HUMA Committee Report
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Supplementary Opinion of the New Democratic Party (NDP) The report presented by the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities concludes several months of studying the federal role in poverty reduction in Canada. At the outset of our study, we made it clear that we were not interested in producing yet one more in a long series of reports on how much poverty there is in Canada. Thanks to hundreds of witnesses and briefs by municipalities, individuals as well as local, regional and national organizations we have in this report a current, updated profile of the face of poverty in Canada. Several witnesses told us just how much of an impact social determinants of health have on poverty. Our report must serve as the foundation for a master plan in building a just and inclusive country. Recommendations Although we agree with the entire report, the NDP believes that the recommendations should serve as calls for government action, since time has run out for more study and consultations. We have studied the issue long enough. It is now time to act as quickly as possible to make a positive impact in the daily lives of those who are struggling. There is urgency to act in order to have positive impacts in the lives of people living in a precarious situation. The NDP believes that the Committee’s recommendations could have gone further. We would like to have seen the following recommendations: Income security
Education, skills training and employment
Mental health
Housing, communities and neighbourhoods
However, the NDP believes that some of the report’s recommendations go too far, because they interfere with provincial and territorial jurisdiction. These recommendations should be either amended or withdrawn to avoid this interference:
Furthermore, the first two recommendations in the report as currently written do not commit the government to making the necessary changes to support workers struggling after job loss. For example, in the first recommendation, it would have been crucial to call on the federal government to expand, rather than study, coverage, eligibility and duration of Employment Insurance benefits to address the reality of Canadians. A study would be pointless, because we are all aware of the reality: we already know that over 60% of workers who lose their jobs do not qualify for employment insurance benefits. We know that the number of hours worked needs to be decreased so that more workers who lose their jobs can qualify for employment insurance. The government also needs to act now to help workers in the EI gap. It is also important to note that the consumer price index does not reflect consumer spending, unlike the cost of living index. The same applies for the second recommendation: Indigenous and Northern Affairs should increase, not just study, social assistance rates for First Nations peoples on reserve in response to the requests made by the witnesses we heard from. Adequate housing as recognized internationally The NDP believes that a major segment is missing from the report and should have been included in Chapter 5, “Housing” – specifically, Canada’s international commitments concerning the right to adequate housing: KEY INTERNATIONAL TREATIES RELATED TO THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING Canada has ratified two UN treaties that directly refer to the right to adequate housing: Article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: 1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states: 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent. In 2007, in the final report of his mission to Canada, former UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Miloon Kothari noted that Canada is one of the few countries without a national housing strategy. Mr. Kothari recommended, among other things, that Canada should: (a) recognize the right to adequate housing by all levels of Government; (b) adopt or amend legislation to protect the right to adequate housing; (c) commit to a comprehensive national housing strategy with stable and long-term funding; (d) adopt a comprehensive and coordinated national strategy for the reduction of homelessness and poverty; (e) address the situation of Aboriginals in and off reserves through a comprehensive and coordinated housing strategy. The Special Rapporteur also noted that there is no recognition of the right to adequate housing in Canadian law, either under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, under federal or provincial human rights legislation, or under housing legislation. The report states: “The rights contained in international human rights treaties ratified by Canada are not directly enforceable by domestic courts unless they have been incorporated into Canadian law by parliament or provincial legislatures. As such, the right to adequate housing as codified in article 11(1) of the [International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Convention] cannot be claimed on its own.” Further information regarding the right to adequate housing and the obligations of governments is contained in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report The Adequate Right to Housing. The NDP recommends that Canada comply with its international commitments and the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing by incorporating the right to housing in Canadian law, particularly human rights legislation and legislation to establish a nationwide housing strategy, in order to make this right enforceable. The NDP’s recommendations on housing and homelessness reflect a desire to take immediate action and introduce measures to ensure Canada lives up to its international commitment to respect this basic right. The NDP believes that social and community housing must be at the core of an anti-poverty strategy. In our view, steps must be taken to maintain the current supply of social and community housing, and build new units to increase the availability of this type of housing and reduce waiting lists. To achieve this goal, we believe that the government must allocate massive funding dedicated to developing new social and community housing, and that it must establish a recurring envelope for renovating existing social housing. We also recommend that the government maintain its long-term subsidies for existing social and community housing, whether under the direct responsibility of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) or of the provinces, territories or municipalities, and that it reinstate the funding that expired at the end of the long-term operating agreements. The NDP recommends that the government review the CMHC’s policies and programs so that the agency can play a greater role in the housing market, especially by focusing on social and community housing. In our view, the CMHC must help to regulate the housing market, particularly by countering real estate speculation and creating incentives to encourage sustainable development and build truly affordable housing. With regard to homelessness, the NDP recommends a return to the broad, community-based approach of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) in order to fund a variety of interventions, including homelessness prevention and investment in capital assets, and to tailor responses to meet the needs of communities across the country. In addition, we recommend that the government agree to fund the HPS permanently and that it index this funding to maintain services in the years to come. Leadership and partnership Above all, the report captures a chorus of voices from coast to coast calling for national leadership to reduce poverty. The Government of Canada must take the lead role, in partnership with the provinces, territories, cities and Indigenous communities. Before the study began, the NDP MP for Saint-Hyacinthe–Bagot, Brigitte Sansoucy, introduced Bill C-245, An Act concerning the development of a national poverty reduction strategy in Canada. The bill provided for the development and implementation of a national strategy to reduce poverty in Canada and the appointment of an independent poverty reduction commissioner. Bill C-245 also would have amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to add social condition as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Lastly, it would have amended the Department of Employment and Social Development Act to establish the National Council on Poverty Elimination and Social Inclusion. Unfortunately, the majority Liberals voted against the bill at second reading. The federal government must show leadership on reducing poverty. Canada has signed international treaties on human rights that require us to make very clear commitments to guarantee each and every Canadian citizen the right to a decent standard of living. Reducing poverty is a non-partisan issue. Every member of Parliament represents a riding affected by poverty. We see poverty on the faces of all kinds of people, including children, families, people living alone, and seniors. When we meet with anti-poverty organizations, we see how hard they are working on the ground to distribute food and clothing to help all families in need. In 1989, the House unanimously adopted a motion to eliminate child poverty. In 2009, the House reaffirmed its commitment to reducing poverty. We are now at the point where we need more than empty words. We need to come up with a real strategy. Coming up with a strategy means setting targets: where do we want to be in five or ten years when it comes to reducing poverty? We also need mechanisms to measure poverty. Currently, in Canada, we have still not agreed on an official definition of poverty; we hope that the government will look into this problem by following the recommendation in this report. We still have not established how to measure poverty. If we want to see how well programs are working from year to year, we have to have mechanisms to measure progress and determine, year after year, whether poverty has been reduced or not. Let us develop mechanisms for measuring poverty so that, year after year, we can take steps toward reducing it. We know that poverty is a ground for discrimination, but right now it is not in the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination. In our communities It costs more to do nothing about poverty than it does to address it. We can do something to reduce poverty. Poverty greatly hinders both individual and community development. The growing gap between the rich and the poor is a concern. When wealth is concentrated in the hands of one group, the purchasing power of regular Canadians keeps diminishing. Store owners are saying that they are still struggling to recover from the 2008 economic crisis because too many people continue to get poorer. Take the example of food banks and soup kitchens who currently can cope with the high demand for their services, the government must work with them to ensure that they have the necessary resources to help people in need. Municipalities also need to be part of the strategy to reduce poverty. The services they provide to their citizens, the work they do for access to social housing, the funding community organizations ensure municipalities are key players to reduce poverty in Canada. Another growing problem these days is that some people are working 40 hours a week and are still poor. Youth employment is increasingly precarious. A third of all young people have part-time employment. The use of food banks is the ultimate proof. A growing number of workers must resort to using food banks, which is unacceptable. More and more workers need food aid. We also see many immigrants using food aid. In some Canadian communities the cost of living, including rent and food, is high. There needs to be a strong social and economic safety net because poverty affects everyone. We should all be concerned by the fact that, in a country as rich as ours, inequality is growing and worrisome. Let us work together As we heard from many witnesses, we all need to work together, rather than separately as individuals, organizations or as municipal, provincial or federal governments. The various orders of government need to work together. Within the federal government, poverty is not the responsibility of just one department or minister. It is crucial that all departments work together if we want to truly reduce poverty in Canada and improve the day-to-day lives of the too many men, women and children who are struggling to get by. Community organizations in our ridings are doing what needs to be done. They are also working to tackle poverty at its roots because we have to focus not just on the consequences, but also on the causes. We have to work with these organizations and truly partner with them. Municipalities have to be partners in this poverty reduction strategy too. We know they are responsible for providing social housing. Food banks and soup kitchens cannot meet the demand. Municipalities are putting strategies in place to ensure that their services and activities are available to everyone. We have to partner with the provinces too. Many provinces, including Quebec, already have poverty elimination strategies. Other provinces tell us that Quebec’s strategy is a model. Provinces that do not have strategies are thinking of adopting them, and all provinces are urging the federal government to develop its own poverty reduction strategy so we can coordinate our efforts and work better together. That is what it will take to reduce poverty. Education is a big part of the conversation about poverty, so the provinces are involved at that level too. No child should come to school with an empty stomach. Children’s academic performance should not suffer because they move too often or are worried about a parent having lost a job. Such children are less likely than others to graduate or go on to university. Those are some of the effects of poverty, and we have to work with the provinces to tackle the causes of poverty. Children raised in poverty require more support, and there are costs associated with that. It will be more expensive in the long run to not address poverty and let it persist. Poverty also means more health care costs, as many studies have shown. People living in poverty are ill more often and have a hard time paying for their medication. Conclusion There are too many statistics right now that should frighten us. Having one in seven people living in poverty in Canada is unacceptable. We have a duty to act. The poverty rate is higher in Canada than in the other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. When talking about poverty rates, we need to see the face of poverty. For instance, one out of every two Indigenous children lives in poverty. In addition, 6% of seniors in Canada live in poverty, and 63% of low-income, single seniors are women. In Quebec, the median income for seniors aged 65 to 74 is $20,200, and for those 75 or over it is less than $20,000. Lastly, the median income for indigenous people is even less. As for immigrants, they are twice as likely to find themselves living in poverty. There are real people behind the statistics. “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.” - Nelson Mandela |