Human Resources committee  Thank you. Chair, members of the committee, and other participants, I'm pleased to be here to represent Campaign 2000. As you may know, we're a non-partisan cross-Canada network of more than 120 national, provincial, territorial, and community groups committed to raising awareness about child and family poverty and proposing practical solutions.

Human Resources committee  Let's be specific. The UCCB is ineffective. It is $100 a month. Of course, people appreciate money in their pockets. But if one looks at its goals, one sees that it's not really delivering child care services. In most situations, there are not services to buy, and it's not enough to assist in buying services.

Human Resources committee  I want to support what Patricia said. I'm not in any way linking literacy to poverty. The specific I was talking about was literacy and involvement with the justice system, which relates to only a small portion of people who live in poverty--a very important part. But I don't want to equate the two.

Human Resources committee  First, to answer your question about the impact of funding decisions, I would say yes, I am certainly aware that the cuts have had an impact on community agencies, many of whom rely on volunteers to do the actual--I'll use the word tutoring, for lack of a better word. I'm not sure that's the best word, but working with individuals around literacy.

Human Resources committee  What I would say about indicators is that we've learned some interesting things. Many of us have worked through the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction in Ontario. While we have a lot of limitations on data in this country, we have some important existing measures. For example, if one concern about setting targets and timelines is how we would measure change, we have now an established low-income cutoff, an established low-income measure, and an established market basket measure.

Human Resources committee  Thanks for the opportunity. Bonjour. I think some of you may know we're a broad coalition of more than 120 organizations. We sometimes say we're one of the few that includes auto workers, psychiatrists, faith communities, low-income people, and many others who see the eradication of poverty as a public interest issue that affects us all.

Human Resources committee  Perhaps I could comment on how low-income mothers are feeling. We recently had a forum on living wages, a couple of weeks ago, pulling together people from a wide range of faith communities, of aboriginal communities, of low-income people. Lone mothers told us that when they cancelled the agreement, they knew they wouldn't even be able to wait for the year on the waiting list, or whatever.

Human Resources committee  Thank you. Good morning. Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you today. Campaign 2000 is a broad anti-poverty coalition. It's a cross-Canada coalition, founded in 1991, of more than 120 organizations to promote and secure the full implementation of the unanimous 1989 House of Commons resolution to eliminate child poverty in Canada.

Finance committee  That's true, I recognize. Let me just say to you, I certainly recognize that members of the House take the issue seriously. I don't happen to agree with all of your interpretations of what your government has done, but yes, things have happened.

Finance committee  First of all, I'd like to say that I in no way intended to convey that nothing has happened. Just as all of you work hard in the public interest, we work hard in the public interest, if you will, and it's frustrating—I think particularly if you look at the numbers. I hope you had an opportunity to look at that chart in my brief that looks between 1980 and 2004.

Finance committee  We certainly support the adult benefit, but I have to say that we haven't taken a position on the working income supplement. We have some concerns. Many of our labour partners have concerns about whether we would be basically subsidizing low wages. Having said that, though, we also recognize--and I guess this is from my Toronto experience--that it may be what we have to do at some interim point, because lots of people can't get full-time jobs.

Finance committee  [Inaudible--Editor]...it's the family allowance.

Finance committee  Yes. I was just commenting to Ms. Ecker, whom I've had an opportunity to talk with over the years. We have to look back to 1998, the first year of the child benefit, and what has happened to the labour market. We know about the growth in part-time and precarious work, unfortunately.

Finance committee  I will add that indeed I think the targets are staged. That is a 25% target over five years. Over ten years we could look at cutting it in half again. That is what UNICEF is recommending. That would fit in with commitments for the millennium development goals for an industrialized nation like Canada.

Finance committee  I clearly understand that.