C2000 marks global family day
May 15, 2025
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.