Good morning.
My name is Elsie Dean, and I'm a member of Women Elders in Action. I thank you for inviting us to appear before you today and present our observations and recommendations on reducing poverty in Canada.
Women Elders in Action is an organization of volunteer women elders in B.C. whose purpose is to provide a voice and raise awareness to improve socio-economic issues and justice for older women. In our work, of course we observe the growth of dependence on food banks, growing homelessness, and inadequately housed people on the street. We also know that many older women are living in dire circumstances and paying far too much of their income in rent. We focus on single women 50 years of age and older because far too many in this age group are experiencing unemployment or low-waged work leading to poverty in their later working years and of course into their retirement years.
It is well documented that there are systemic patterns linking women's higher rates of poverty compared with those of men. Women in this age category suffer as a result of a lifetime of inequality. So we recommend that government renew its commitment to equality and apply a gender analysis to all its macroeconomic policies and its budgets and make a commitment of resources for programs that will make real change.
Women's disproportionate poverty and reliance on social programs, including social assistance and related social services, are well documented. Legislation and transfers that establish social programs and determine funding levels for them are indispensable practical vehicles that enhance women's human rights. We recommend the revitalization of the Canadian social union and a re-engagement of governments in the work of developing and sustaining social programs and services that meet Canada's human rights commitments to all. Give particular attention at this time to the need for the provision of affordable houses and adequate public services. We see particular groups of women who are experiencing even more difficult situations. Those are aboriginal women who we recognize as the poorest of the poor in Canada. We recommend that the government pay particular attention to ensuring that the human rights of aboriginal peoples are taken care of and are met, in particular the needs of women, by increasing social assistance, housing and health programs, increasing funding, and giving assistance for the aboriginal nations to develop their own sources of wealth.
We urge this government to get on with the land settlement on disputed lands. There's another group, which is immigrant women. Women from certain countries must live in Canada for ten years between the ages of 18 and 65 before they can collect even one-fortieth of their old age pension. This leaves many who are ineligible, even though they are Canadian citizens or have landed immigrant status, to live in dire poverty and work well into their old age, thereby destroying their health.
We feel this policy contravenes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and we recommend that access to the old age pension be granted to all who have lived in Canada for three years, are Canadian citizens, or have landed immigrant status. We believe that government has the economic capacity and the social responsibility to eliminate poverty and to provide a fair share of Canada's wealth to all peoples living in Canada. This can be done by implementing a progressive taxation policy, which we feel has been eroded over the last 20 years, and by designing adequate social transfers. We know that the system we live in is not perfect in its distribution of wealth, and it is the job of government to make it so.
Thank you very much.