Canada Without Poverty launches This Is Poverty Canada Campaign
Apr. 26, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
As the federal government gears up for national poverty reduction strategies, consultations are underway. But noticeably absent from many of these conversations are the voices of people living in poverty.
1 in 7 people in Canada live in poverty. Annually, poverty costs Canada somewhere between $72 billion and $84 billion. Poverty in Canada is not sustainable and the solutions lie with the experts: people who have first-hand experience of poverty themselves.
Canada Without Poverty (CWP) is launching an online video campaign to amplify the stories of people who have experienced poverty.
CWP’s This Is Poverty Canada campaign asks people with lived experiences of poverty to share their video testimonies to bring the reality of poverty in Canada out of the shadows. Myths about poverty are born from ignorance and poverty itself carries an enormous stigma.
Because of these barriers among others, those who have experienced poverty often do not make it to the policy discussion table in Ottawa. This is Poverty Canada will shine a much-needed light on the experiences of those who have the biggest stake in anti-poverty consultations by making sure their voices are heard.
Individuals with lived experiences of poverty are welcome to share video testimonies about their experience. With a national anti-poverty strategy coming in the near future, CWP is asking participants to upload testimonial videos to the This Is Poverty Canada Facebook page (Voici La Pauvreté for French language) or e-mail them to info [at] cwp-csp.ca.
Participants are asked to share their answers to the following questions:
- What’s your story – how has poverty impacted your life?
- Why does your voice matter to help end poverty in Canada?
- What’s one thing the government needs to do to end poverty right now?
- Do you feel poverty is a violation of your human rights? If yes, why?
People with lived experience are encouraged to join the conversation until June 9th, 2017 on the This is Poverty Canada Facebook page and on Twitter with the hashtags #ThisIsPoverty and #VoiciLaPauvrete.
More information on the Government of Canada’s consultation process for the Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy can be found on the Dignity for All campaign website, co-led by Canada Without Poverty and Citizens for Public Justice.
For more information about poverty in Canada, click here.
About Canada Without Poverty
Canada Without Poverty (CWP) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit, and charitable organization dedicated to ending poverty in Canada. The organization was created in 1971 as an outcome of the Poor People’s Conference, a national gathering of low-income individuals, under the name National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO). For over 40 years, CWP has been championing the rights of individuals experiencing poverty and marginalization through research, awareness-building campaigns, public policy development, and educational programming. See more on our website: www.cwp-csp.ca.
For more information, please contact:
Laura Neidhart
Communications and Development Coordinator
Phone: 613-986-7761
Email: [email protected]
