After many years of dedicated work by community members and organizations, including $15 and Fairness and Workers Action Centre, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that the Ontario government will make significant changes to Ontario workplaces including:

• Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by January 1, 2019
• Mandating equal pay for equal work for part-time, temporary, casual and seasonal employees
• Expanding personal emergency leave to 10 days including a minimum of 2 paid days per year for all workers
• Increasing vacation time to 3 weeks after an employee is employed 5 years with the same company
• Requiring employees to be paid 3hrs of wages if their shift is cancelled less than 48 hours before their shift

This is a huge step in the right direction for addressing child and family poverty in the province and ensuring that work is a pathway out of poverty.

Read the Ontario government’s press release and further detailed information about the Fair Wages, Better Jobs Act.

 

This week, Members of Provincial Parliament are making key decisions about the future of decent work in Ontario. We must contact our MPPs to show support for decent work that works for families and brings all Ontarians out of poverty.

Significant changes to labour laws can reduce poverty in Ontario. Tell your MPP you support changes such as:

• Boosting minimum wage to $15/hour
• Providing 7 paid sick days
• Ensuring equal pay for part-time temporary and contract workers
• Better rights for temp agency workers
• Advanced schedules
• The right to unionize and respect at work.

Contact your MPP to support #15andFairness

Enter your postal code to find your MPP’s contact info here.
Copy C2000’s message below and email it to your MPP.

Dear _____

We have heard in the news that the government is deciding on labour law reform this week. We support changes that will make jobs across Ontario decent and give all Ontarians protection from abuse.

We want you to support: $15 minimum wage, 7 paid sick days, equal pay for part-time temporary and contract workers, better rights for temp agency workers, advanced schedules, the right to unionize and respect at work.

Making paid work a pathway out of poverty is critical in ending child and family poverty across the province. We need poverty free wages and better working conditions. We need you to support decent work in our community and across the province.

Sincerely,

(Your name)

Other actions:

Tweet your MPP with this message:
@MPPname we want your support to make paid work a pathway out of poverty and support changes to create decent work in ON #15andFairness

You can also retweet from Campaign 2000’s Twitter page @Campaign2000.

For more information go to 15andfairness.org.

Campaign 2000’s Public Forums: Shaping Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS)

Campaign 2000 and partners have called for a federal anti-poverty strategy for decades. Now, the federal government is in the process of developing a federal Poverty Reduction Strategy but the public consultation phase will end June 30.

To ensure community voices are heard within the PRS consultations, on June 12 the Campaign 2000 national network is holding a series of public forums across the country. Forums will take place in British Columbia, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto and Charlottetown. We will connect to speakers from other provinces online to bring our national movement for poverty eradication together.

Panel – Activities – Discussion

Join Campaign 2000 and our partners for an evening of open and engaging discussions to shape Canada’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy. The priorities of people living in poverty and their allies must be heard by government. Please come and make your voice heard loud and clear. Share your insights to ensure the strategy reflects the urgent concerns of Canadians living in poverty and those committed to eradicating it.

Date: Monday, June 12, 2017
Time: 6 – 9 p.m.; Event starts at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Steel Workers Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto (accessible location)
Registration: Limited Seating, please RSVP by Friday, June 2, 2017 on Eventbrite Registration or 416-595-9230 ext.244.

Everyone welcome! We are all in this together.

TTC tokens and light refreshments provided (please state dietary needs). ASL & Child-minding provided by request – contact us by Friday, June 2 with your requests.

For further information please email: [email protected] or call 416-595-9230 ext. 244. We look forward to seeing you on June 12th!

Download and share event flyer.

On Tuesday, February 7, Ontario Campaign 2000 presented its recommendations at the Ontario 2017 pre-budget consultation held in Markham Ontario.

The 2017 Ontario budget is an important opportunity for the province to provide sufficient and sustainable funding to a variety of key areas to end poverty in the province. Child and family poverty continues to be a serious problem in Ontario. The latest tax filer data show 18.8% of children under the age of 18, and 20.4% of children under the age of 6 live in poverty in Ontario according to the Low Income Measure After Tax (LIM-AT). With the increasing costs of housing, child care, hydro, and other necessities, and the increasing precarity of employment in the province (with the growth of part-time, contract, temporary, and shift work with low wages and few or no benefits), effective policy changes coupled with sufficient and sustainable funding are needed to ensure no child and family in Ontario live in poverty.

Read Pre-Budget Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.

Ontario Campaign 2000 releases its 2016 annual Report Card on Child and Family Poverty on Thursday, November 24 at Queen’s Park, Toronto.  2016 marks the half-way point in Ontario’s second Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). While small steps have been taken to address child and family poverty in the province, greater action is needed to achieve the goals set out in the PRS.

Ontario children continue to face high rates of poverty. Our 2016 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty “The Time To Act Is Now: Ontario Children Can’t Wait” reports one in six (18.8%) children under 18 and one in five (20.4%) children under six in Ontario live in poverty in the province. Read our media release in full, in English or French.

On the same day, Campaign 2000 releases its national report card along with report cards from several Campaign 2000 provincial partners in Vancouver, British Columbia; Regina, Saskatoon; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Please click on the following links to read and download the press releases, infographic and new report cards:

Ontario Report Card on Child and Family Poverty, 2016, in English and French
Ontario Report Card on Child and Family Poverty, 2016 press release in English and French
Ontario Campaign 2000 shareable infographic

For the national report card or other provincial report cards, please visit Campaign 2000 website

Ontario Campaign 2000 will release its annual provincial Report Card on Child and Family Poverty on Thursday, November 24 in Toronto. The report, THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW: Ontario Children Can’t Wait, will be launched at the Turning The Tide Against Poverty Event (an event hosted by ISARC-Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition).

Presentation will be at 1:15p.m., interviews will be available between 12:30 p.m.-1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.- 2 p.m.

Read media advisory in English and French.

On November 24, 2016, Ontario Campaign 2000 will release its 2016 Annual Report Card on Child and Family poverty in Ontario at an event in Queen’s Park, Toronto.

On the same day, several provinces and the national Campaign 2000 office will also release their annual report cards.  The national report card release will take place in Ottawa.  The other provincial report cards will be released simultaneously in capitals across the country in BC, SK, MB, NB, NS and PE.

Stay tuned for all the related info and all the new report cards.

Toronto continues to be the child poverty capital of Canada: it has the highest rate of low-income children among large urban centres according to the Toronto Child and Poverty Report Divided City: Life in Canada’s Child Poverty Capital. The report was co-released Nov. 14 by Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, Family Service Toronto (Ontario Campaign 2000), Social Planning Toronto, and Colour of Poverty-Colour of Change.

The report draws from new data to update the 2014 report, The Hidden Epidemic: A Report on Child and Family Poverty in Toronto and it describes the level – and unequal distribution – of poverty and its effect on children and families in Toronto.

Just as the Toronto City Council is considering cutting up to $600 million in spending on City-funded programs and services, the report reminds us that 27 per cent of Toronto children were living in low-income families in 2014, topping the list above Montreal (25 per cent), Winnipeg (24 per cent ) and all other urban areas with over 500,000 residents.

The report found huge neighbourhood disparities in child poverty levels, which reflect other inequities. For example, racialized families, new immigrant families, lone parent families and families with disabilities are up to three times more at risk of living in poverty. “When you cross Laird Avenue to go from Leaside to Thorncliffe, the rate of child poverty rate increases from 4 to 52 per cent” said Jessica Mustachi of Family Service Toronto. “This divide shows how we can and must do more to provide quality services to support low-income residents.”

The report also found that low-income children are struggling to succeed: children in schools in low-income neighbourhoods are less likely to be meeting provincial standards in Grade 3 math, reading and writing than children in higher-income schools.

Read Full Report and see Jessica on Global News at 5:30 pm on November 14.

Read Toronto Star article: Kids suffer most as Toronto clings to title of child poverty capital.

Campaign 2000 is endorsing the National Housing Day of Action on Nov. 18 – an initiative of The Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO).

In 2015, an estimated 235,000 people experienced homelessness across Canada (with one in every seven shelter users being a child). Over 730,000 renter households spent more than 50% of their income on rent putting them at risk of homelessness. In its 2015 Annual Report Card, C2000 urged the government to develop a  comprehensive national housing strategy reflective of the needs of local communities and First Nations in partnership with provinces, territories, municipalities, First Nations, the non-profit sector and the private sector.

The Canadian government has promised to fix the affordable housing crisis with Canada’s first ever National Housing Strategy to be announced on Nov. 22.

ACTO is organizing a Toronto march for the right to housing on Nov. 18, 12 p.m. at Queen’s Park to ensure our National Housing Strategy will guarantee everyone the right to safe, adequate, and affordable housing.

Find out more about the event and register now.

As children and youth prepare for back to school, families with low income face the anxiety of affording new school supplies and clothing on top of ongoing struggles to put food on the table and provide other necessities.

Ontario Campaign 2000’s 2015 Report Card update, “Let’s Do This: Let’s End Child Poverty For Good” finds that one in five children under 18 and 15.4% of families with children live in poverty in Ontario. Despite recent policy changes and benefits many families with children are still struggling.

The report urges the Ontario government to implement concrete policy changes to assist families out of poverty. Eradicating child and family poverty is possible and the government must act to assist families in securing safe and affordable housing, obtaining good jobs access affordable high quality child care.