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"It's worse than a "who's on first?" situation; it's whether or not anyone is even considering ways of reducing poverty across the board. Canadians everywhere deserve better answers." - James Clancy, NUPGE National President.
Ottawa (24 May 2012) - In a recent letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the advocacy group, Canada Without Poverty (CWP), asked the simple question: Who is in charge of the poverty file in Canada?
The letter was prompted by a series of confusing responses about poverty from various government officials.
When CWP wrote the PM recently, his office referred the group to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. When Oliver De Schutter, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food released his report on the state of food security in Canada, it was the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration who responded. When, in fact, it was the Minister of Health, as the only member of Cabinet, who met with De Schutter during his mission in Canada.
The Harper government was completely dismmissive of the UN's report on food security. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration responded, "I think this is completely ridiculous. Canada is one of the wealthiest, most democratic countries in the world. We believe that the UN should focus on development in countries where people are starving and we think it's simply a waste of resources to come to Canada to give them political lecturing."
In a blog post, CWP wrote, "Missing from this conversation about hunger is that everyone in Canada has a right to food. When the federal government ratified the UN's International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, it agreed to key provisions including adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and Article 2(1) which obliges states to use the maximum amount of resources necessary to fulfill these rights."
In the letter to the PM, Rob Rainer, CWP's executive director pointed out, "The federal government listens to evaluations done by many international organizations that Canada supports, including those from the UN. In this light, the Special Rapporteur’s findings constitute a service to our country. Moreover, this matter at hand – food security and the right to food – is not a foreign policy issue. At issue are those who have no food in Canada right now, as is evident by those figuratively and literally on the margins of Parliament Hill, including those who are homeless (with their right to housing also not being upheld)."
"This government appears incapable of recognizing that Canadians are suffering in every region of our country," said James Clancy, National President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), a supporter of Canada Without Poverty. "It's worse than a "who's on first?" situation; it's whether or not anyone is even considering ways of reducing poverty across the board. Canadians everywhere deserve better answers."
More information:
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Canada: national food strategy can eradicate hunger amidst plenty – UN rights expert
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE