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2025 Fall Pre-Budget Submission

Campaign 2000’s 2025 Fall Pre-Budget Submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance urges the federal government to take immediate action to address the alarming rise in child and family poverty across Canada. With nearly 1.4 million children affected and income inequality on the rise, the submission presents clear, evidence-based recommendations to enhance income security, expand access to child care, invest in non-market housing, and implement universal pharmacare and mental health supports. These investments are essential to ensuring all children and families have the opportunity to thrive.

Click Here to Read The Full Submission

HLPF Virtual Side Event; Partnerships in Practice: The Value of Human Rights-Based Partnership and Engagement

Our HLPF 2025 virtual side event, co-hosted by the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty, Family Service Toronto, Citizens for Public Justice, and the Asia Development Alliance, explored how rights-based partnerships can strengthen the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 17. Speakers emphasized that placing rights-holders at the centre is key to fostering more equitable and impactful partnerships.

[Click here to watch the full event on our YouTube channel]

C2000 marks global family day

Thursday (May 15) marks the 31st annual International Day of Families (IDF) introduced by the United Nations in 1994 to raise awareness of issues and challenges facing families around the world.

Campaign 2000 is pleased to work with it host agency Family Service Toronto (FST) to recognize the importance of this day and provide context through its work on child and family poverty.

FST’s name begins with “family” and we understand it to mean: Two or more people, whether living together or apart, related by blood, marriage, adoption or commitment to care for one another.

There’s power in a commitment to care for one another. When we commit to care for one another, we create a family. We strengthen the communities in which we live. We bolster each other’s resilience. And we thrive.

It can be difficult to care for one another. It can be difficult to understand what caring for one another means in uncertain times.

It’s difficult, when we know that in 2022, 1 in 7 families with children lived in poverty.

It’s difficult, when we know that families in every province and territory lived in poverty, and the poverty they experienced was deeper than it had been since 2015.

It’s difficult, when we know nearly all children not living in a family lived, and continue to live, in poverty.

This year’s theme for International Day of Families is Family-oriented Policies for Sustainable Development: Towards the Second World Summit for Social Development 2025. With more than a hundred years of experience, FST assists individuals and families through counselling, community engagement, and public education programs. Caring for one another can mean reaching out for the kind of support FST and other community organizations provide.

We’re also committed to ongoing advocacy work through Campaign 2000, whose three-year national community-based research project produced the “Final Report – Localizing Canada’s Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals” and brought us to a virtual Knowledge Translation Summit with other organizations working to end poverty. In July 2024, the project findings were also shared at an official side event of the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Caring for one another can mean raising our voices and joining the chorus.

FST envisions a city in which people are resilient and thriving in more just and supportive communities. On May 15, we remember that our commitment to care for one another makes us a family. Together, we will strengthen the communities in which we live. We will bolster each other’s resilience. And we will thrive.

It can be difficult to care for one another. It can be difficult to understand what caring for one another means in uncertain times.

It’s difficult, when we know that in 2022, 1 in 7 families with children lived in poverty.

It’s difficult, when we know that families in every province and territory lived in poverty, and the poverty they experienced was deeper than it had been since 2015.

It’s difficult, when we know nearly all children not living in a family lived, and continue to live, in poverty.
These statistics are captured in a new IDF infographic available here.

The United Nations observes May 15 as the International Day of Families. The day is meant to raise awareness of issues and challenges facing families around the world. This year’s theme for International Day of Families is Family-oriented Policies for Sustainable Development: Towards the Second World Summit for Social Development 2025.

With more than a hundred years of experience, FST assists individuals and families through counselling, community engagement, and public education programs. Caring for one another can mean reaching out for the kind of support FST and other community organizations provide.

We’re also committed to ongoing advocacy work through Campaign 2000, 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’s three-year national community-based research project produced the “Final Report – Localizing Canada’s Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals” and brought us to a virtual Knowledge Translation Summit with other organizations working to end poverty. In July 2024, the project findings were also shared at an official side event of the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Caring for one another can mean raising our voices and joining the chorus.

FST envisions a city in which people are resilient and thriving in more just and supportive communities. On May 15, we remember that our commitment to care for one another makes us a family. Together, we will strengthen the communities in which we live. We will bolster each other’s resilience. And we will thrive.

Campaign 2000 releases the final SDG report

From 2021-2024, Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty, Citizens for Public Justice and Canada Without Poverty co-led the national community-based research project, Localizing Canada’s Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): the final SDG Report is now available.

The project built on Campaign 2000’s ongoing monitoring of government progress towards ending child and family poverty, engaging communities experiencing poverty and marginalization across the country in partnership with local organizations. The team is grateful to those partners and communities who generously shared their knowledge and time throughout the project.

Among other outcomes, the findings resulted in a National Community-Based Indicator Framework for SDG 1: No Poverty, intended to supplement the Canadian Indicator Framework. This was released in March 2024 at a virtual Knowledge Translation Summit. In July 2024, the project findings were also shared at an official side event of the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.  

Let’s get poverty on the agenda! Election updates and resources.

The federal election is just over a week away and it comes amidst a trade war that is hurting low-income individuals and families the most.

In March, Campaign 2000 released a statement calling for the federal government to put people living in poverty at the centre of their response to the trade war. But federal parties have largely remained silent on the issue. National Director of Campaign 2000, Leila Sarangi, spoke to Global News yesterday about the lack of attention to people living in poverty during the 2025 federal election campaign.

Watch the segment on Global News.

Let’s get poverty on the agenda. We’ve compiled a list of open letters, campaigns, and election resources to support your advocacy.

Open Letters & Statements

Campaign 2000 has also signed on to the following open letters and statements:

Campaigns

  • Demand Better. A coalition of feminist organizations, including Campaign 2000, launched the Demand Better campaign to call for strong investments in public systems and policies to create an economy that benefits everyone. https://demandbettertoday.ca/
  • Vote For Rights. Amnesty International Canada, Oxfam Canada, the National Right to Housing Network, among others, launched the Vote for Rights campaign to call on the next federal government to have justice, dignity, and equality as its foundational principles: https://amnesty.ca/vote-for-rights/
  • Stand on Guard for Child Care. Child Care Now launched a campaign for the next federal government to extend and defend $10 a day child care: https://childcarenow.ca/stand-on-guard-for-child-care/
  • No More Scraps. Community Food Centres Canada launched a campaign for the next federal government to address food insecurity and protect the right to food: https://www.foodsecuritynow.ca/

Resources

Please share widely! For information on the election process and how to cast your ballot, visit the Elections Canada website.

C2000 releases written submission to the Neha review panel

The National Housing Council’s review panel known as Neha, which means “our ways” in Kanien’kehà:ka-Mohawk, examines the right to safe, adequate and affordable housing of women, Two Spirit, Trans, and gender-diverse people, and the government’s duty to uphold this right.

Campaign 2000’s submission envisions safe and secure housing for women, Two Spirit, trans and gender-diverse people who are mothers, parents and primary caregivers and offers recommendations for achieving this vision.    

Read Campaign 2000’s recent written submission for the Neha review panel.

People living in poverty must be central to federal response amidst a tariff war

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

People living in poverty must be central to federal response amidst a tariff war

Winnipeg, Manitoba – Anti-poverty advocates convene in Winnipeg, where some of the highest rates of poverty in Canada are found, amid tariff wars and an impending federal election, to discuss the effects of the current political climate on low income individuals and families. 

“We don’t know the full effects of the trade war on the economy or on people in our communities.  But what we do know is that poverty has been on the rise in Canada since the pandemic.  Our current social infrastructure is unable to support those who are already living in poverty,” said Leila Sarangi, National Director of Campaign 2000.  “With mass job losses on the horizon, and tariffs compounding the current affordability crisis, we expect more people to fall into poverty, which will increase demand for community programs and resources such as rent supplements, food banks, Employment Insurance, social assistance and mental health counselling supports.”

Campaign 2000, a pan-Canadian coalition of over 120 organizations working to end child and family poverty, found historic increases in poverty from 2020 to 2022, with more than 1.5 million people falling into poverty in those two years alone.  6.5 million people now live in poverty, according to taxfiler data, including 830,000 families with children.  Poverty in Canada is disproportionately experienced by groups who are marginalized, and it is concerning that the new federal cabinet, intending to signal a renewed focus on the economy, eliminates dedicated ministers responsible for social development, children and youth, women and gender, disabilities, seniors, diversity and inclusion, all of which are essential to a productive and dynamic economy.

“Today’s convening comes at a pivotal time in the movement to end poverty,” added Sarangi. “The coalition is united in the call to strengthen our communities, particularly in a time of crisis.”

You are invited to join the conversation, hosted by the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg with anti-poverty advocates, policy experts and community organizers who will provide perspectives on the current political climate and how it will impact on low income individuals and families. 

WHAT: Fireside Chat (50 mins)

WHO: Hosted by Social Planning Council of Winnipeg and Campaign 2000

  • Moderator: Richard Cloutier, Host 680 CJOB
  • Michael Redhead Champagne, Helper, Author, Speaker, Host
  • Marie Christian, National Advisory Council on Poverty
  • Diana Sarosi, Oxfam Canada

WHEN: Friday March 21, 2025, 6:10pm

WHERE: Alt Hotel, 310 Donald St, Winnipeg, 8th Floor Banquet Hall

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Media contact: Leila Sarangi, National Director of Campaign 2000, [email protected], 647-393-109

Campaign 2000 is a coalition of organizations working to end child and family poverty.  Please visit www.campaign2000.ca for more information.

Download the press release

Campaign 2000 presents at poverty conference

Campaign 2000 will join speakers from Canada, Jamaica and the United Kingdom next Thursday (March 13) at a free virtual conference exploring themes of intersection and poverty and their relationship to social problems.

Titled Intersectionality: Is Poverty the Missing Link?, the conference will be of interest to people with lived experience of social work and social care services, social work practitioners, social work students, field instructors, practice educators and social work academics.

The conference is being presented by several academic institutions in Canada and Britain and Campaign 2000 will speak on the Localizing Canada’s Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals project.

Register on Eventbrite.

View the Event Flyer.

Conference Speakers

Social Work and Poverty: Realigning to Social Work Values in Education and Practice

Warren Smith

University of Wolverhampton, England

Warren Smith teaches and contributes to social work modules covering sociology, social policy, communities in context, and children & families law and practice across the MA and BA programmes. Smith has experience in a variety of children and family and youth justice social work settings as a support worker, social worker, senior social worker and manager. He is undertaking doctoral studies exploring governance networks at the sub-regional level.

Localizing Poverty Eradication across Canada

Leila Sarangi

Family Service Toronto & Campaign 2000

Leila Sarangi, Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation at FST and National Director of Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty, brings with her over 25 years of non-profit leadership, coalition-building, and government relations experience. She is a seasoned campaigner, community builder and facilitator with a deep passion for connecting lived experiences to social action and public policy development to achieve long-term systemic change using intersectional and trauma informed praxis.

Hannah Barrie

Family Service Toronto & Campaign 2000

Hannah Barrie, Social Action Researcher for FST and Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty, was the Project Researcher for Campaign 2000’s three-year Localizing Canada’s Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals project, which engaged communities across the country to propose a community-based indicator framework for SDG 1: No Poverty. She holds an MA in Gender Studies and Feminist Research from McMaster University, and her interests include community-based participatory research, rights-based and trauma-informed engagement, and social policy analysis.

From social capital to no capital: How alumni from group and residential care in Trinidad and Tobago join the poverty line

Dr. Petra Roberts

Toronto Metropolitan University

Dr. Petra Roberts, Assistant Professor, School of Child and Youth Care has over 25 years of practical experience in ‘child protection’, child and adolescent mental health, family therapy, rural and northern social work practice. Her main research interests pertain to gendered experiences of residential care and treatment services in the Caribbean, and narrative methodologies with respect to the experiences of people in institutional care over the course of their lifespan.

Examining the Intersection of Poverty, Youth, and Agriculture: How Do Intersectional Identities Affect Access to Agricultural Resources and Opportunities in Rural Jamaica?

Dr. Khadijah Williams

Moneague College, Jamaica

Dr. Khadijah Williams is a researcher, educator, psychotherapist and consultant. With a career spanning over three decades, she is dedicated to bridging academia with real-world applications to foster innovation and drive social change. Her research focus includes crime and violence prevention, women and youth in agriculture, HIV/AIDS, family violence, residential care, natural disasters, migration impacts, eco-social work and more. She currently heads the Research and Development at Moneague College and co-founder of a rural residential school in Jamaica.

2024 Disability Report: Canada earns an F on addressing disability poverty

On December 3, Disability Without Poverty and Campaign 2000 released the 2024 Disability Poverty Report Card, underscoring Canada’s continued neglect in addressing disability poverty. Read the press release

This year’s report highlights the stark realities faced by over 1.5 million Canadians with disabilities, with poverty rates twice as high as those for the general population. Despite the recent passage of the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB), the report finds that the federal government’s efforts fall drastically short.

Key findings include:

  • 16.8% of people with disabilities live in poverty.
  • Poverty rates for people with disabilities are twice as high as for those without disabilities.
  • People with disabilities would need an average of 30% more income to reach the poverty line.

The 2024 Disability Poverty Report card assigns Canada a failing grade for inadequate action and calls on all levels of government to strengthen the Canada Disability Benefit to ensure it can truly help reduce poverty for people with disabilities.

What can you do to make an impact?

  • Read and share the 2024 Disability Poverty Report Card and infographic with your networks.
  • Share key findings on social media – please tag @Disability_WP and @Campaign2000 and use the hashtag #DisabilityPovertyReportCard2024.
  • Write to your federal government representatives to urgently adopt the recommendations in this report.

Visit https://www.disabilitywithoutpoverty.ca/2024-disability-poverty-report-card/ to read more and take action today!

Ending child poverty: the time is now

It’s been 35 years since the federal government promised to uphold children’s rights by ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and eradicate child poverty by the year 2000 by passing a unanimous resolution in the House of Commons.

Campaign 2000 is commemorating this day with the release of their suite of national, provincial, territorial and Toronto child and family poverty report cards.

The national report card, Ending Child Poverty: The Time is Now found that in the last two years, Canada experienced record increases in the rates of child and family poverty, of nearly 5 percentage points total.  That means an additional 360,000 children fell into poverty – in total, nearly 1.4 million children were living in poverty in 2022 or roughly one in five children.

The jump in poverty rates in 2021 was the first increase in 10 years and the latest increase in 2022 was the largest on record, signaling a failure of the federal poverty reduction strategy to sustain progress made with the Canada Child Benefit and the temporary emergency pandemic benefits.  Across all family types, families were living in deeper poverty than they were in 2015, the year the federal poverty reduction strategy measures progress from.  Custom data shows that the Canada Child Benefit has lost its power to sustain poverty reduction and that income inequality among families with children is widening.

Available data continue to show that children from systemically marginalized groups experience significantly disproportionately high poverty rates resulting from historic and present colonialism, systemic racism, ableism and intersecting systemic inequities. 

Ending Child Poverty: The Time is Now is a call to action.  It includes 58 bold but achievable community-driven recommendations spanning social and economic equity, income security, decent work, housing, childcare, public health and more.  It is the last report card that will be released before the next federal election, and all federal parties have an opportunity to lay out their plan to stem the rise of poverty in our communities and in our families and work towards eradicating it once and for all.  It is possible, and the time is now.

Key Findings from the 2024 National Report Card:

  • Nearly 1.4 million children live in poverty in Canada, or roughly 1 in 5 children.
  • From 2021 to 2022, the child poverty rate rose by 2.5 percentage points, the largest annual increase in child poverty on record (+195,170 children).
  • Families are living in deeper poverty.  On average, family incomes fell $14, 276 below the low income measure, after tax in 2022 compared to $10,050 in 2015.
  • Child poverty increased in every province and territory.  The highest increase for children under 18 was in Nunavut (+6 percentage points) and among the provinces in Ontario (+3.5 percentage points).
  • More than 110,000 families with children fell into poverty in 2022.
  • Nearly all children (99%) under 18 years old who do not live in families live in poverty.
  • Nearly one in two children (45%) growing up in lone-parent families live in poverty.
  • The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is losing effectiveness.  On average, it reduced child poverty by 8.8 percentage points annually.  In 2022, it reduced child poverty by 7.8 percentage points, the lowest reduction to date.
  • In 2019, the Minister of Disability inclusion was given a mandate to double the amount of the Child Disability Benefit.  To date, there has been no movement in this urgent area.
  • Poverty rates for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children remain significantly higher than rates for non-Indigenous children.  Ending poverty for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families depends on realizing their rights to their traditional lands, territories and resources. 
  • Racialized and immigrant children experience disproportionately high rates of child poverty due to systemic racism, discrimination and barriers to services and employment. 
  • There is wide income inequality among families with children.  The after-tax average income for families with children in the top 10% was 18 times higher than the average income of those in the bottom 10%.
  • Addressing intersectional and systemic discrimination with poverty reduction initiatives is essential to reducing the high poverty rates experienced by children from disproportionately marginalized groups.
  • New investments are needed, including broadening access to the CCB, creating a new End Child Poverty Supplement for those in low income, and ensuring adequacy of the CCB children’s disability benefit.
  • Establishment of a standard $0-$10 a day per family sliding scale fee model of childcare to enable access for families in poverty is needed. Canada’s universal childcare plan must include low income children.

Want to read more?

Click on the following links to read and download the 2024 report cards.

English National Report Card and Press Release
French National Report Card and Press Release

English Ontario Report Card and Press Release
French Ontario Report Card and Press Release

British Columbia Report Card

Manitoba Report Card and Press Release

New Brunswick Report Card – in English and in French and Press Release

Nova Scotia Report Card and Press Release

Nunavut Report Card and Press Release

PEI Report Card and Press Release

Toronto Report Card and Press Release

Disability Poverty Report Card and Press Release; French national report, Press Release