector provides new opportunities for equitable job growth.
5. Poverty rates for households headed by a single mother drop from 40.7 percent to 14 percent when the mother has full-time, year-round employment.
6. Only 4 percent of households with more than one earner are in poverty as compared to 24 percent of households with a single earner.
7. Among those facing employment challenges, more than one-third (35 percent) had home or family reasons for not working all or part of the year, such as a sick child or parents, and disruptions in child care.
8. African Americans and Latinos are more than five times more likely than whites to be “unbanked.”
9. High poverty rates among families with children cannot simply be explained by low work effort.
10. In 2009 the earned income tax credit lifted 6 million people—half of them children—out of poverty.

Perhaps the most important finding from the report is that we have both the experience and the policy tools necessary to cut poverty in half.

Related links:

Half in Ten : From Poverty to Prosperity
A Campaign to Cut Poverty in the United States in Half in Ten Years

More than 46 million Americans live below the official poverty line—which is now approximately $22,314 for a family of four—and 16.4 million children are poor in this country. Inequality of wealth has reached record highs—it is greater than at any time since 1929.

Half in Ten : Our Key Issues
* Creating Good Jobs
* Strengthening Families
* Promoting Economic Security
* Cutting Poverty in Half
Restoring Shared Prosperity
Half in Ten provides a view on the statistics and data behind poverty, and show the path to restoring shared prosperity.
Visit now ?

Half in Ten is a project of:

* Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund
The CAP Action Fund is a progressive think-tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action. (...) Our mission is to transform progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, grassroots organizing and advocacy, and partnerships with other progressive leaders throughout the country and the world.
The Center for American Progress is a sister organization of the Center for American Progress (CAP).The Center for American Progress is dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action. (...) We believe an open and effective government can champion the common good over narrow self-interest, harness the strength of our diversity, and secure the rights and safety of its people.

* Coalition on Human Needs
The Coalition on Human Needs (CHN) is an alliance of national organizations working together to promote public policies which address the needs of low-income and other vulnerable populations.

* The Leadership Conference
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States.

 

United Kingdom

400,000 children will fall into relative poverty by 2015, warns Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
Number of children in absolute poverty in 2015 will rise by 500,000 to 3 million, says Institute for Fiscal Studies

By Randeep Ramesh
11 October 2011
The government shakeup of the tax and benefits system will result in a further 400,000 children falling into relative poverty during this parliament, leaving Britain on course to miss legally binding targets to reduce child poverty by 2020, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In a bleak assessment of changes in the government's new social contract, the IFS said the number of children in absolute poverty in 2015 will rise by 500,000 to 3 million. Even worse, by 2020 3.3 million young people – almost one in four children – will find themselves in relative child poverty.

[ 316 comments on this article ]

Source:
The Guardian

The IFS report:

Child and Working Age Poverty and Inequality in UK: 2010 (PDF - 668K, 69 pages)
October 2011
This Commentary presents forecasts of relative and absolute income poverty in the UK among children and working-age adults for each year between 2010---11 and 2015---16, and for 2020---21, using a static microsimulation model augmented with forecasts of key economic and
demographic characteristics. (...)
The Child Poverty Act, passed with all-party support in 2010, commits successive governments to the eradication of child poverty by 2020. The Act lists four measures of child poverty, each with their own target which needs to be met for child poverty to be said to be eradicated, but this Commentary concentrates on relative and absolute poverty, as the other measures cannot yet be modelled.

Source:
Institute for Fiscal Studies
Our goal at the Institute for Fiscal Studies is to promote effective economic and social policies by understanding better their impact on individuals, families, businesses and the government's finances.

 

United States

Poverty and Opportunity: What Difference Can a Task Force Make? (PDF - 478K, 21 pages)
By Jodie Levin-Epstein et al
July 2011
Nearly 44 million Americans live below the federal poverty level. In the wake of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, policymakers in many states are working to advance measures to reduce poverty. Twenty states, including Washington D.C., have established a state government poverty and opportunity task force. Eleven of these states have set poverty reduction targets, such as cutting poverty in half in a decade. CLASP has profiled four of these poverty task forces in its new report, Poverty and Opportunity: What Difference Can a Task Force Make? With poverty on the rise, there are lessons to be learned from the task forces in the four following states.

Reports dated July 26, 2011:
* Minnesota
(PDF - 264K, 5 pages)
* Ohio (PDF - 254K, 5 pages)
* Illinois (PDF - 273K, 5 pages)
* Colorado (PDF - 234K, 5 pages)

Related links:

State Poverty Task Force Recommendations (PDF - 696K, 49 pages)
March 2011 (revised)

Poverty and Opportunity: Chart of State Government Task Forces (PDF - 196K, 2 pages)
Updated April 2011
- includes links to almost two dozen Task Force reports

Seizing the Moment: State Governments and the
New Commitment to Reduce Poverty in America

April 2008
Joint report from CLASP and
Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity

Source:
CLASP (Center for Law and Social Policy)
Since 1969, CLASP has been a trusted resource, a creative architect for systems change, and one of the country's most effective voices for low income people. We develop and advocate for federal, state and local policies to strengthen families and create pathways to education and work.

 

From the
New York Times Opinion Pages:

July 14, 2011
Out of Poverty, Family-Style
An initiative that brings struggling families together to help each other out of poverty is providing a new model for social welfare.

Trusting Families to Help Themselves
By DAVID BORNSTEIN
July 19, 2011
To give support to struggling families without prescribing solutions requires respect and discipline.

---

Family Independence Initiative (FII)
Recreating the conditions under which generation after generation
of Americans secured a future for their children and communities

The Family Independence Initiative is a national center for anti-poverty innovation that over this last decade has demonstrated that investing in people’s strengths and initiative delivers stronger, more sustainable and cost effective outcomes for working poor families. Our strength-based approach, as radical and as old as our democracy, is inspired by the historical successes of poor and immigrant communities in the U.S.

FII’s work with cohorts of families in cities across the country shows that low-income people can advance together if we:

* Make resources and funding available more directly to people, not just institutions
* Allow families the freedom to determine their own paths, instead of taking direction from case managers and social workers
* Encourage and reward personal initiative, instead of penalizing or reducing eligibility for help if a family makes progress
* Support and promote mutuality and building social capital, instead of helping individuals outside of the context of their families and communities
* Honor resident leadership and expertise, instead of professionals and outside intervention
* View families as consumers with valuable feedback entitled to hold services and programs accountable, instead of needy victims

Read evaluations of our work in San Francisco (January 2011, PDF - 2MB, 22 pages) and Boston (January 2011, PDF - 1.4MB, 33 pages)

FII Initiatives - San Francisco - Oahu - Oakland - Boston

- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm

 

Poverty in Numbers: The Changing State of Global Poverty from 2005 to 2015
By Laurence Chandy and Geoffrey Gertz
January 2011
Poverty reduction lies at the core of the global development challenge. For the international development community, this objective serves not only as a source of motivation, but as a defining theme across its work. Many of the world’s most prominent aid organizations cite poverty reduction as their overarching goal. (...) How many poor people are there in the world, and how many are there likely to be in 2015? In which countries and regions is poverty falling? How is the composition of global poverty changing and where will poverty be concentrated in the future? These are central questions for which we currently have few, if any, answers. This policy brief attempts to fill this gap by providing a best approximation in response to each of these questions, before offering policy recommendations based on these findings.

Complete report (PDF - 2.3MB, 23 pages)
Executive Summary (PDF - 26K, 1 page)

Source:
The Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:
1. Strengthen American democracy;
2. Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans, and
3. Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.

 

Anti-Poverty Proposals in the U.S.
Links to 150+ reports, some as recent as a few months old and some going back to the early 2000s, from a variety of sources (ranging ideologically from the Cato Institute to the Brookings Institute) dealing with a broad range of subjects related to poverty and poverty reduction in the U.S..

Source:
Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity
Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity was launched in October 2007 by major U.S. foundations to foster non-partisan debate during the 2008 campaign season about policy approaches for addressing poverty and opportunity. Today, Spotlight provides a platform for ongoing discussion about how best to address the needs of those who have fallen into poverty during the Great Recession and those who have struggled for generations to move up the economic ladder. (...) Spotlight has attracted interest from public figures of all political stripes who write for the website’s exclusive commentary section, participate in webcasts and rely on the one-stop shop website for the latest news, research, data and commentary about poverty and opportunity.
- incl. links to : * Characteristics of Poverty * Poverty Measurement * Consequences of Poverty * Mobility and Opportunity * Anti-Poverty Proposals * Immigration and Poverty * Asset Poverty * Place and Poverty * Polling

 

Gates Foundation pledges $500 million to help the poor save money
Co-chair Melinda Gates and others at a Seattle forum look into cellphone
banking in the developing world and other ways to help some of the world's
poorest families begin much-needed savings accounts.
November 17, 2010
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $500 million Tuesday to help create new banking systems that will reach into the world's most impoverished corners and allow families earning $2 a day or less to begin saving money. After years of promoting microcredit borrowing to help impoverished farmers and bottom-of-the-rung entrepreneurs expand their business opportunities, foundation leaders said it was increasingly apparent that saving, not just credit, is crucial to helping poor families weather crises, pay for schooling and make small investments to expand their incomes.
Source:
Los Angeles Times

Related links:
Go to the Asset-Based Social Policies Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/assets.htm

 

Tearing apart the British welfare state
November 11, 2010
By Doug Saunders
LONDON—Almost a century after the modern welfare state was created by Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George, his successors in Britain’s Conservative-Liberal coalition government are hoping to tear it apart completely in a radical act of cost slashing.
In a huge and risky experiment sure to be watched closely by other countries wrestling with public debt, government budget deficits and shrinking work forces, Prime Minister David Cameron’s government Thursday announced sweeping plans to change the lives of 5 million people dependent on government payments in an effort to push hundreds of thousands of people into the work force
Source:
Globe and Mail

 

Institute of International Social Development
The Institute of International Social Development (IISD) encourages "holistic development and empowerment of disadvantaged communities and societies and improving the quality of life all around." There are several welfare projects the organization runs, in India and Switzerland, as well as training for their programs, in New York. The "Programs" tab near the top of any page, allows visitors to see a list of the long-term projects of the Institute, as well as read the "objective" of each project, a "description" of it, and the "achievements". Each program is run to accomplish one or more of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of the UN, and visitors can read the MDG listed in the objective of each program. Visitors shouldn't miss the link on the far right hand side of the programs page "Arts and Craft", which is a ten-page PDF that showcases one of the projects in West Bengal, India. The report includes photos, a map, and text that explain how IISD has encouraged teams of women artisans to create and execute traditional embroidery to be used in the creation of hats, saris, and coin purses. The items are then sold by the artisans themselves, in order to empower their community.
Review by
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010.

 

Supplemental Federal Poverty Measure Explained (2.5 minute video)
March 2010 (Posted here Oct. 24)
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that it will be developing an alternative way to measure poverty. This new method will better reflect the realities facing struggling families and ways in which current government programs can help them to get back on their feet. Unlike the traditional poverty measure, which is based in a 1960s reality, this supplemental measure will provide a more accurate accounting of household budgets and better determination of whether a family has enough resources to meet its most basic needs.
Source:
Half in Ten: From Poverty to Prosperity
The Campaign to Cut Poverty in Half in Ten Years

More than thirty-seven million Americans live below the official poverty line (which is now $21,203 for a family of four), and more than 13.3 million children are poor in this country. Inequality has reached record highs – it is greater than at any time since 1929. (...)

Links to Federal Poverty Measurement Resources
- links to key organizations that study and track developments on the federal poverty measure.

 

Millennium Development Goals:
The Good News of the Decade?
- video, 15 minutes
- A TEDxChange talk by Hans Rosling on the MDGs
September 20, 2010
Hans Rosling is Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute and co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation. Throughout his career, he has researched the links between economic development, agriculture, poverty, and health in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He has served as health adviser to various aid agencies, including the World Health Organization and UNICEF. In his 15-minute TEDxChange talk, Dr. Rosling takes us to his wonderful world of statistics, where he shows concrete examples of progress in child health, shows why family planning helps save children's lives, and explains why Millennium Development Goals for child mortality are entirely possible.

Presentation from:
TEDxChange

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxChange, where x=independently organized TED event. At our TEDxChange event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
[ TED : Ideas worth spreading ]

Source:
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Our foundation is teaming up with partners around the world to take on some tough problems: extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries, the failures of America’s education system.
[ Fifteen Guiding Principles of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ]

Related links:

Gapminder Foundation - "Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view"
Gapminder is a non-profit venture – a modern “museum” on the Internet – promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Gapminder is an operating foundation that provides services as defined by the board, sometimes as collaborative projects with universities, UN organisations, public agencies and non-governmental organisations.

World Health Organization
WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

UNICEF
UNICEF is the driving force that helps build a world where the rights of every child are realized. We have the global authority to influence decision-makers, and the variety of partners at grassroots level to turn the most innovative ideas into reality.

 

MDG Report Card and Development Progress Stories
In 2000, every member of the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight time-bound, measurable goals across a range of health and development outcomes. As the world recognizes the ten-year anniversary of the MDGs, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has published two reports that analyze progress against these goals, and highlight advances in development efforts.

The first, MDG Report Card: Measuring Progress Across Countries (PDF, 18.3MB, 118 pages), provides a country-by-country analysis of progress toward meeting the MDGs, and flags inequities and uneven progress.

The second, Development Progress Stories, is a series of case studies that highlight progress in different countries, as well as key lessons about what has worked in development, and why.

Source:
Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
ODI is Britain's leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. Our mission is to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries.

 

2010 Global Hunger Index
The challenge of hunger: Focus on the crisis of child undernutrition
As the world approaches the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which include a goal of reducing the proportion of hungry people by half – the 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI) offers a useful and multidimensional overview of global hunger. The 2010 GHI shows some improvement over the 1990 GHI, falling by almost one-quarter. Nonetheless, the index for hunger in the world remains at a level characterized as “serious.” The result is unsurprising given that the overall number of hungry people surpassed 1 billion in 2009, even though it decreased to 925 million in 2010, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- includes links to a half-dozen related resources

Improve Child Nutrition to Reduce Global Hunger, Says New Global Hunger Index
Press Release
October 11, 2010

Complete report:

2010 Global Hunger Index
The Challenge of Hunger:
Focus on the Crisis of Child Undernutrition
(PDF - 3.4MB, 56 pages)
October 2010

Background Facts and Key Findings

Source:
International Food Policy Research Institute
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI is one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an alliance of 64 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations.

Exit Poverty Empowerment (Kenya)
Exit Poverty Empowerment is a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization founded in 2009 on grounds that poverty is multi facet issue that require multi facet solutions, As one active, effective, and respected non-profit organizations working for economical empowerment with nearly 300 groups and thousands of supporters, we remain committed to empowering citizen participation in eradicating poverty.

Exit Poverty is a movement of people working together to make a difference for the poor in Kenya today. The organization depends on the unpaid work of many thousands of volunteers who organize, carry out local fundraising initiatives large and small, and who campaign to change the systems that keep people poor.

Poverty reduction does not occur by finance ministers reforming economy or by citizens getting a new constitution. Poverty is a multifaceted issue that requires multi faceted solutions and action from all society agents. Exit Poverty attacks 5 causes of poverty; economic block, bad governance, corruption, tribalism and interlink issue. It also bridges all the 5 agents; government, civil society, donors, the private sector, and poor people themselves on 5 empowerment pillars:
* Promoting economic opportunity
* Empowerment on governance
* Empowering citizens to fight corruption
* Anti Tribalism Empowerment
* Mainstreaming cross-cutting

UNRISD Director to Present Poverty Report at German Development Cooperation
News Release
7 October 2010
Director Sarah Cook of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is presenting the 2010 Flagship Report, Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics, at an expert talk organized by the German Development Cooperation (GTZ) headquarters in Frankfurt, on 8 October. (...) To achieve sustainable social development, social cohesion, reliable and remunerated employment and political participation are necessary, according to the UNRISD report. Poverty reduction is a central feature of the international development agenda. World leaders agreed to social development objectives and strategies for achieving them at the Millennium Summit in 2000, with the goal of significantly reducing poverty by 2015. Yet poverty and inequality persist: on current trends, about one billion people will still be living in extreme poverty in 2015.

Complete report:

Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics
October 2010
(Click the link above to access the individual sections from the table of contents below)
(For the complete report in a single PDF file, click "Additional Information" (top right corner of the page), then "Full Report".)

Table of contents:

Contents, acknowledgements, foreword and preface
Overview

Section 1: Socially Inclusive Structural Change
* Towards Employment-Centred Structural Change
* Income Inequality and Structural Change
* Tackling Ethnic and Regional Inequalities
* Gender Inequalities at Home and in the Market

Section 2: Transformative Social Policy and Poverty Reduction
* Towards Universal Social Protection
* Universal Provision of Social Services
* Care and Well-Being in a Development Context
* Financing Social Policy

Section 3: The Politics of Poverty Reduction
* Business, Power and Poverty Reduction
* Building State Capacity for Poverty Reduction
* Democracy and the Politics of Poverty Reduction

Concluding Remarks
References, acronyms and list of boxes, figures and tables

- includes eight overview papers commissioned to examine the following countries:
China, Finland, Ireland, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the former USSR and Viet Nam.
- incl. links to 40+ thematic background papers commissioned in preparation for the Flagship Report, all viewable in the ‘Thematic Papers’ section

Source:
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
UNRISD is an autonomous UN agency engaging in multidisciplinary research on the social dimensions of contemporary problems affecting development.

Here's something of interest
for proponents of asset-based social policy:

Saving: a simple solution to the fight against poverty [Australia]
If we want to end poverty, we’ve got to start championing policies to build families’ assets, writes Gerard Brody
Commentary
09 August 2010
Source:
Australian Policy Online (APO)
APO is a news service and library specialising in Australian public policy reports and articles from academic research centres, think tanks, government and non-government organisations. The site features opinion and commentary pieces, video, audio and web resources focussed on the policy issues facing Australia.
[ About APO ]

South Australia's strategic plan: what progress on poverty?
27 September 2010
This information paper uses the South Australian Government's own ratings to analyse progress in different areas of South Australia's ten year Strategic Plan.

Source:
South Australian Council of Social Service

High-level Plenary Meeting of the 65th Session of the
UN General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals
("The Millennium Development Goals Summit")
New York, September 20-22 (2010)

--------------------------------------

The official summit website:

Summit on the Millennium Development Goals
20-22 September 2010
With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20-22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.

Programme
The High-level Plenary Meeting will consist of six plenary meetings, on the basis of two meetings a day, and six interactive round-table sessions to be held in concurrence with plenary meetings.
Roundtable themes:
* Poverty, hunger and gender equality * Health and education * Promoting sustainable development * Emerging issues * Addressing the special needs of the most vulnerable * Widening and strengthening partnerships

MDG Summit Documents

Live video stream

Read the latest news
from the United Nations News Centre
- including coverage of the MDG summit in New York

News releases from the Summit:

'The Clock is Ticking,’ Secretary-General Says, Urging World Leaders
to Generate Resources, Political will to Achieve Millennium Development Goals by 2015
20 September 2010
Despite obstacles, scepticism and a fast-approaching 2015 deadline, the Millennium Development Goals could be achieved if the global community stayed true to the promise made a decade ago to end the dehumanizing conditions of poverty by making smart investments in infrastructure, opening export markets and generally rethinking conventional wisdom, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders today as he opened the General Assembly’s high-level meeting to take stock of progress.

Poorest countries at epicentre of
development emergency, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns

21 September 2010
With just five years remaining until the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today sounded the alarm that the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) continued to be mired in poverty.

--------------------------------------

The Secretary-General's report

12 February 2010
Keeping the promise: a forward-looking review to promote
an agreed action agenda to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals by 2015:
Report of the Secretary-General
(PDF - 166K, 35 pages)
Follow-up to the outcome
of the Millennium Summit
"(...) The Millennium Development Goals have triggered the largest cooperative effort in world history to fight poverty, hunger and disease. They have become a rallying cry in poor and rich countries alike, and a standard for non-governmental organizations and corporations as well. Nearly 10 years after they were adopted, they are alive and stronger than ever, which is a rarity among global goals. The world wants them to work." [Report, p.31]
- Four main sections:
1. Examination of the importance of the Millennium Declaration and how it drives the United Nations development agenda.
2. Progress review re. achieving the Millennium Development Goals, presenting both shortfalls and successes in the global effort and outlines emerging issues.
3. Summary of lessons learned to shape new efforts for accelerating progress to meet the Goals and identifies key success factors.
4. Specific recommendations for action.
The report calls for a new pact to accelerate progress in achieving the Goals in the coming years among all stakeholders, in a commitment towards equitable and
sustainable development for all.

--------------------------------------

The CBC coverage:

Millennium Development Goals summit opens
UN meeting to review progress in getting rid of extreme poverty, hunger, disease
September 20, 2010
World leaders gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday for the Millennium Development Goals summit, two days aimed at measuring their success in eradicating global poverty. The summit focuses on the Millennium Development Goals, a series of "quantified, time-bound targets for addressing extreme poverty, hunger and disease, and for promoting gender equality, education and environmental sustainability," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrote in a pre-summit report. (...) The goals were agreed to 2000 by 189 of the UN's member states; they committed to achieving them by 2015.
Source:
CBC

--------------------------------------

Related links:

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs offer us a roadmap to end poverty and its root causes. In September 2000, 189 world leaders adopted the MDGs as part of the Millennium Declaration, agreed to at the United Nations Millennium Summit.
The MDG's set an unprecedented global framework for development that is a crucial step towards ending poverty and inequality by 2015.

What are the Millennium Development Goals?

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
Source:
United Nations

---

Latest MDG annual reports:

Millennium Development Goals Report 2010 (PDF - 49.5MB, 80 pages)*
Annual assessment of global progress towards the Millennium Development Goals
[ *Aside to the nice people of the U.N. website team: lower filesizes will increase
the number of visitors who download your reports. This file is HUMONGOUS!
]

[ Millennium Development Goals 2009 report (PDF - 8MB, 60 pages) ]

---

Poverty Reduction
Through the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals the world is addressing the many dimensions of human development, including halving by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty.
Source:
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UNDP advocates for nationally-owned solutions to reduce poverty and promote human development. We sponsor innovative pilot projects; connect countries to global good practices and resources; promote the role of women in development; and bring governments, civil society and outside funders together to coordinate their efforts.

---

End Poverty 2015 Millennium Campaign
"We are the generation that can end poverty"
"End poverty by 2015" is the historic promise 189 world leaders made at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

---

Poverty Reduction: Country Briefings
These OneWorld briefings assess progress in poverty reduction for over 60 developing countries. Now more than midway to the 2015 target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the overall picture is not encouraging, reinforcing conclusions of the 2010 UN Millennium Development Goals Report.
- also includes links to info on :
* Living with Poverty * Global Trends * Economic Recession * Measuring National Poverty * Measuring Global Poverty * Causes * Why Should We Care? * MDGs *
Climate Change * Solutions
Source
One World UK
OneWorld UK aims to provide the UK's best online coverage of human rights and sustainable development.

---

Make Poverty History - Canada
The Canadian Make Poverty History campaign was launched in February 2005 with the support of a wide cross-section of public interest and faith groups, trade unions, students, academics and literary, artistic and sports leaders. Make Poverty History is part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (the third link below). National campaigns are now active in over 100 countries. The global campaign, which also launched in 2005, presses G8 leaders for action on global poverty issues.

End Poverty in Canada Campaign

---

Make Poverty History.org - U.K.
The Make Poverty History campaign in the UK officially came to an end in 2006. However, the Global Call to Action against Poverty, the world’s largest civil society anti-poverty alliance continues, and organisations across the world continue to work together to make poverty history.

Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)
GCAP is a growing alliance that brings together trade unions, INGOs, the women’s and youth movements, community and faith groups and others to call for action from world leaders in the global North and South to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality.

---

Canada Without Poverty (CWP)
Canada Without Poverty is a federally incorporated, non-partisan, not-for-profit and charitable organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty in Canada.

CWP Advocacy Network
The CWP Advocacy Network is a new national non-profit but non-charitable organization. It exists to directly lobby politicians and other public policy makers, at all levels of government in Canada, for policies and legislation that help prevent, alleviate and eliminate poverty in Canada.

---

Dignity for All - The Campaign for a poverty free Canada
The Dignity for All Campaign calls for vigorous and sustained action by the federal government to combat the structural causes of poverty in Canada.

---

Poverty Elimination Bill Introduced
July 6, 2010
On Thursday, June 17, NDP MP Tony Martin tabled private member’s Bill C-545, An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada.

A year earlier:

Canada to UN: We'll decide what rights we will choose to observe...
June 8, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Canada has signed a significant number of international human rights treaties that are legally binding in international law, but the federal government believes that it can pick and choose among its obligations - according to the official document tabled at the United Nations' Rights Council in Geneva today. The good news is that the federal government has accepted its responsibility to take a stronger role in ensuring all Canadians are adequately housed, but the federal government says that companion initiatives to address deep and persistent poverty and income inequality are mostly the responsibility of provinces and territories (and not the national government)...
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

-----------------------------------------------

Media commentary and analysis

From
The Toronto Star:

Find the will to cut hunger
September 19, 2010
Much lip-service will be paid to global poverty when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other leaders gather at the United Nations this week to open the General Assembly and to review their lofty development goals. Canada is lobbying for a seat on the Security Council, and Harper intends to make two “pretty robust” speeches to showcase Ottawa’s activism on economic, aid and security issues. (...) But when all is said and done, Canada is anything but a generous donor. This year we will spend just 0.33 per cent of our wealth (measured as gross national income) on aid. Of the major donor countries, we rank 18th. Nine of our partners give 0.5 per cent or more. It will be interesting to see what, if any, additional hard cash Harper is prepared to put on the table in New York this week to advance the UN goals.

Global Voices: Seeing a future in UN's development goals
September 20, 2010

By Craig and Marc Kielburger
(...)
When we kicked off the millennium, we didn’t call the MDGs indicators. We called them a legacy, when the largest-ever gathering of world leaders collectively put the most vulnerable members of our society first. Today, as those leaders regroup to talk progress on the 10th anniversary of the targets, there is now a feeling of discouragement. That’s because the indicators show many countries are falling behind.

Source:
Toronto Star

From The Scout Report:

Interest grows in the conditional-cash
transfer program designed to alleviate poverty
August 6, 2010

Brazil's Bolsa Família: How to get children out of jobs and into school
http://www.economist.com/node/16690887

Conditional cash transfer helps Pinoys beat poverty trap
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/07/30/10/conditional-cash-transfer-helps-pinoys-beat-poverty-trap

Anti-poverty programmes: Give the poor money
http://www.economist.com/node/16693323

Conditional Cash Transfers
http://tinyurl.com/27unlpu

Conditional Cash Transfers: A Global Perspective
http://www.undg-policynet.org/ext/MDG_Insight/MDG_Insights_Feb_2010.pdf (PDF - 362K, 6 pages)

Oxfam GB
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/

Solving the problems of the world's poor is an issue that has consumed the attention of many non-governmental organizations (NGO's) for decades, and there is much debate about the most effective methods involved in combating this situation. One idea that has been garnering increased attention is conditional-cash transfers (CCT). CCT's are distributed to poor families on the condition that they make sure that their children are attending school, receiving medical checkups, and so on. Policy-makers are intrigued by the findings in the favelas (slums) of Sao Paulo, where these programs have been in place for several years. While they seem to be fairly effective in urban settings, they seem to work best in rural areas thus far. The program is not without its critics, as some think that it may erode incentives to work, and that it has failed to reduce child labor in cities. Interestingly enough, the program is slowly being adopted in the developed world, and there are now similar initiatives in large American cities, including the "Opportunity NYC" program in New York.

The first link will take visitors to a recent article from The Economist that reports on the possibilities and pitfalls of the CCT program in Brazil. Moving on, the second link leads to a piece from ABS/CBN News that discusses the use of the CCT program in the Philippines. The third link leads to another recent piece from The Economist that discusses potential improvements to the CCT program. The fourth link leads to a webpage from the World Bank website which offers a host of details about how the CCT program functions. The fifth link leads to a thoughtful reflection on the use of CCT's by Gaspar Fajth of UNICEF and Claudia Vinay of the United Nations' Development Programme. The final link leads to the homepage of the Oxfam GB organization, which has been working on a variety of anti-poverty initiatives since 1942.

Source:
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010

Anti-poverty policies 'failing the poorest'
Ten years on, global poverty reduction strategies failing poorest people – new report
August 5, 2010
Press Release
More than 10 years on, global poverty reduction strategies introduced by multilateral organisations including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), have failed to remove many of the poorest communities, especially minority and indigenous communities, out of poverty, Minority Rights Group International says.
Source:
Minority Rights Group International - "Working to secure the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples"

Complete report:

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers:
failing minorities and indigenous peoples
(PDF - 1.1MB, 44 pages)
by Samia Liaquat Ali Khan

Related links:

Global Poverty guide
Updated March 2010
(...) Whatever the difference of opinion on the extent of global poverty, one thing is certain: our prevailing economic system of wealth creation is largely blind to the injustice imposed on a significant proportion of the world’s population. Its vicissitudes impact disproportionately on the poor – recession, volatile food and fuel prices, and climate change.

Poverty Reduction: Country Briefings
These OneWorld briefings assess progress in poverty reduction for over 60 developing countries. Now more than midway to the 2015 target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the overall picture is not encouraging, reinforcing conclusions of the 2009 UN Millennium Development Goals Report (PDF - 8MB, 60 pages)
- also includes links to info on :
* Living with Poverty * Global Trends * Economic Recession * Measuring National Poverty * Measuring Global Poverty * Causes * Why Should We Care? * MDGs *
Climate Change * Solutions
Source
One World UK
OneWorld UK aims to provide the UK's best online coverage of human rights and sustainable development.

UN Millennium Development Goals website
"When 189 Heads of State and government from the North and South, as representatives of their citizens, signed onto the Millennium Declaration at the 2000 UN Millennium Summit, there was a palpable sense of urgency. Urgency to 'free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of
extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.'"

First Nations announce Poverty Reduction Approach:
http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/July2010/20/c5025.html

Time to end the Indian Act:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/839638--it-s-time-to-end-the-indian-act

United Kingdom

From HM Treasury:

Ending child poverty:
mapping the route to 2020
(PDF - 718K, 52 pages)
March 2010
This paper sets out the Government’s strategic direction for ending child poverty by 2020 and beyond to inform the National Strategy to be published within 12 months of the date of Royal Assent of the Child Poverty Bill. (which was 25 March 2010). The new bill enshrines the pledge to eradicate child poverty in the UK by 2020 as a binding duty on the Government.
(...)
The Child Poverty Bill sets out four challenging UK-wide targets to be reached and sustained from 2020:
• Relative poverty – to reduce the proportion of children who live in relative low income (in families with income below 60 per cent of the median) to less than 10 per cent;
• Combined low income and material deprivation – to reduce the proportion of children who live in material deprivation and have a low income to less than 5 per cent;
• Persistent poverty – to reduce the proportion of children that experience long periods of relative poverty, with the specific target to be set at a later date; and
• Absolute poverty – to reduce the proportion of children who live in absolute low income to less than 5 per cent.
Source:
Budget 2010 Documents

Related links from the
Office of Public Sector Information
:

The Child Poverty Act, 2010
Public Acts of 2010, Chapter 9
Full text of The Child Poverty Act, which received Royal Assent on 25 March 2010.

Explanatory notes - Child Poverty Act 2010
- good contextual and background information

From Save the Children UK:

UK child poverty
March 2010
We’re outraged that 4 million children are living in poverty and a staggering 1.7 million children are living in severe and persistent poverty in the UK — one of the richest countries in the world. The Child Poverty Act is now law and is a historic milestone in the fight against child poverty. This places a legal obligation on all future governments to act to end child poverty in the UK by 2020. However, after the Spring Budget 2010 which failed to deliver the scale of support that children living in poverty today need, it's clear that the Act alone is not enough.
(...)
The number of children living in severe poverty in the UK has shot up to 1.7 million — 260,000 higher than in 2004, according to our latest briefing Measuring Severe Child Poverty in the UK - commissioned from the New Policy Institute. Shockingly London, one of the world’s richest cities, is home to a fifth of all children living in severe poverty in the UK.

Source:
Save the Children UK
We’re working flat out to ensure children get proper healthcare, food, education and protection. We're saving lives in emergencies, campaigning for children's rights, and improving their futures through long-term development work.

Related links:

Measuring Severe Child Poverty in the UK, (PDF 102K, 9 pages)
January 2010

New Policy Institute (NPI)
NPI is a progressive think tank, founded in 1996 by Guy Palmer and Peter Kenway. Wholly independent, we have neither financial backers nor political patrons.

United Nations calls for action and investment to eradicate global poverty
Conflict, chronic poverty and high food prices threaten children’s well-being in the eastern DRC
17 October 2009 – The United Nations today marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declaring that the fight against a scourge that afflicts over a billion people around the world is at a critical juncture.
Source:
United Nations

Related links:

Stand Up and Take Action
Last year, more than 116 million Stood Up and Took Action to end poverty and in support of the Millennium Development Goals.
This year, join the growing movement.
Stand with us.

Make Poverty History - Canada

The Millennium Development Goals (UN)

United Nations

End Poverty 2015 Millennium Campaign
"End poverty by 2015" is the historic promise 189 world leaders made at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

United States

President Obama and antipoverty policy : What does the stimulus bill do to fight poverty, educate citizens and improve public health ?, (PDF - 239K, 3 pages)
By T. Smeeding
March 2009
Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (Madison, Wisconsin)

From OBAMA '08:

BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE:
Obama and Biden’s Plan for America
(PDF - 483K, 43 pages)
(The section on poverty reduction starts on page 55.)

Barack Obama : Plan to Combat Poverty
At a Glance:
* Expand Access to Jobs
* Make Work Pay for All Americans
* Strengthen Families
* Increase the Supply of Affordable Housing
* Tackle Concentrated Poverty

Barack Obama's Plan to Fight Poverty in America (PDF - 64K, 8 pages)

Final Report of the
Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020
(PDF - 1MB, 72 pages)
January 2009
The Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020 began its work in June 2007 and finalized its recommendations in January 2009. The Commission’s overall mission and vision are captured in both
its name and its guiding principles, which were first articulated in the Minnesota faith community (see below).

Source:
Legislative Commission to End Poverty
in Minnesota by 2020

Mission Statement:
"Develop guidelines to end poverty.
Prepare recommendation on how to end poverty in Minnesota by 2020."

A Minnesota Without Poverty
A Minnesota Without Poverty is a statewide, interfaith movement to end poverty in Minnesota by 2020, and a program of Minnesota Council of Churches. We believe that ending poverty is indeed possible, and people of faith from all over the state—public leaders, business people, educators, ordinary citizens of faith—are coming together to respond to God’s call to make this vision a reality.

Target Practice: Lessons for Poverty Reduction (PDF - 355K, 20 pages)
January 2009
By Jodie Levin-Epstein and Webb Lyons
Target Practice outlines how governments (local, state and the federal) can use targets (goals and timelines to achieve those goals) as a policy tool for reducing poverty by drawing on lessons learned from targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and homelessness.
Source:
Poverty and Opportunity
[Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) - U.S.]
CLASP is a national nonprofit that works to improve the lives of low-income people. CLASP’s mission is to improve the economic security, educational and workforce prospects, and family stability of low-income parents, children, and youth and to secure equal justice for all. ]

Obama puts poor back on agenda
Social policy expert John Stapleton believes new federal tax programs for working-age adults may one day be as important as today's pensions and child tax benefits.
New U.S. leader has vowed to cut poverty. Now it's time to see what Canada can do.
November 8, 2008
Laurie Monsebraaten
As part of his compelling "Yes We Can" campaign to make meaningful change in the lives of average Americans, President-elect Barack Obama promised to cut poverty in half within a decade. Canada has no plan to fight poverty. And Stephen Harper's Conservatives didn't offer one during our recent federal election. But with Obama's historic win this week, many anti-poverty activists here believe new pressure is on Ottawa to address social and economic inequality. However, social policy expert John Stapleton argues in a new report that the foundation of a Canadian plan is already in place.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Barack Obama's Innovative War On Poverty
October 13, 2008
Source:
Huffington Post

A poor measure
Let's modernize the definition of poverty.
Better information will yield better anti-poverty results
July 25, 2008
On Thursday, workers who are paid the federal minimum wage got a little salary boost. As the second of a three-step increase that will take the nation's minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, this week's 70-cent rise brought baseline hourly pay to $6.55, only slightly closer to being a living wage. For the struggling Americans known as the working poor, the bump in pay has got to be welcome. But no one should fool himself about how much relief an extra few cents an hour will mean to lean budgets pinched tight by the rising costs of fuel, food, housing and health care. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposes to tackle the poverty problem from a different angle. In mid-July, Bloomberg's office announced the city would employ a much broader method of measuring poverty than the one used since the mid-1960s by the federal government. Congress should carefully consider the merits of the New York plan.
Source:
Houston Chronicle

Related links:

Center for Economic Opportunity
The Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) was established by Mayor Bloomberg in 2006 to identify and implement innovative ways to reduce poverty in New York City. The CEO works with City agencies to design and implement evidence-based initiatives, including strategies and programs, aimed at poverty reduction.

Recent release from CEO:

First Strategy and Implementation Report
In December 2007, the Center for Economic Opportunity released its first Strategy and Implementation Report. This report describes CEO’s anti-poverty agenda and its first year of operation. In 2007, CEO launched 31 innovative, new anti-poverty efforts. The report describes CEO’s commitment to implement and evaluate new approaches to poverty reduction among the working poor, young adults, and children under five. Program descriptions are also included in the appendices.
Executive Summary (PDF - 2.3MB, 12 pages)
Complete report
(PDF - 25.5MB, 153 pages)

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES
NEW ALTERNATIVE TO FEDERAL POVERTY MEASURE
First Government Ever to Reformulate Faulty 40-Year Old Federal Poverty Measure
New York City to Share New Model With Other Cities Throughout the United States
News Release
July 13, 2008
Source:
New York City website

Edwards Poverty Campaign Met With Media Blackout
Posted May 15, 2008
On Tuesday, the day before he announced his support for Barack Obama, former Senator John Edwards launched a campaign to cut the nation's poverty rate in half in the next ten years. You can be excused if you hadn't heard about it. Only one major daily newspaper -- the Philadelphia Inquirer -- covered the event, which took place at a Baptist church in North Philadelphia.
(...)
The Half in Ten campaign will focus on policy solutions identified in the Center for American Progress' poverty task force report issued last year. These include expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit; raising both state and federal minimum wages; increasing the number of low-income families receiving child care assistance; increasing eligibility for unemployment insurance; and preventing predatory lending practices and preserving home ownership. The last time the U.S. committed itself to dramatically tackling poverty was during the early 1960s.
Source:
Huffington Post
[NOTE : recommended reading --- includes a good snapshot of the poverty situation in the U.S., along with an historical overview of poverty and poverty reduction from President Johnson's War on Poverty (mid-60s) to date, and links to related information - Gilles]

Edwards backs Obama
By Chuck Babbington, Associated Press
May 14, 2008
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Democrat John Edwards endorsed former rival Barack Obama on Wednesday, a move designed to help solidify support for the party's likely presidential nominee even as Hillary Rodham Clinton refuses to give up her long-shot candidacy. (...)He said Mr. Obama “stands with me” in a fight to cut poverty in half within 10 years.
Source:
The Globe and Mail

Groups Launch "Half in Ten" Anti-Poverty Campaign
May 13, 2008
On May 13, four of the nation's most prominent social justice organizations announced a new multi-year campaign to cut poverty in America in half in 10 years. The campaign, Half in Ten, will be chaired by former presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards, D. N.C. (...) "Half in Ten" is a partnership of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN), and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR).
Source:
CivilRights.org
"The civil rights coailition for the 21st century"

Half in Ten : From Poverty to Prosperity
A Campaign to Cut Poverty in the United States in Half in Ten Years
More than 46 million Americans live below the official poverty line—which is now approximately $22,314 for a family of four—and 16.4 million children are poor in this country. Inequality of wealth has reached record highs—it is greater than at any time since 1929.

Details of the Strategy:

From Poverty to Prosperity:
A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half
Executive summary (HTML)
Complete report
(PDF - 8.1MB, 80 pages)
Source:
Center for American Progress Task Force on Poverty

The three links below point to relevant content from the Barack Obama and John Edwards websites on the subject of poverty.
[ NOTE : both plans below predate the launch of Half in Ten, so both websites will likely be updated in the near future to reflect the renewed commitment to poverty reduction. I assume.]

A National Goal: End Poverty Within 30 Years
NOTE: it appears that John Edwards has raised the bar with respect to his anti-poverty goals since dropping out of the presidential election campaign at the end of January 2008. The new Half in Ten goal is a ramped-up version of the anti-poverty commitments from the John Edwards' presidentail campaign website. On that site, John Edwards calls poverty 'the great moral issue of our time', and he challenges our country to cut it by a third in a decade [bolding added] and end it within 30 years.
Source:
John Edwards campaign website

BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE:
Obama and Biden’s Plan for America
(PDF - 483K, 43 pages)
(The section on poverty reduction starts on page 55.)

Barack Obama's Plan to Fight Poverty in America (PDF - 64K, 8 pages)
File dated April 20, 2008

Barack Obama : Plan to Combat Poverty
(undated Issues page - no timeframes or targets)
At a Glance:
* Expand Access to Jobs
* Make Work Pay for All Americans
* Strengthen Families
* Increase the Supply of Affordable Housing
* Tackle Concentrated Poverty

Source:
OBAMA '08

Seizing the Moment: State Governments
and the New Commitment to Reduce Poverty in America

April 2008
By Jodie Levin-Epstein and Kristen Michelle Gorzelany

The three leading presidential candidates are now on record with a public commitment to address poverty and opportunity in the United States. This is in concert with growing state efforts and signals a dramatic turnaround in tackling poverty. In just the last two years, one of every five states has taken action to put poverty on the political agenda. This joint report from CLASP and Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity outlines those efforts and provides charts detailing action by policy area.

Complete report (PDF - 540K, 53 pages)

Sources:
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) - CLASP is a nonprofit public policy and advocacy organization. We conduct research, policy analysis, technical assistance, and advocacy on issues related to economic security and family stability for low-income parents, children, and youth.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity - "...to make sure that 2008 sets the stage for concerted action on poverty and opportunity in 2009 and beyond."

Targeting Poverty: Aim at a Bull’s Eye (PDF - 156K, 16 pages)
Updated October 2006
By Jodie Levin-Epstein and Webb Lyons
[
The following summary of the paper is taken from the CLASP web site,
augmented by a sentence from the report itself, and a few clarifications for non-U.S. readers]:

Forty years after the War on Poverty and a year after [Hurricane] Katrina struck, commitments to tackle poverty are beginning to come back onto political and policy agendas [in the United States]. This report considers why poverty is reemerging as a political issue; how poverty is a “purple” rather than a red or blue state [Republican or Democratic] issue; what the picture of poverty looks like in the U.S.; and where poverty targets and related efforts are underway. The report identifies efforts around the nation to set poverty targets -- numerical goals and timelines -- for the reduction or elimination of poverty. For example: In California, a 2006 bill calls for child poverty to be eliminated by 2026; in Connecticut, state law already establishes that child poverty is to be reduced by 50 percent by 2014. Among the reasons why poverty may be gaining attention is the increasing concern among many Americans that at some point they and their families may experience poverty.
Source:
Center for Law and Social Policy

More U.S. initiatives to reduce poverty:

* Catholic Charities USA’s Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America by 50% by 2020
* State-level approaches to reducing poverty in Minnesota, New Mexico, California, and Missouri
* the Economic Policy Institute’s Agenda for Shared Prosperity [with a focus broader than poverty only]
* Connecticut’s Policy to Reduce Child Poverty by 50% by 2014.

U.S. House of Representatives Embraces Poverty Goal
January 25, 2008
Last April, the Center for American Progress released the report of CAP’s Task Force on Poverty, From Poverty to Prosperity [see the link below], calling for a national goal of cutting poverty in half in 10 years. This week, the House of Representatives endorsed this goal, when on January, 22, 2008, the House passed House Concurrent Resolution 198 via voice vote without objection, declaring the sense of the Congress that the United States should set a national goal of cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years.

Related link:

From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half
April 25, 2007
"(...) The United States should set a national goal of cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years. A strategy to cut poverty in half should be guided by four principles:
* Promote Decent Work.
* Provide Opportunity for All.
* Ensure Economic Security.
* Help People Build Wealth.

Twelve key steps to cut poverty in half:

1. Raise and Index the Minimum Wage to Half the Average Hourly Wage
2. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit
3. Promote Unionization by Enacting the Employee Free Choice Act
4. Guarantee Child Care Assistance to Low-Income Families, and Promote Early Education
5. Create Two Million New “Opportunity” Housing Vouchers, and Promote Equitable Development in and Around Central Cities
6. Connect Disadvantaged and Disconnected Youth with School and Work
7. Simplify and Expand Pell Grants and Make Higher Education Accessible for Residents of Each State
8. Help Former Prisoners Find Stable Employment and Reintegrate into Their Communities
9. Ensure Equity for Low-Wage Workers in the Unemployment Insurance System that Helps Workers and Families
11. Reduce the High Costs of Being Poor and Increase Access to Financial Services
12. Expand and Simplify the Saver’s Credit to Encourage Saving for Education, Homeownership, and Retirement
Full report (PDF - 8.1MB, 80 pages)
Executive Summary (PDF - 3.9MB, 8 pages)

Source:
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive think-tank
dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action.

Also from the Center for American Progress:

Investing in Our Children: The U.S. Can Learn From the U.K.
By Jane Waldfogel
July 30, 2007
The former and newly installed British prime ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, are longstanding Labour Party rivals, yet they were able to unite in what history may one day view as their most important domestic achievement—a commitment to end child poverty in the United Kingdom.
(...)
Although most of the focus in the United Kingdom is on relative poverty, the government also tracks its progress using an absolute poverty line, similar to the one the United States uses. On this measure, the United Kingdom has reduced poverty by a stunning 50 percent since the start of its anti-poverty campaign—reducing the numbers of children in absolute poverty before housing costs from 3.4 million in 1999 to 1.6 million in 2006. From a U.S. vantage point, this is a remarkable achievement.

U.S. - A new war on poverty ? Is it time for a new war on poverty? (PDF file - 3.7MB, 34 pages)
Winter 2008
The presidential candidates and top commentators weigh in.
Source:
Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality, Stanford
Geographical area : United States

U.S. Historical Initiatives: The New Deal (1933) and the War on Poverty (1964)

F.D. Roosevelt and the New Deal (1933-1938)
According to Wikipedia, "[t]he New Deal is the title that President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a sequence of programs and promises he initiated between 1933 and 1938 with the goal of giving relief, reform, and recovery to the people and economy of the United States during the Great Depression. During that period, Roosevelt passed banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs. Later, a second New Deal was to evolve; it included union protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. Thus, the 'First New Deal' of 1933 aimed at short-term recovery programs for all groups in society, while the 'Second New Deal' (1935–36) was a more radical redistribution of power away from big business and toward coal workers, farmers, and consumers. Although the New Deal greatly improved the economy, it did not end the Great Depression. The End of the Great Depression was caused by WWII."

Lyndon B. Johnson and the War on Poverty (1964-1973)
In January 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson declared War on Poverty in his State of the Union Address. "Our chief weapons in a more pinpointed attack [against poverty]", he said, "will be better schools, and better health, and better homes, and better training, and better job opportunities to help more Americans, especially young Americans, escape from squalor and misery and unemployment rolls where other citizens help to carry them."
In short order, the federal government created programs such as Job Corps, VISTA, Community Action Program, Head Start, food stamps, work study, Medicare and Medicaid, most of which still exist today. The programs initiated under Johnson brought about real results, reducing rates of poverty and improved living standards for America's poor. The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs; The OEO was dismantled by President Richard Nixon in 1973, though many of the agency's programs were transferred to other government agencies. If you do a Google search for "Lyndon Johnson, War on Poverty", you'll find many useful resources.

 

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United Nations


High-level Plenary Meeting of the 65th Session of the
UN General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals
("The Millennium Development Goals Summit")
New York, September 20-21 (2010)

--------------------------------------

The official summit website:

Summit on the Millennium Development Goals
20-22 September 2010
With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20-22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.

Programme
The High-level Plenary Meeting will consist of six plenary meetings, on the basis of two meetings a day, and six interactive round-table sessions to be held in concurrence with plenary meetings.
Roundtable themes:
* Poverty, hunger and gender equality * Health and education * Promoting sustainable development * Emerging issues * Addressing the special needs of the most vulnerable * Widening and strengthening partnerships

Live video stream

Read the latest news
from the United Nations News Centre
- including coverage of the MDG summit in New York

News release from the Summit:

'The Clock is Ticking,’ Secretary-General Says, Urging World Leaders
to Generate Resources, Political will to Achieve Millennium Development Goals by 2015
20 September 2010
Despite obstacles, scepticism and a fast-approaching 2015 deadline, the Millennium Development Goals could be achieved if the global community stayed true to the promise made a decade ago to end the dehumanizing conditions of poverty by making smart investments in infrastructure, opening export markets and generally rethinking conventional wisdom, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders today as he opened the General Assembly’s high-level meeting to take stock of progress.

The CBC coverage:

Millennium Development Goals summit opens
UN meeting to review progress in getting rid of extreme poverty, hunger, disease
September 20, 2010
World leaders gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday for the Millennium Development Goals summit, two days aimed at measuring their success in eradicating global poverty. The summit focuses on the Millennium Development Goals, a series of "quantified, time-bound targets for addressing extreme poverty, hunger and disease, and for promoting gender equality, education and environmental sustainability," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrote in a pre-summit report. (...) The goals were agreed to 2000 by 189 of the UN's member states; they committed to achieving them by 2015.
Source:
CBC

--------------------------------------

Related links:

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs offer us a roadmap to end poverty and its root causes. In September 2000, 189 world leaders adopted the MDGs as part of the Millennium Declaration, agreed to at the United Nations Millennium Summit.
The MDG's set an unprecedented global framework for development that is a crucial step towards ending poverty and inequality by 2015.

What are the Millennium Development Goals?

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
Source:
United Nations

---

Latest MDG annual reports:

Millennium Development Goals Report 2010 (PDF - 49.5MB, 80 pages)*
Annual assessment of global progress towards the Millennium Development Goals
[ *Aside to the nice people of the U.N. website team: lower filesizes will increase
the number of visitors who download your reports. This file is HUMONGOUS!
]

[ Millennium Development Goals 2009 report (PDF - 8MB, 60 pages) ]

---

Poverty Reduction
Through the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals the world is addressing the many dimensions of human development, including halving by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty.
Source:
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UNDP advocates for nationally-owned solutions to reduce poverty and promote human development. We sponsor innovative pilot projects; connect countries to global good practices and resources; promote the role of women in development; and bring governments, civil society and outside funders together to coordinate their efforts.

---

End Poverty 2015 Millennium Campaign
"We are the generation that can end poverty"
"End poverty by 2015" is the historic promise 189 world leaders made at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

---

Poverty Reduction: Country Briefings
These OneWorld briefings assess progress in poverty reduction for over 60 developing countries. Now more than midway to the 2015 target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the overall picture is not encouraging, reinforcing conclusions of the 2010 UN Millennium Development Goals Report.
- also includes links to info on :
* Living with Poverty * Global Trends * Economic Recession * Measuring National Poverty * Measuring Global Poverty * Causes * Why Should We Care? * MDGs *
Climate Change * Solutions
Source
One World UK
OneWorld UK aims to provide the UK's best online coverage of human rights and sustainable development.

---

Make Poverty History - Canada
The Canadian Make Poverty History campaign was launched in February 2005 with the support of a wide cross-section of public interest and faith groups, trade unions, students, academics and literary, artistic and sports leaders. Make Poverty History is part of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (the third link below). National campaigns are now active in over 100 countries. The global campaign, which also launched in 2005, presses G8 leaders for action on global poverty issues.

End Poverty in Canada Campaign

---

Make Poverty History.org - U.K.
The Make Poverty History campaign in the UK officially came to an end in 2006. However, the Global Call to Action against Poverty, the world’s largest civil society anti-poverty alliance continues, and organisations across the world continue to work together to make poverty history.

Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)
GCAP is a growing alliance that brings together trade unions, INGOs, the women’s and youth movements, community and faith groups and others to call for action from world leaders in the global North and South to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality.

---

Canada Without Poverty (CWP)
Canada Without Poverty is a federally incorporated, non-partisan, not-for-profit and charitable organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty in Canada.

CWP Advocacy Network
Last updated July 25, 2010
The CWP Advocacy Network is a new national non-profit but non-charitable organization. It exists to directly lobby politicians and other public policy makers, at all levels of government in Canada, for policies and legislation that help prevent, alleviate and eliminate poverty in Canada.

---

Dignity for All - The Campaign for a poverty free Canada
The Dignity for All Campaign calls for vigorous and sustained action by the federal government to combat the structural causes of poverty in Canada.

---

Poverty Elimination Bill Introduced
July 6, 2010
On Thursday, June 17, NDP MP Tony Martin tabled private member’s Bill C-545, An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada.

A year earlier:

Canada to UN: We'll decide what rights we will choose to observe...
June 8, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
Canada has signed a significant number of international human rights treaties that are legally binding in international law, but the federal government believes that it can pick and choose among its obligations - according to the official document tabled at the United Nations' Rights Council in Geneva today. The good news is that the federal government has accepted its responsibility to take a stronger role in ensuring all Canadians are adequately housed, but the federal government says that companion initiatives to address deep and persistent poverty and income inequality are mostly the responsibility of provinces and territories (and not the national government)...
Source:
Wellesley Institute Blog
[ Wellesley Institute ]

-----------------------------------------------

Media commentary and analysis

From
The Toronto Star:

Find the will to cut hunger
September 19, 2010
Much lip-service will be paid to global poverty when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other leaders gather at the United Nations this week to open the General Assembly and to review their lofty development goals. Canada is lobbying for a seat on the Security Council, and Harper intends to make two “pretty robust” speeches to showcase Ottawa’s activism on economic, aid and security issues. (...) But when all is said and done, Canada is anything but a generous donor. This year we will spend just 0.33 per cent of our wealth (measured as gross national income) on aid. Of the major donor countries, we rank 18th. Nine of our partners give 0.5 per cent or more. It will be interesting to see what, if any, additional hard cash Harper is prepared to put on the table in New York this week to advance the UN goals.

Global Voices: Seeing a future in UN's development goals
September 20, 2010

By Craig and Marc Kielburger
(...)
When we kicked off the millennium, we didn’t call the MDGs indicators. We called them a legacy, when the largest-ever gathering of world leaders collectively put the most vulnerable members of our society first. Today, as those leaders regroup to talk progress on the 10th anniversary of the targets, there is now a feeling of discouragement. That’s because the indicators show many countries are falling behind.

Source:
Toronto Star

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Europe


Ending child poverty within the EU ? :
A review of the 2008-2010 national strategy reports on social protection and social inclusion
(PDF - 1.7MB, 22 pages)
February 2009
Geographical area : Europe
Source:
Eurochild, Brussels

Europe's anti-poverty efforts put us to shame
October 4, 2008
By Laurie Monsebraaten
The poor may not always be with us. It sounds like a radical idea, but that's just what three of the national political party leaders are telling voters in this federal election. Problem is, the party leading the polls and expected to win on Oct. 14 has been silent on the issue affecting some 3 million Canadians, including 880,000 children. And without a plan to tackle poverty – or even acknowledge it's a problem – Stephen Harper's Conservatives would appear to be behind the curve, say social policy experts.
Source:
2008 Federal Election Coverage
[ The Toronto Star ]

European Union Social Protection Social Inclusion Process
This new platform – intended to all actors involved in the field of social affairs as well as the media and the public at large – replaces the three previous websites on Social Situation and Demography, Social Protection and Social Inclusion. You will find here information on the role played by the European Union in coordinating Member States’ action to combat poverty and social exclusion, reform social protection systems and in assessing new demographic and social developments, as well as concrete examples of this endeavour.

National Action Plans Against Poverty and Social Exclusion:
National Reports on Strategies for Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2006-2008

- incl. Austria - Belgium - Bulgaria - Cyprus - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - France - Finland - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Malta - Netherlands - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Slovakia - Slovenia - Sweden -United Kingdom
Source:
Reports
[ part of Social Inclusion ]
[ part of Employment and Social Affairs ]
[ part of Europa - Gateway to the European Union ]

National Strategic Reports
Following the streamlining of the Open Method of Coordination on Social Protection and Social Inclusion, Member States are now charged with translating the common objectives into National Plans for each of the three areas of Social Inclusion, Pensions and Health and Long-Term Care. These plans, which cover a period of two years, are submitted to the Commission in the form of a National Report on Strategies for Social Protection and Social Inclusion.
- incl. links to National Strategy Reports on Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2008-2010, National Reports on Strategies for Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2006-2008 and updates 2007 and more

2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion
The European Commission has designated 2010 as the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. The € 17 million campaign aims to reaffirm the EU's commitment to making a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty by 2010. "The fight against poverty and social exclusion is one of the EU's central objectives and our shared approach has been an important tool to guide and support action in the Member States," said Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimír Špidla.

 

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Ireland

Office for Social Inclusion
The Office for Social Inclusion is the Irish Government Office with overall responsibility for developing,
co-ordinating and driving Ireland's National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007 - 2016

Department of Social and Family Affairs
The Office for Social Inclusion is part of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. Our mission is to promote a caring society through ensuring access to income support and other services, enabling active participation, promoting social inclusion and supporting families.

NOTE:
The Department's website has been updated, and much of their poverty reduction information has mysteriously disappeared (i.e., the bolded content below, in this box.)
I went to the Internet Archive and searched for older versions of the site where these texts could still be found. The link below takes you to a complete archived copy of the entire website as it existed in February 2008. Click the link and try to find the lost links below...

I can't find the following links in the new departmental website:
(check theDepartment of Social and Family Affairs - February 2008 version of the site)

------------

* National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS) Index
The Office for Social Inclusion, established in December 2002, took over the functions of NAPS unit. The Office has the overall responsibility for developing, co-ordinating and driving Ireland's National Action Plan for Social Inclusion (NAPinclusion).The new Plan was published on 21 February 2007 and covers the ten year period between 2007-2016.

* National Action Plan - links to backgrounder and annual reports

* Information on the Office for Social Inclusion
The Office for Social Inclusion (OSI) of the Department of Social and Family Affairs is the Irish Government Office with overall responsibility for developing, co-ordinating and driving the governments social inclusion agenda

* Social Inclusion Strategy - links to a dozen papers

-------

For more info on the Internet Archive, see http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/reference.htm

Related links:

European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland
EAPN Ireland is a network of groups and individuals working against poverty. It is the Irish national network of the European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN Europe), which aims to put the fight against poverty at the top of the EU, national and local agenda.

What the poor need: A strategy
Ireland dramatically reduced its poverty rate, so why can't rich Canada do the same?

September 20, 2006
By: LAURIE MONSEBRAATEN
When Ireland decided in the mid-1990s to tackle the pervasive and grinding poverty dogging the country, the national government crafted a plan and set a goal. Ten years later, the country has cut its poverty rate from 15 per cent to less than 5 per cent.
Source:
The Toronto Star


Poverty Reduction Strategies in the United Kingdom and Ireland
By Chantal Collin (Political and Social Affairs Division)
2 November 2007
HTML version
PDF version
(98 Kb, 15 pages)
[ version française ]
Table of Contents:
* Introduction
The United Kingdom’s Strategy to Reduce Poverty and Social Exclusion
(...)
Ireland’s National Anti-Poverty Strategy
* A. Multi-dimensional Approach
* B. Key Targets
* C. Measuring Success
* D. What’s Next? National Action Plan for Social Inclusion
* Summary
From the Parliamentary Research Library:
(Government of Canada)

 

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United Kingdom


Tearing apart the British welfare state
November 11, 2010
By Doug Saunders
LONDON—Almost a century after the modern welfare state was created by Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George, his successors in Britain’s Conservative-Liberal coalition government are hoping to tear it apart completely in a radical act of cost slashing.
In a huge and risky experiment sure to be watched closely by other countries wrestling with public debt, government budget deficits and shrinking work forces, Prime Minister David Cameron’s government Thursday announced sweeping plans to change the lives of 5 million people dependent on government payments in an effort to push hundreds of thousands of people into the work force
Source:
Globe and Mail

-----------------------------------

From 2008 Budget documents (HM Treasury) :

Ending child poverty: everybody's business
12 March 2008
In 1999, the Government set an ambitious target to eradicate child poverty within a generation. Child poverty doubled in the 20 years from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, but this rise has been reversed: 600,000 children have been lifted out of relative poverty since 1997. However, a significant number of families still experience relative poverty. (...) Ending child poverty: everybody's business sets out the next steps, including the measures announced in Budget 2008, that will make further significant progress to halving child poverty by 2010. The document also sets out the Governments vision for a renewed drive on child poverty for the next decade including a number of areas of further work and approaches the Government will pilot that will help develop the strategy for 2020.

Ending child poverty: everybody's business (PDF file - 1.3MB, 87 pages)
March 2008

Source:
Budget 2008
Stability and opportunity: building a strong, sustainable future

12 March 2008


Department for Work and Pensions
"The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is here to:
* promote opportunity and independence for all
* help individuals achieve their potential through employment
* work to end poverty in all its forms."

Our Child Poverty Strategy - March 2007
* Working for Children (PDF - 721KB)
* Executive summary (PDF - 105KB)

New Joint Child Poverty Unit
On 29 October 2007 DWP and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) announced the creation of their Joint Child Poverty Unit. This Unit brings together the child poverty policy officials and analysts in the two departments, along with Neera Sharma on secondment from Barnados, to take the Government’s child poverty strategy to its next stage of development.
The role of the Unit is to:
- provide an integrated approach across Government to tackling child poverty
- build on the Child Poverty Review, by taking stock and taking forward the strategic direction to eradicate child poverty by 2020
- engage all our stakeholders, learning from their expertise
- engage those in local service delivery to take ownership to support our commitments
- undertake research and analysis to support the development of successful policies.
* Read the press release ( 29 October 2007)
* Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) website

'Working Together' – United Kingdom National Action Plan on Social Inclusion 2006-2008
Working Together' is the third UK National Action Plan (NAP) on social exclusion. It explains how people from across the UK will be co-operating from 2006 to 2008 to tackle social exclusion and make a decisive impact on poverty.
- includes links to several related reports


The Poverty Site
This site monitors what is happening to poverty and social exclusion in the UK and complements our annual monitoring reports. The material is organised around 50 statistical indicators covering all aspects of the subject, from income and work to health and education.

Poverty and social exclusion monitoring reports
- incl. links to studies and reports on the following: * UK * Ethnicity * Disability * Scotland * Wales * Northern Ireland * Rural England * Social exclusion * Low pay * Government strategy

Links
- incl. links organized under the following topics : * Income * Work * Low pay * Education * Health * Housing * Crime * Services * Social cohesion * Children * Datasets

Reports

Source:
New Policy Institute


Joseph Roundtree Foundation
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is one of the largest social policy research and development charities in the UK. We spend over £10 million a year on our research and development programme. For over one hundred years we have been searching out the causes of social problems, investigating solutions and seeking to influence those who can make changes.

Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2007 (December 2007) - United Kingdom
- the annual report on the state of poverty and social exclusion in the United Kingdom covers low income, work, education, health, housing, disadvantaged children and exclusion from services. Provides a comprehensive analysis of trends and differences between groups; examines the progress being made on reducing poverty and social exclusion, in light of the Government's ambitious target to halve child poverty by 2010.
Complete report (PDF file - 480K, 140 pages)
Key Points (Selected findings):
* Half of children in poverty are still in working families.
* Overall poverty levels in 2006 were the same as in 2002.
* Child poverty in 2006 was still 500,000 higher than the target set for 2005.
* Overall earnings inequalities are widening.
* Disability rather than lone parenthood is the factor most likely to lead to worklessness

Labour’s welfare reform: Progress to date
November 2004
Since 1997, the Government has pursued a number of inter-related policies aimed at reforming the welfare system for people of working age, getting more people into work and reducing poverty. Joseph Rowntree Foundation research had identified many of the needs of targeted groups, and the Foundation has been involved in commenting on reform plans and tracking progress. This Foundations, written by Donald Hirsch with Jane Millar, is a round-up of what JRF has had to say about welfare reform and related issues since the late 1990s, and provides an assessment of the progress made.

Source:
Joseph Roundtree Foundation


The UK Commitment: Ending Child Poverty by 2020 (PDF file - 100K, 17 pages)
by Elisa Minoff
January 30, 2006
In 1999, the United Kingdom (UK) announced its pledge to cut child poverty by one-quarter by 2004 and eliminate it by 2020. This paper examines the history of this ambitious commitment, and the progress to date. It also analyzes the components of the national effort—which range from employment supports, asset building initiatives, and child-targeted assistance to tax, welfare, and education policies—and the next steps the UK is considering to meet the goal of eradicating child poverty.
Source:
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) - U.S.
"...a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1968, conducts research, policy analysis, technical assistance, and advocacy on issues related to economic security for low-income families with children."


Child Poverty Action Group: fighting the injustice of poverty (CPAG)
CPAG is the leading charity campaigning for the abolition of child poverty in the UK and for a better deal for low-income families and children.

Meeting the Government's Child Poverty Target: progress to date (PDF - 120K, 11 pages)
September 2007
CPAG briefing summarising key facts and figures from the latest issue of Households Below Average Incomes, an annual report of the Department for Work and Pensions that is the source of the data which is used to measure progress against the Government's child poverty targets, i.e., to halve child poverty by 2010/11 and eradicate it by 2020. The latest issue covers the period 1994/5 to 2005/06..


Poverty Reduction Strategies in the United Kingdom and Ireland
By Chantal Collin (Political and Social Affairs Division)
2 November 2007
HTML version
PDF version
(98 Kb, 15 pages)
[ version française ]
Table of Contents:
* Introduction
The United Kingdom’s Strategy to Reduce Poverty and Social Exclusion
* A. A Multi-pronged Approach
* B. Key Objectives and Measures
* C. Measuring Success
* D. Key Challenges
* E. What’s Next? Reaching Out
Ireland's National Anti-Poverty Strategy
(...)
Source:
Parliamentary Research Library
(Government of Canada)

 

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Australia

A stronger, fairer Australia (PDF - 3.7MB, 92 pages)
19 February 2010
Launched on 28 January 2010, A Stronger, Fairer Australia sets out the Australian Government’s vision and strategy for social inclusion, now and into the future. Social Inclusion means ensuring no Australian is left behind by giving all the opportunities, resources, capabilities and responsibilities to learn, work, connect with others and have a say in community life. The statement sets out a new approach to break down the barriers that stand between the most disadvantaged Australians and participation. Despite a strong economy in recent years, disadvantage still prevents many Australians from getting a fair go.
Source:
Social Inclusion
[ Australian Government ]


Miscellaneous international poverty reduction resources


The World Bank

PovertyNet
PovertyNet provides an introduction to key issues as well as in-depth information on poverty measurement, monitoring, analysis, and on poverty reduction strategies for researchers and practitioners.

Poverty Reduction Strategies
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) describe a country's macroeconomic, structural and social policies and programs to promote growth and reduce poverty, as well as associated external financing needs. PRSPs are prepared by governments through a participatory process involving civil society and development partners, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Source:
The World Bank
The World Bank is like a cooperative, where its 185 member countries are shareholders. The shareholders are represented by a Board of Governors, who are the ultimate policy makers at the World Bank. Generally, the governors are member countries' ministers of finance or ministers of development.


International Monetary Fund
The IMF is an international organization of 185 member countries. It was established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and orderly exchange arrangements; to foster economic growth and high levels of employment; and to provide temporary financial assistance to countries to help ease balance of payments adjustment.

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP)
Last updated March 28, 2008
- incl. links to the latest PRSPs, organized by country or by date, PLUS (at the bottom of the list) a collection of links to policy papers and other related documents
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) are prepared by the member countries through a participatory process involving domestic stakeholders as well as external development partners, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Updated every three years with annual progress reports, PRSPs describe the country's macroeconomic, structural and social policies and programs over a three year or longer horizon to promote broad-based growth and reduce poverty, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing.

Joint Staff Advisory Notes
of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) or Interim PRSPs

Last updated: March 27, 2008
The Joint Staff Advisory Notes (JSANs) are documents prepared by the staffs of the Bank and the Fund containing an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the poverty reduction strategy of the member concerned and identifying priority areas for strengthening the poverty reduction strategy during implementation.


Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy from around the world to:
• Support sustainable economic growth • Boost employment • Raise living standards • Maintain financial stability • Assist other countries' economic development • Contribute to growth in world trade. The OECD also shares expertise and exchanges views with more than 100 other countries and economies, from Brazil, China, and Russia to the least developed countries in Africa.

What Works Best in Reducing Child Poverty:
A Benefit or Work Strategy?
(PDF file - 450K, 54 pages)
Working Paper No. 51
March 5, 2007
By Peter Whiteford and Willem Adema
Table of contents : * Family and child poverty – trends, risks and composition * Tax and benefit policies and their effect on poverty and employment * The effect of “benefit” and/or “work” strategies * Conclusions

Source:
OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers
[ Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs ]
[ Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ]

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