Thank you. The Feminist Alliance for International Action very much appreciates this opportunity to appear before this committee and to make this submission.
For those of you who don't know, FAFIA is a coalition of over 75 Canadian women's equality-seeking and related organizations. We are interested in participating in this committee because poverty disproportionately affects women, and particular groups of women, and because in the face of the current economic crisis, we anticipate that women's poverty is worsening and will only continue to do so.
Our submissions this morning focus on the following three points: first, that the Government of Canada has a legal obligation to combat poverty; second, that the federal government has the jurisdiction and the resources to combat poverty; and third, any measures adopted to combat poverty must be clearly focused on addressing women's poverty, the distinct causes and consequences, and must be based on human rights principles.
Let me turn to the first. The Government of Canada has a legal obligation to combat poverty. This obligation comes from the international human rights treaties that Canada has signed and ratified, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights guarantees everyone the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food and housing. In that regard, in 2006 the committee at the UN responsible for monitoring Canada's compliance with that covenant expressed concern with the numbers of people living in poverty in Canada, and that poverty rates remain very high, particularly for low-income women and single mothers.
In 2008 when CEDAW reviewed Canada, they expressed similar concerns; in particular, that poverty is widespread among particular groups of women, including aboriginal women, minority women, and single mothers. The committee then linked women's poverty to four particular issues: one, a lack of affordable quality child care spaces; two, the absence of a national housing strategy and adequate housing; three, the cuts to and inadequacy of social assistance rates in relation to the actual cost of living; and finally, four, violence against women.
Most recently, the UN Human Rights Council, under the Universal Periodic Review where states are reviewing states, expressed concern regarding the high rates of poverty and homelessness in an affluent country like Canada. In turn, several very concrete recommendations as to how the Government of Canada might address poverty amid such affluence have emerged from the United Nations human rights system. For example, the Government of Canada has repeatedly been called on to develop a national strategy to eliminate poverty; establish a national poverty line; integrate economic and social rights into poverty reduction strategies; establish minimum standards for the provision of funding to social assistance programs applicable at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels; and establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure the accountability of these mechanisms so these mechanisms work for women.
Let me move to my second point. The federal government has the jurisdiction and the resources to combat poverty. Under international human rights law and Canada's treaty obligations, ultimately the federal government has the primary responsibility for combatting poverty, notwithstanding the federalist structure of Canada. Treaty monitoring bodies have been clear about this.
The current government often rejects this obligation, arguing jurisdictional issues; in other words, that social and economic entitlements like social assistance are squarely within provincial jurisdiction and therefore not a federal responsibility. This position is not only contrary to international human rights law, but it also ignores the Government of Canada's spending power. This spending power allows a legislature--as I'm sure you all know--to spend the money it has the constitutional authority to collect and manage, including spending in areas for which it does not have legislative authority or jurisdiction. In other words, the Government of Canada can use its spending power to support a national strategy to combat poverty.
To ensure that any standards or strategies are national, the Government of Canada can attach conditions, of course, to the moneys it provides to the provinces and territories. This has been done historically. For example, the conditions attached to the transfer to the provinces for income support under the Canada assistance plan provide right-to-income support benefits based on need and are irrespective of province of residence.
On my third point, any measures adopted to combat poverty must be clearly focused on combatting women's poverty and based on human rights. Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and yet, even when women's poverty rate is at its lowest, one woman in eight lives below the poverty line. Furthermore, there are high rates of poverty for particular groups of women.
The statistics are uncontested, and I'm not going to run through all of them for you. The Ontario plan, the Quebec plan, and the Newfoundland and Labrador plan outline and confirm that the statistics are bad. When you see numbers showing that 57% of African Canadian women are poor, you know this is an issue that is of huge concern to women.
We submit that a national strategy to combat poverty that is based on a social rights or human rights framework can challenge the systemic causes of poverty and provide concrete guidelines for assessment to ensure that the strategy actually meets the needs of those it is intended to benefit.
For example, a national poverty strategy based on human rights or social rights would be measured and measurable against the following standards: Does the strategy take into account the precarious situation of disadvantaged and marginalized individuals or groups such as women? Is the strategy comprehensive, coherent, and coordinated? For example, does the strategy address the significant determinants of women's poverty, such as violence, the availability of adequate housing, adequate social assistance rates, and adequate and affordable child care? Is the strategy non-discriminatory? Is priority given to grave situations or situations of risk?
There are other benchmarks that a human rights framework provides. I can speak to those if there are questions on that.
A human rights plan to combat poverty could also ensure a mechanism for individual entitlement claims, allowing those living in poverty to feel some individual ownership of the right to an adequate standard of living. It would keep parliamentarians in touch with people whose dignity interests are at stake. It would continually refashion and remodel the strategy to be inclusive of groups and individuals who are left out or neglected. It would allow an interpretation of entitlement, in light of women's actual circumstances.
FAFIA would like to make the following recommendations to this committee regarding the federal government's role in combatting poverty.
First, in keeping with Canada's international human rights obligations, the Government of Canada must show leadership on the issue of poverty in this country by exercising its spending power and adopting a national strategy to combat poverty that is focused on those experiencing the deepest poverty, namely, women and particular groups of women.
A national strategy to combat poverty must have conditions attached to it to ensure the compliance of provinces and territories, with the exception of Quebec. It must be based on a social rights framework. It must incorporate or somehow be directly linked to initiatives to ensure the key determinants of poverty for women are addressed, such as violence against women, adequate housing, adequate levels of social assistance, and access to affordable child care spaces. It must challenge and rectify the systemic inequalities that create women's poverty.
FAFIA thinks the time is ripe. We have provincial and territorial plans springing up across the country. We're in the midst of a severe economic crisis. We have plenty of direction from the international community and the UN human rights system.
Thank you.