On August 7, Campaign 2000 submitted its priorities for the 2021 federal budget, with a focus on a COVID recovery plan.  The submission states that experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic have laid bare inequities, are amplifying inequality and bringing to light the inadequacies of our social and economic infrastructure to support families in crisis. The road to recovery must not lead us back to what we knew as ‘normal’. That status quo left far too many behind. We must use this opportunity to reimagine a just, equitable, inclusive society, which is both good for the economy and is the right thing to do. Eradicating poverty is undoubtedly essential to promoting Canada’s economic growth (Conference Board of Canada) while promoting population health, enhancing social cohesion and enabling fuller social and economic participation of all. To achieve this, we must invest in policies that equalize outcomes for families and children, including income benefits, Reconciliation, ELCC and housing for all.

Read the recommendations and full submission.

Campaign 2000, along with members of the National and Ontario Steering Committees and organizations from coast to coast to coast, calls for repayment amnesty for recipients of CERB living in low income. In order to avoid pushing people living in low income further into debt and further away from the tax system through which crucial government benefits are delivered, C2000 has provided specific recommendations on the federal government’s treatment of recipients of CERB who are living in low income and who have been deemed ineligible to receive the benefit.

The recommendations, submitted to both the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology and the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, call for a human-rights based approach towards all who have accessed emergency benefits in order to cover basic expenses at a time of heightened need. The recommendations call specifically for repayment amnesty based on annual total income and family size, and for an end to calls for penalization for anyone who received CERB and is deemed ineligible. Read the submission.

Campaign 2000: End child and family poverty in Canada, along with over 250  groups and individuals across the country sent a letter today calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal COVID Cabinet Committee to ensure children living in poverty from marginalized communities are central to the pandemic response and recovery plan. 

Written by the Campaign 2000 Steering Committee and endorsed by partners from across the country, the letter sets out a suite of immediate and longer-term policy solutions and fiscal investments to ensure that low-income children and families have the supports they need to survive the pandemic and thrive in the recovery.

Campaign 2000, the groups and individuals endorsing the letter propose a robust and bold plan of action.  It includes better investments and universal access to income supports, social infrastructure that prioritizes building and maintaining affordable, public childcare and housing systems as key to economic recovery efforts, and progressive tax measures to mitigate deepening inequality while generating revenue for COVID-related and poverty reduction expenditures.

Read the letter in full in English and in French.  Read our media release in English and French.

Today Campaign 2000 partners in Manitoba release their annual report card on the state of child and family poverty, Broken Promise Stolen Futures: Child and Family Poverty in Manitoba, where 1 out of every 6 children living in a two-parent family live in poverty, and 1 out of every 1.6 children living in a single parent family lives in poverty. This report finds that even with the federal Canada Child Benefit and using both the federal and provincial governments’ preferred and more forgiving poverty measure, the Market Basket Measure, Manitoba ranks 4th in both overall as well as child poverty in 2016. In 2018, there was an increase of 7% in overall poverty and 19% increase in child poverty. The report demonstrates that at this rate it will take 697.5 years to end child poverty in Manitoba.

Click here to download the media release and full report.

Campaign 2000 and the Child Welfare League of Canada have released a joint response to the federal government’s emergency aid package announced March 18.

The release details their call for more robust investments into income security measures and additional strategies to ensure vulnerable and marginalized children and caregivers have immediate access to benefits.

Follow @campaign2000 and @CWLC_LBEC for updates.

Today, Honourable Minister Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development, attended the C2000 National Strategy Conference to share some words about his work on housing, the Canada Child Benefit, intergovernmental collaboration, and other poverty reduction initiatives.

Minister Hussen fielded questions on a range of issues including the Multilateral Early Learning and Childcare Framework, the high rate of poverty in FN, Inuit and Métis communities and decisions around measurement, and the inaccessibility of the CCB which contributes to poverty among refugee families and children.

The Minister spoke to these questions as well as a need for policy and investment in off-reserve housing for Indigenous people, and the potential for basic income pilots across the country.

Campaign 2000 supporters made it clear that high quality, affordable, accessible childcare, and the reduction of high poverty rates among racialized and Indigenous children, must be prioritized across policy areas within the Minister’s portfolio.

Campaign 2000 looks forward to continuing to work with the Minister and the federal government on implementing the recommendations in the National Report Card released in January, and achieving forward movement on the goal of eliminating child and family poverty.

Campaign 2000, co-ordinated by Family Service Toronto, is a non-partisan coalition of 120 groups and individuals committed to ending child poverty.

Campaign 2000 and Family Service Toronto hold the C2000 National Strategy Conference at 355 Church Street, Toronto, March 4 to 5. Participants are C2000 partners from across the country.

Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and in four days, polls will open for Canada’s 43^rd federal election.

This year also marks 30 years since each federal party represented in the House of Commons committed to ending child poverty by the year 2000. There is no better time than the October 21 election to hold every party accountable to that commitment. Campaign 2000 sent an open letter to the leaders of every registered federal party asking to see their plans on eradicating child and family poverty in Canada. 

Since the all-party resolution was passed 30 years ago, Campaign 2000 has been developing a suite of achievable policy recommendations to put Canada on the track to eradicating child and family poverty.  These recommendations were outlined in our letter and each party was asked to respond directly to questions based on the recommendations. Nine responses were received, and of those, only one party, the Green Party, responded directly to the questions. The Liberal Party and NDP were the only other two parties who provided substantive responses related to poverty reduction.

Our report, Child Poverty by Federal Riding: the work ahead for Canada’s next Parliament, shows significant levels of child poverty in every federal riding across the country.  Child poverty is an everyday issue, and with the looming federal election, we have the opportunity to make it an election issue as well. Ending poverty must be a priority for all members of the incoming government.

Read our full statement here

Read the response from the Green Party here

Read the response from the Liberal Party here

Read the response from the New Democrat Party here

In the lead up to the federal election, Campaign 2000 has mapped the prevalence of child poverty by federal riding from coast to coast to coast.  The interactive map, produced in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and this corresponding report is the second update to the initial 2015 report.  Using the most recent data available, this interactive map shows the rate of child poverty by federal electoral district along with socio-economic indicators, allowing users to get a snapshot of state of child poverty by federal riding.  Readers can also view demographic characteristics that are associated with high poverty rates in each riding.

This update shows that while there is an important trend downwards in the rate of child poverty across the country since 2015, a significant number of children remain in poverty in every federal riding across Canada.  The latest data continue to paint a stark portrait of inequality with high- and low-income families living in close proximity while divided by wide social and economic gaps that leave too many children hungry, sick and stressed beyond what is expected or acceptable for children.

Federal ridings with the highest levels of child and family poverty are home to a higher proportion of Indigenous, racialized and immigrant community members and lone parent led families.  This correlation signals the persistence of discrimination and systemic inequalities that drive higher unemployment, lower labour market participation rates and higher proportions of renters and people spending more than 30% of their income on housing.

The presence of child and family poverty in every riding in Canada demands for it to be a priority issue for every party this election, with a commitment to strong and decisive federal action.  Clearly, every community, every candidate and all political parties have a stake in the eradication of poverty.

Read the press release and the Child poverty by federal riding: the work ahead for Canada’s next Parliament report. Click on the map below to see the rate of child poverty in your riding. Read the list of the best and worst ridings.

Talk to your local candidates about how they will work to end child and family poverty in your riding.  Read our letter to federal party leaders to see what we asked.
Read the Toronto Star exclusive: Report aims to put poverty on the agenda in federal election campaign

As voters head to the polls this fall, Campaign 2000 wants to ensure that ending child and family poverty is responded to as a key issue by all parties.  Today our National Steering Committee sent an open letter to the leaders of each registered federal party leader on behalf of our 120+ partners.  We asked them a series of questions based on Campaign 2000’s recommendations that will give party leaders an opportunity to describe their party’s priority and approach to the issue of child and family poverty.  We will post all responses, including non responses, here so stay tuned.  Click here to read the letter.