Docs show panel wanted feds to make freedom from poverty ‘fundamental right’
OTTAWA — A federal bill aimed at raising more than two million Canadians out of poverty put aside two elements that expert advisers told the Liberals it should include, newly released documents show.
A May 24 presentation from a panel the Liberals appointed to tell them how best to tackle poverty noted the group wanted the government to recognize “freedom from poverty as a fundamental right” when it finalized its poverty-reduction strategy.
A human-rights approach, the panel said, should guide “the development of goals, targets and measurements” to reduce poverty nationwide, according to the documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
The Liberals left such language out of the anti-poverty law they introduced before Parliament broke for Christmas. Bill C-87, known as the Poverty Reduction Act, is awaiting the start of second-reading debate.