Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty welcomes the federal government’s April 1 announcement of the National School Food Program. Children in Canada will now have access to an important safety net to mitigate hunger at school. 

The federal government’s investment in the National School Food Program demonstrates its commitment to the well-being of Canada’s children and youth.

And while Campaign 2000 commends the federal government for launching this program, the coalition is calling for further investment in income security measures, like the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), to adequately address the crisis that is food insecurity in Canada.

“When it comes to food insecurity, solutions like community food programs can only do a part of the job. To be successful, they must be coupled with strategies to address inadequate or insecure income,” said Chris Brillinger, Executive Director of Family Service Toronto. “The launch of a national school food program is a good policy decision that will take some pressure off household budgets, but without increases to income supports like the CCB, we are not fully addressing childhood food insecurity.”

Read the full C2000 Media Release

Family Service Toronto and Campaign 2000 nation-wide release a joint statement denouncing all forms of anti-Black racism, colonialism and white supremacy.   As organizations working directly in the areas of mental health and poverty eradication, we know that Black and Indigenous communities have much worse health outcomes and exponentially higher rates of poverty than white Canadians and that this is a both a result of and a strategy to maintain systemic oppression.  We have a responsibility to ensure that our work in these areas contributes to ending anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism, which cannot be done without critical self-reflection, education and dialogue.

Read the full statement and recommendations.

Read the media release.

British Columbia – First Call: Child And Youth Advocacy Coalition

Alberta – Edmonton Social Planning Council

Saskatchewan – University of Regina

Manitoba – Social Planning Council of Winnipeg

Ontario – Ontario Campaign 2000

New Brunswick – Human Development Council

Nova Scotia – CCPA office in Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island – MacKillop Centre for Social Justice and the PEI Coalition for a Poverty Eradication Strategy

In 1989, all federally represented parties voted unanimously in the House of Commons to end child poverty by the year 2000.  After the passing of this resolution, rates of child poverty continued to rise before they decreased.  Thirty years later, there are over 1.35 million children living in poverty with their families in Canada today and income inequality, the gap between the rich and poor, has grown to unjustifiable heights.

We have missed the opportunity to end poverty for a whole generation of children.

Released on January 14, 2020, the national report card, 2020: Setting the Stage for a Poverty-Free Canada,” provides a current snapshot of child and family poverty in the country and demonstrates the need for continued efforts to eradicate child and family poverty.
As we begin a new decade under the mandate of a new minority government, we are provided with the opportunity for collaboration on the shared goal of ending poverty for all.  We cannot afford to miss another generation of children.

The national report card is released in coordination with several provincial report cards from our partners in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island. Winnipeg partners will release their provincial report card at the end of January and Ontario partners at the end of February.

Click on the following links to read and download the new report cards as they become available.

• National Report Card in English: 2020 Setting the Stage for a Poverty-Free Canada (updated) and French: 2020 : Préparer le terrain pour un Canada sans pauvreté

• National Campaign 2000 media release in English and French.

Check out the provincial report cards on child poverty:

• Prince Edward Island Report Card
• Nova Scotia Report Card
• New Brunswick Report Card
• Ontario Report Card (released April 2020)
• Manitoba (released April 8, 2020)
• Saskatchewan Report Card
• Alberta Report Card
• British Columbia Report Card

On the eve of a new parliament being sworn in, Campaign 2000 and its partners from coast to coast to coast are urging the new and returning cohort of federally-elected politicians to seize the opportunity and make history by recommitting to the elimination of child and family poverty in Canada.

November 24, 2019 marks 30 years since the signing of the all-party resolution in the House of Commons to end child and family poverty. From 1989 to 2019, three decades have gone by and based on the latest statistics, over 1 million children still live in poverty. Child poverty exists in every riding across the country, with some of the deepest pockets of child poverty occurring in the North, and among Indigenous and racialized children.

On Monday November 25 at noon, join our partners in Winnipeg on the front steps of the Manitoba Legislative Building, where those under 30 will share their experiences and what the legacy of 30 years of child poverty means to them.

Campaign 2000 and several of its provincial partners will release their annual report cards in early 2020, which will include updated statistics, analysis, and recommendations. Stay tuned as we enter the 31 st year of our Campaign. We hope this is the last milestone anniversary we will have to mark. Children and families across the country deserve to live free of stress, ill-health, precarious housing, and poor access to food, and collectively we will continue to make these goals a reality. We cannot afford to wait another 30 years.

Read the Media Advisory for the Winnipeg event

Read the National Media Release (English)

Read the National Media Release (French)

Newly released data from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Income Survey confirm the importance of government investments to combat poverty and make the case for additional funding to support low income children and families in Budget 2019, says Campaign 2000.

“For decades, Campaign 2000 has called for stronger government investment in income transfers such as the Canada Child Benefit (CCB),” says Anita Khanna, Campaign 2000’s national coordinator. “Targeted government spending on the CCB has driven a much needed decline in child poverty rates. Now, we must be more ambitious and reduce child poverty faster.”

Campaign 2000 welcomes progress against poverty and urges all parties to support accelerated efforts to eradicate it by 2030 and to ensure the poverty reduction act is passed within this mandate to rid the shadow of poverty from every childhood.

Read Campaign 2000’s full response

Child and family poverty is a disturbing reality in every ward in Toronto, a new report from a coalition of community agencies finds. Family Service Toronto’s Campaign 2000 team contributed to the report, which uses newly released census data. The data show that ten wards in the city have a child poverty rate between 33% and 47%, but even wards with relatively low rates include areas where child poverty is pervasive, at double or triple the ward average.

The report, entitled 2018 Toronto Child & Family Poverty Report: Municipal Election Edition is the first to use census tract data to show hidden poverty within the city’s wards. The report provides thorough analysis of child poverty in Toronto, provides ward by ward child poverty rates and calls for renewed commitment to poverty reduction from Toronto City Council. You can also read the front page story in the Toronto Star.

Campaign 2000 submitted its recommendations for a national universal pharmacare program to the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare. Canada’s current patchwork system of drug coverage relies on an uneven mix of contributions from the private and public sectors. This system is inconsistent, confusing for families to navigate and costly to administer. Canadians spend more on medication than residents of countries with universal, public pharmacare programs. In the current system, too many children and families fall through the cracks and cannot access required medication. It is estimated that nearly 2 million Canadians cannot afford their prescription medication

With an aging population, rapid innovation in drug development and significant potential for cost savings from a single-payer system, it is Canada to move away from the current two-tiered system of private coverage for the affluent versus contingent and partial state coverage for people in poverty. The brief states that a national universal pharmacare is both the equitable and fiscally responsible approach to improved access to medications in Canada.

The Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy Consultation period has been extended until August 31st.  If you haven’t already participated, visit http://esdc-consultations.canada.ca/poverty-reduction-strategy for online tools provided by the government. You can also directly email your submission to [email protected].

For more information on what needs to be done to eradicate poverty, check out Campaign 2000’s comprehensive action plan. In it, we outline the policies and programs needed for Canada to make good on the commitment to reduce poverty. Take a look at the summary infographic, including targets and timelines to track success, and read our full submission in English or French.

Please spread the word within your networks and ensure you participate by August 31st. It’s not too late to ensure your concerns, ideas and recommendations are heard in the development of Canada’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy!

FST’s Campaign 2000 team has assisted efforts to explore poverty among LGBTQ+ Canadians in connection with the federal government’s work towards a national Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Campaign 2000 – a non-partisan coalition of 120 groups and individuals co-ordinated by Family Service Toronto – has called for a federal anti-poverty strategy for decades and partnered with University of Toronto Prof. Lori Ross on the LGBTQ+ recommendations.

They were included as part of a joint submission to government from the Canadian Coalition Against LGBTQ+ Poverty, an emerging new group comprised of university faculty and community groups across Canada.

Read the full submission here.

Today, Campaign 2000 releases its submission to the Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy and convenes public forums in Winnipeg, Toronto and Charlottetown to discuss Canadians’ priorities for Canada’s first poverty reduction strategy and make urgent recommendations for change.

Forum participants will connect via Skype and will insist the government’s strategy provides an effective plan to eradicate the number of Canadians – nearly five million – living in poverty.

“After decades of broken promises to end poverty, Canada’s first national Poverty Reduction Strategy must deliver a sea change in Canada’s infrastructure of supports and services that prevent and reduce poverty,” says Campaign 2000 National Coordinator Anita Khanna. “Poverty deprives millions of people of their dignity, health and opportunities. A comprehensive action plan must redraw the social contract for the tough realities families face today – precarious, low-wage work, skyrocketing housing and food costs, unaffordable childcare and unequal opportunities for marginalized people.”

Canada must now move pledges to eliminate poverty from rhetoric to reality and finally put people in poverty first. After decades of waiting, there is no choice – we must act now and get this strategy right.

Media Release: Full details of the forums and contact for media spokespeople in English or French.

Submission: “Federal Action Plan to Eradicate Poverty” is available in English or French.

Infographic: A summary of targets, timelines and policy recommendations can be found here.

Media Contacts

National

Anita Khanna
Campaign 2000
416-788-3439 or 416-595-9230 x250.

Liyu Guo
Campaign 2000
416-595-9230 x250 or 416-624-1885.

Winnipeg

Sid Frankel
University of Manitoba
204-474-9706

Vancouver

Adrienne Montani
First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition
604-877-4932 or 778-320-4561

Charlottetown

Mary Boyd
PEI Coalition for a Poverty Eradication Strategy
902-892-9074 or 902-388-2693