Finance committee  I'm here in my capacity as executive director of Canada Without Poverty, but I am also the UN special rapporteur on the right to housing. Maybe I could speak to you afterward about my concerns, extreme and deep concerns, about housing conditions for indigenous peoples across the

Finance committee  I don't have recommendations because I'm not in a position to make those recommendations right now and here. As rapporteur, I have not visited the communities and done an assessment, but I do intend to do something on that issue. That's why I was suggesting perhaps we could speak

Finance committee  Yes. First of all, I'd say that Canada Without Poverty is really glad that the income tax amendments made it in. We're very pleased with that. In fact, the issues that we cover that are included in the BIA have received a whole heck of a lot of consultation, actually. We had ple

Finance committee  Thank you, Harriet, and thank you, Chair. Good afternoon. My comments are going to focus on part 1 of Bill C-86, particularly the provisions related to political activities and purposes of charities at section 17 of the bill. Let me begin by saying CWP is pleased to say to the

Human Resources committee  I'll be as succinct as I can. I'll start with the resource issue, because it's so important. No one has named an amount of money that would be saved if we actually started addressing poverty. I'll give one figure: it costs about $55,000 to have a homeless person on the streets a

Human Resources committee  I think there are some concerns around that, which I can't articulate, but I've heard buzz in the background, shall we say. In the Dignity for All national anti-poverty plan for Canada, we have a whole section on what we think should happen with respect to food security, which

Human Resources committee  I do think there's a lot to be mined there and I don't think we've fully explored the ways in which federal and provincial relations could work around conditionality. I have seen something emerge from the United States, to which people may say, “Whoa, no way; this wouldn't work

Human Resources committee  I don't know if there was a question in there.

Human Resources committee  Yes, we have consolidated all of the recommendations that have been made that might be relevant to the study of the committee around poverty reduction in Canada. We would be happy to forward that information to you forthwith.

Human Resources committee  Thanks. There are several committees within the UN human rights system and they are responsible for reviewing Canada's compliance with its international human rights obligations. That's their job. They're made up of independent experts. They don't represent any states, etc., so

Human Resources committee  Casting aspersions aside, let's agree to your formulation. I really liked your question, because it goes straight to what would happen if a human rights framework was employed. Whether it's your framework or my framework, it doesn't matter, because you and I end up in the same pl

Human Resources committee  It goes on and on. I find it interesting because if we take a human rights approach and look at what you're saying, I've heard before about people wanting to engage in the affordable housing business, if you want to call it that, and not really being able to, and that there are

Human Resources committee  Thanks for the question. I just want to say one thing about spending and poverty. If I said to you that 235,000 people were being tortured in Canada, would we ever say, “Yes, but we don't have enough money to deal with that”? No. We would say that's a human rights issue, and we

Human Resources committee  Thanks. I very much appreciate those comments and the question. I need one point of clarification. There is no human right to economic freedom. If you look at what Canada has signed and ratified, it is the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Covenant on Civi

Human Resources committee  Fine. It's not considered a human—