Congratulations! We have poverty reduction legislation

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Published on Tuesday, 06 November 2018 12:14
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NationBuilder r1 BC Poverty Reduction Coalition

Congratulations Friend --

Thanks to your support and a decade of community demands, the Poverty Reduction Act (Bill... 39) was unanimously passed yesterday evening. Thank you for your hard work! The Act, which will be the foundation of the poverty reduction strategy, includes legislated targets to decrease the overall poverty rate by 25% and the child poverty rate by 50% in 5 years. Now that this foundation is in place we need to push the government to build on it starting with a bold and comprehensive plan in the Spring.

Share your thoughts about what should be included in the plan to your elected representatives and your local newspaper.

Coincidentally, the federal government has just tabled their poverty reduction legislation for the first reading: Bill C87 – An Act respecting the reduction of poverty. Our initial analysis of the Federal legislation is that:

  • it doesn’t include language around preventing poverty and, in fact, dissolves the Advisory Council when the 50% reduction target is achieved
  • there’s nothing about the composition of the Advisory Council, in particular, including people in poverty – only that the Council must consult with people in poverty
  • it doesn’t talk about the depth and breadth of poverty or the list of marginalized groups to consider
  • it does reference the United Nations Sustainable Development goals in the preamble
  • it does specify one of the Council members should have particular responsibilities for children’s issues
  • Canada Without Poverty shared their own reaction, recognizing that it is a critical step in addressing poverty, while calling for the government to commit to more immediate action to eliminate poverty in Canada.

BC Poverty Reduction Coalition · Canada
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