This has been very enlightening and certainly compelling testimony here this afternoon. I think all of you speak to an underlying dynamic or value set that we really need to get to at some point. I'm not sure if this committee is going to be able to get there. We've been charged with looking at a federal role in a national anti-poverty strategy, although most of you mentioned that poverty is at the root of a whole lot of the challenges that you face every day and that you are dealing with, no matter what the group is.
There is indeed an insidious racism and attitude in the country and it shows up every now and again. Every now and again you get an e-mail that talks about how immigrants get $2,500 a month and it's more than seniors get. It's just not true. It's patently false, but they do it. They target almost every group that we could actually talk about here and I have heard about here at the committee, who are living in poverty. It's hard to get at that while that attitude exists, because you have to convince the government and the general populous that this is a priority, that we really need to be spending our money there as opposed to someplace else.
With the whole issue, Tanya, of the commitment that the government made to renovating homes, it's non-refundable, so you have to be making money and be paying taxes to take advantage of it, firstly. So persons with low to modest income probably wouldn't be able to do it in the first place. It's that kind of thinking that gets us to a place where, even with the best of intention, we don't actually touch the problem. So we're here today asking for your best advice.
First of all, I don't think you disagree that we need a national anti-poverty strategy and we need to be working in partnership with the provinces, territories, and municipalities to get that done.
I've come to the conclusion that there are at least three things we need to deal with. One is income security, because if you don't have income, you have problem. Another is housing, and we've heard that in spades, over and over again—affordable, safe, and accessible housing. And there is certainly the whole notion of social inclusion, making it possible for people to participate in the communities in which they live.
Is there anything else? I'm interested in your response to us in terms of the report we're writing, which we will table with the House of Commons, so that it might have some real effect where you are.